CLINICAL EXAMINATION COMPARED WITH MORPHOMETRY OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHSFOR EVALUATION OF REPAIRED CLEFT LIPS

Twenty-four adult patients who had been operated on as infants for iso lated cleft lip underwent clinical examination combined with photograp hic documentation using a digital camera. The same predetermined proto col comprising 20 variables describing nasolabial appearance was used for both the clinical examination and the computerised evaluation of t he images. The correlation between the two methods is described in the present study. The results obtained with the two methods agreed close ly. For metric variables the mean coefficient of correlation was 0.73 and when all measurements were combined, it reached 0.98. Likewise, di screte variables showed a close correlation, with a mean kappa value o f 0.72. Variables related to muscular dynamics of the lip can for obvi ous reasons not be judged from photographs. However, the computerised photographic evaluation was able to detect more precisely even minor a ngular deviations of the nose and to measure areas such as the areas o f the nostrils. We conclude that morphometry of digital photographs is a new valuable clinical tool for the assessment of the nasolabial app earance in patients with cleft lip and palate.