Joaquin Phoenix himself has referred to her to clarify rumors about scar on his lip
“One day, when my mother was pregnant, she was on the beach and she felt very intense pain. Shortly after, I was born. A few weeks later she took me to the pediatrician, who upon seeing me said: 'Who performed this cleft lip operation on you? It's the best I've ever seen in my life.' My mother answered: 'No one, he doesn't have any surgery.' “That's how I was born, with the scar,” she said.
In reality, this congenital condition is one of the most common, approximately 1 in every 2,500 people are born with some variation of it, from the most subtle, such as the case of Phoenix, to completely divided lips and to the most severe cases of cleft palate.
The term "hare lip", if you have ever wondered, derives from the Latin, leporem, which means hare, because its mouth is split in the center and although this name was used for a long time, now it has been chosen more correctly call it cleft lip, although the scientific nomenclature is cheilochisis.
Both this congenital alteration and palatoschisis or cleft palate have a solution and are easily treatable with surgery and multidisciplinary interventions for the accompanying symptoms, since other symptoms include a change in the shape of the nose and misaligned teeth, depending on the severity.
For example, the surgery required to close a cleft lip is usually performed when the baby is between 6 weeks and 9 months old, although since the mouth, like the rest of the body, grows, one or two more operations are usually needed when They are bigger.
In the case of cleft palate, many times it is decided to initially use a type of prosthetic device to cover the soft palate - when the alteration causes the nose and mouth to connect, since it prevents normal eating - and in some cases, the The prosthesis allows the parents or the doctor to reduce the size of the fissure, as it is tightened little by little with screws fixed to the prosthesis and the bone of the palate, to finally perform surgery to completely correct the problem.
Dentally, it is very likely that in all cases of cleft palate and many cleft lips, orthodontic treatment is needed to correct the position of the teeth, which are also usually in an incorrect position, essentially affecting the bite.
So, thanks to current medical advances, when all primary and complementary treatments are finished, the original condition is practically imperceptible.
