Complete Cleft Care & Choosing Your Own Adventure

In this episode, pediatric otolaryngologist Dr. Steven Goudy joins Dr. Gopi Shah and Dr. Ashley Agan to discuss diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, and family education for children with cleft lips and cleft palates.

To start, we define cleft lip and cleft palate based on abnormalities in fetal developments. Then, we cover the timeline for identification and treatment of these conditions. Dr. Goudy emphasizes that cleft lip and cleft palate can have a large effect on basic needs such as feeding. While cleft lip repair can be performed early, it is best to wait until the 1-year mark for cleft palate repair. We discuss treatment of different variations of these conditions, including incomplete and bilateral cleft lips. As we move into post-surgical care, we cover Eustachian tube dysfunctions and post-surgical hearing screenings. Dr. Goudy also discusses co-morbid issues and the process of counseling families through genetic testing.

Dr. Goudy highlights the importance of multidisciplinary care. Within his cleft clinic, the surgeons work with audiologists, speech pathologists, geneticists, dentists, and social workers. He discusses barriers to care for patients who live in rural areas and how his team works to overcome them.

Finally, Dr. Goudy describes his own adventure in medicine, which extends beyond treating cleft lip and cleft palate. As he shares how he got started in translational research, he gives tips for assembling a research team and finding good mentors. He also explains how he addresses common parent concerns by starting a pediatric nasal suction device company, Dr. Noze Best.