Operation Smile is a charity that provides free and safe surgery to people with a cleft lip or cleft palate.

Clefts occur when certain body parts and structures do not fuse together during early fetal development. Clefts can involve the lip and/or the roof of the mouth. Clefts can be unilateral, involving only one side of the mouth and face, or bilateral, involving both sides.

Free Surgery for children having cleft palate and lip.

Cleft lip surgery is usually recommended at three to four months of life. In most cases, the tissue in the area around the cleft is rearranged to close the opening. An important part of the surgery involves detaching and repositioning the muscle of the lip to recreate the circular muscle around the mouth.

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched the SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme on February 12, 2022.

Operation Smile, also known as Operation MUSKAAN, is a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) project to locate and rehabilitate missing children. It is a month-long campaign in which State Police employees engage in various actions to identify and rescue missing children, and reconnect them with their families.

Types of cleft lips

• Unilateral: on one side.
• Bilateral: on both sides.
• Complete: extends all the way into the nostril.
• Incomplete: does not extend up into the nostril.
• Isolated: cleft lip without a cleft palate.

A cleft palate usually is repaired with surgery called palatoplasty (PAL-eh-tuh-plass-tee) when the baby is 10–12 months old. The goals of palatoplasty are to: Close the opening between the nose and mouth. Help create a palate that works well for speech. Prevent food and liquid from leaking out of the nose.

While some causes are still unknown, genetics and family history, pre-existing medical conditions, poor nutrition and exposure to harmful environmental substances can affect the healthy development of a baby. As a result, these factors could contribute to a baby being born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate.

A cleft lip happens if the tissue that makes up the lip does not join completely before birth. This results in an opening in the upper lip. The opening in the lip can be a small slit or it can be a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose.

Cleft Lip Repair This is done with a surgery called cheiloplasty (KY-lo-plass-tee). It's done in the hospital while the baby is under general anesthesia. The goals of cleft lip repair are to: Close the cleft. Improve the shape and symmetry of the upper lip and nose.

Lip repair surgery is usually done when your baby is around 3 months old. Your baby will be given a general anaesthetic (where they're unconscious) and the cleft lip will be repaired and closed with stitches. The operation usually takes 1 to 2 hours.