What causes cleft lips and palates and who can get them?
Cleft lips and palates occur in the womb before you are born. At an early stage in development, about six to ten weeks after the egg is fertilised by the sperm, your top lip and palate form when tissues from either side of the middle of your face join together. Sometimes this stage of development doesn’t happen properly. When these tissues don’t come together properly a baby is born with a cleft lip or palate. Cleft lips and palates are known as birth defects. Doctors are beginning to understand how this happens through the action of genes, and ways that can reduce the likelihood of it happening. Sometimes cleft lips and palates can run in families but some other things are thought to cause them too at a stage when the pregnancy is only just beginning, about the time when the first ‘period’ is missed. They include: • Taking certain drugs during pregnancy, particularly those used for epilepsy. • Smoking and drinking alcohol whilst pregnant. • Lack of folic acid in the diet.
