Objective:To study the possible effect of soft tissue displacement in the surgical design of primary unilateral cleft lip repair.Methods:Charts of 52 unilateral cleft lip patients who got repaired from January 2014 to December 2015 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. The nasolabial region measurements of these 52 cases during the lip surgery were especially collected. The distance between the key points in the upper nasolabial region were directly measured with a ruler and/or caliper. The cleft lips were repaired by rotation-advancement technique. The soft tissue along the cleft edge was sufficiently released, and the muscles were reconstructed.Results:Except the lip height and the distance between crista philtral point and subalar base on the noncleft side, most measurements between the key points on both sides got significant increase postoperatively ( P<0.05). The symmetrical ratio of the preoperative measurements on upper labial region were closing to 1 departing from the cleft region. The symmetrical ratio improved significantly postoperatively ( P<0.01). Conclusions:During the primary unilateral cleft lip surgery, the changes of the distances between the key points of upper nasaolabial region would not always follow the geometry. They are also affected by other factors, like the interaction between each layer and the elasticity of soft tissue, which should be considered and employed during the surgical design.