Should we be doing lip taping?

This is a very common question asked by parents.

Lip taping is a treatment that is done prior to lip closure surgery and starts shortly after birth.  It can be done in conjunction with the NAM appliance or by itself. It can also be for a unilateral or bilateral cleft lip!

It can also be done with or without nasal stents (if no NAM appliance). It’s up to your doctor what he or she prefers. 

If your baby is undergoing NAM therapy, lip taping may not be indicated if good results are coming from the NAM alone! Your doctor will let you know.

What is it?

Lip taping means placing a steri-strip across the cleft lip and:

         For a unilateral case: pulling the tape more toward the cleft side to encourage movement toward that side.

        For a bilateral case: pulling the premaxillary segment, or “nub,” as parents like to call it, backwards.

Lip taping narrows the size of the cleft by moving the cleft segments closer together.

Pros

1. Good for babies who cannot tolerate the NAM appliance
2. Can be used with the NAM appliance for more movement
3. Helps to bring cleft segments closer together
4. Babies tolerate it very well
5. Pain-free
6. Non-invasive
7. Accomplishes similar results to lip adhesion* without the surgery

*Lip adhesion involves surgery shortly after birth where the lip is stitched together just by the outer tissue (no muscle attachments). Babies still undergo the typical lip repair surgery even if lip adhesion is performed.

Cons

1. Frequent changing of tape
2. Some babies develop skin irritation to tape

How does it work?

The tape is pulled from the non-cleft side over to the cleft side to encourage muscles and jaws to move closer together.

• Steri-strip is applied to non-cleft side
• Cheeks are pinched together
• Strip is pulled over the cleft from the non-cleft side and adhered to the cleft side

The tape is left on 24 hours a day and does not hurt the baby. 

It should be changed at least once daily but it is usually changed more than that because it gets wet.

I hope this helps! Feel free to drop a comment below if you have any questions.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8192382/