Hake Lip , a congenital fissure of the upper lip, on one or on both sides, giving to the mouth very much the appearance presented by the cleft upper lip of the hare. It is sometimes accompanied by a fissure of the hard and soft palate in which the cavities of the mouth and nose communicate; when the teeth and the gums project through the fissure, the deformity is much increased. In the infant it interferes with the process of sucking, and in the adult renders speech imperfect; when fissure of the palate coexists, not only is articulation indistinct and nasal, but the passage of food and drink from the mouth to the nose, and of the nasal secretions into the mouth, is a source of great annoyance and mortification. This deformity is in most cases capable of removal by a very simple surgical operation, which has been practised successfully upon infants a few weeks old. The operation consists merely in paring the edges of the fissure with a knife or scissors, and keeping the cut surfaces in apposition by needles and sutures, strengthened by sticking plaster or collodion. When the hare lip is double, both sides are generally operated on at the same time. It is usual to extract projecting teeth, or to remove any too prominent portion of the jaw by cutting forceps.

Bleeding is generally slight, and restrained by pressure or simple contact of the cut surfaces. In infants, adhesive straps are often necessary to prevent the edges being drawn asunder by crying or sucking; in adults, strict silence and liquid food are enjoined for four or five days. Fissure of the soft palate is remedied on the same principle of paring the edges and keeping them in contact by various kinds of sutures and needles; this operation, called staphyloraphy, can only be performed on a patient old enough to aid the proceedings of the surgeon. It is attributed to intra-uterine disease, producing an arrest of development; when single, it is said to be most common on the left side. In very rare instances it occurs upon the median line.