Background: Genetic contributions to the appearance of non-syndromic cleft lip and palate (NSCLP) can generate some minor alterations in unaffected parents, such as facial asymmetry or changes in fingerprints. Purpose: To evaluate these phenotypic features in parents of children with NSCLP as possible risk factors for their offspring. Methods: Sixty unaffected parents (43 women and 17 men) of forty-six children with NSCLP and a control group with fifty parents (36 women, 14 men) with no history of NSCLP in their family from Bogotá, Colombia were studied and compared. Frontal and lateral Pictures and their fingerprints were taken. Results: The parents of children with NSCLP presented fluctuating facial asymmetries, such as asymmetry in the nasion-left/right nostril distance, differences in the total ear length between both sides, asymmetries between right and left side of the distance Cupid arch- Commissure. In addition, parents of children with NSCLP showed an increased middle and lower facial height, increased intercanthal and interalar distance and the presence of radial loop in the left index and of whorl. Conclusions: The findings suggest that there is an association between fluctuating facial asymmetries and the presence of NSCLP in the offspring. The dermatoglyphics analysis showed that specific types and differences could be directly related with a higher risk of the presence of NSCLP in their children.

KEYWORDS
non-syndromic cleft lip and palate; facial phenotype; facial asymmetry; fingerprints; parents