title: Beyond Fifty Years of Millard's Rotation-Advancement Technique in Cleft Lip Closure: Are There Many "Millards"?
abstract: In 1955, Millard developed the concept of rotation-advancement flap to treat cleft lip. Almost 6 decades later, it remains the most popular technique worldwide. Since the technique evolved and Millard published many technical variations, we decided to ask 10 experienced cleft surgeons how they would mark Millard's 7 points in two unilateral cleft lip patient photos and compared the results. In both pictures, points 1 and 2 were marked identically among surgeons. Points 3 were located adjacent to each other, but not coincident, and the largest distances between points 3 were 4.95 mm and 4.03 mm on pictures 1 and 2, respectively. Similar patterns were obtained for points 4, eight of them were adjacent, and the greatest distance between the points was 4.39 mm. Points 5 had the most divergence between the points among evaluators, which were responsible for the different shapes of the C-flap. Points 6 also had dissimilar markings, and such difference accounts for varying resection areas among evaluators. The largest distances observed were 11.66 mm and 7 mm on pictures 1 and 2, respectively. In summary, much has changed since Millard's initial procedure, but his basic principles have survived the inexorable test of time, proving that his idea has found place among the greatest concepts of modern plastic surgery.
authors.affiliation: Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Federal University of Paraná, 80060-240 Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: da Silva Freitas
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bertoco Alves
authors.forename: Gisele Keiko Machado
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Júlia Fortes
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Schuchovski
authors.forename: Marlon Augusto Câmara
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maluf
authors.forename: Antonio Jorge V
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.forename: Nivaldo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shin