A Visual Guide for Cleft Surgeons

Books on cleft surgery are usually very specific and written for experts in the field. A basic surgical learning manual on the techniques of cleft surgery has been missing on the market so far. Surgical atlases do not contain all surgical steps and make it difficult for beginners in cleft surgery to understand the surgical concept in the operating room. The technique of cleft surgery is often passed on directly from teacher to student without using a didactically elaborated teaching concept.
This book closes precisely this gap. Thus, cleft surgery is presented systematically - with first steps on an innovative training model, didactically meaningful and with numerous detailed illustrations. Each chapter begins with information on the historical background. As a start, there is a brief description on how the established surgical techniques became standard and which considerations led to these concepts. Then anatomical basics, as well as preoperative considerations are presented. Elaborate schematic drawings and illustrations are used for this purpose. Each surgical technique is then explained and shown step by step with numerous pictures. A simple training model offers the opportunity to simulate and practice lip closure techniques step by step. Finally, there are expert tips and recommendations for further reading.

The book presents an international standard for all surgeons learning cleft surgery. However, it can also be helpful for experts in the field, e. g. for looking up concepts in rarer cleft types such as lateral facial clefts.

Marco Kesting, Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Dr. med. dent., FEBOMFS, first finished dental school in 1998, then medical school in 2003, both at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. After working as a dentist in private practice until 2002, he completed his training in maxillofacial surgery at the University of Bochum and Munich Technical University (TUM), where he also became Associate Professor in 2009. After his residency, he remained at TUM as a senior consultant and head of onco-reconstructive and maxillofacial surgery. He then became senior consultant and deputy head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and coordinator of the certified Centre for Head and Neck Cancer at TUM. Since 2017 he has been head of the Department for Oral and Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery at Erlangen University Hospital. Professor Kesting is Fellow of the European Board of Oro-Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Head and Neck Surgery.

Rainer Lutz, PD Dr. med. Dr. med. dent., FEBOMFS, received his dental degree in 2006 and his medical degree in 2011, both at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Subsequently he completed his training in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University Hospital Erlangen in 2017. After his residency, he became a senior physician. His research work contributes to regenerative biomaterials, oral medicine and maxillofacial constructive and reconstructive surgery. He became Associate Professor in 2018 and, since 2021, managing senior physician and deputy clinic director at the Department of Oral and Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery at Erlangen University Hospital. Dr Lutz is Fellow of the European Board of Oro-Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Head and Neck Surgery.

Manuel Weber, PD Dr. med. Dr. med. dent., completed medical school at the University of Regensburg in 2010. In 2015 Dr Weber received his dental degree at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Afterwards he worked as a resident at Erlangen University Hospital, Germany and completed his training in oral and maxillofacial surgery in 2020. On the basis of his research activities he became Associate Professor in 2020 and has been working since then as senior physician at the Department of Oral and Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery at Erlangen University Hospital. He has also been coordinator of the Erlangen Head and Neck Cancer Centre since 2019.