Outcome measures in cleft lip and palate: An Indian perspective

Outcome measurement is the definitive way to prove or disprove the usefulness of a procedure and its impact on a disease process. Cleft lip and palate is a disease with many facets and involvement of many subspecialties in its treatment. It is therefore necessary to have a comprehensive approach towards outcome measures for satisfactory treatment endpoint. Patient opinion even in case of children is very important and should actually form a very important component of overall outcome measures. Authors' experience in the Indian subcontinent shows that many children have been very happy with results that may be found wanting by some. In some cases that proved a boon for the child to grow in the world facing adversities. Authors' have proposed a simplified standard of points for outcome measures for uniformity of results.