Two young women who have turned to dermal fillers after having cleft lip surgery say it has given them confidence after they were both left with scarring. "Now I feel like I can just go out and talk to anyone, be more social and just be confident," Amber Dorgan, 20, from Neath, said of the treatment, which is offered by the NHS as well as by aesthetic clinics. But experts and clinics have called for regulations to be introduced for aesthetic practitioners providing the service.
It comes as one psychology academic warned people with a cleft lip were being "deliberately targeted" by the aesthetics industry and "left vulnerable to potential harm and exploitation". Aesthetics treatment for people with scars involves using filler to reduce their appearance, restore symmetry, and add volume after cleft lip surgery. Dorgan was born with a cleft lip and has faced hearing difficulties, speech difficulties and bullying at school because of her scars.
She had five operations as a child, as well as regular hospital appointments for speech and language therapy. Now she receives free dermal filler for life through The Welsh Centre for Cleft Lip and Palate based in Morriston Hospital in Swansea, something she feels extremely fortunate to have. Dorgan said: "I've always been insecure about how I look, going out and about, I've always had anxiety and I just get nervous.
"Now the lip fillers have made me feel confident in myself a little bit more. It's helped a lot," she said. Dorgan believes the treatment should be available to everyone with a cleft lip "because it makes you much more confident and happy".
"Before [filler] I was really shy, I wouldn't talk to anyone, I didn't want to leave the house." A cleft lip and palate is a condition which is present from birth, external when the upper lip, roof of the mouth, or both, fail to fuse properly during pregnancy. It affects one in every 700 babies born in the UK and surgery to close the cleft is typically given when a baby is three to six months old. A cleft lip and cleft palate can cause a number of issues, particularly in the first few months after birth before surgery is carried out.
This can include difficulty feeding, hearing problems, dental problems and speech problems. The NHS offers lifelong care to those with the condition. Emily Evans, 21, from Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire, is a stay-at-home mum to her two young children.
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