Purpose: Adolescence is a delicate phase during life in which self-stigmatization increases and acceptance by peers becomes more important. However, little is known about how adolescents with cleft lip and/or palate experience this stage of life. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) adolescents are looked at by their peers and how they look at others with/without CLP.
Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional study 54 observers (CLP versus control) performed an eye-tracking task and gave attractiveness/ valence ratings. For this purpose, they were shown pictures of patients with and without CLP with neutral or smiling facial expressions.
Results: Adolescents with CLP were looked at differently compared to their unaffected peers, with shorter fixations of the eyes and longer fixations of the nose and mouth. Smiling altered the scan path toward the mouth for all faces. Contrary to the control group, adolescents with CLP tended to spend less time fixating the eyes. In the attractiveness/valence ratings, CLP adolescents were rated more negatively.
Conclusions: Adolescents with cleft lip and/or palate look differently at peers and are also viewed with an alternate scan path.