Cleft left reconstruction is cosmetic?

[Jalapeñomel]

So go ahead and judge me (lol), but I'm watching Life After Labor: 16 and Pregnant, and one women has a cleft lip that her baby inherited. Her insurance is considering the procedure to fix her LOs lip cosmetic. That's crazy, right?

[Deleted]

That's beyond crazy. I feel terrible if people are getting denied for this surgery.

[megkat]

As someone who has a degree in speech therapy, I find it crazy that it's considered cosmetic. Having all of your oral structures intact is a huge part of speech production

[Deleted]

I saw that episode too--it sounded like it was very minor as opposed to some others (including the mom's?). Perhaps that makes the difference.

[arch01]

There's a lot of stuff considered cosmetic that most people think shouldn't be.

I'm already preparing for the fight to get my front tooth fixed-already forewarned that the veneer will be considered cosmetic, even though it'll help prevent my tooth from breaking in half.

[amaristella]

That's simply bizarre to me. I mean, having a lip and palate in one piece seems like a functional problem to me.

[sillygoosegirl]

I don't think my friend who goes to Africa every summer to help with charity cleft lip surgeries considers it cosmetic.

Please let it be just more expensive versions of the surgery to produce less visible scars are considered cosmetic (though considering the way people are often discriminated against for things like scaring on the face, even that seems pretty stupid and cold-hearted).