**3. Face**

Malformations of the facial structures are often minor anomalies, therefore, they do not cause any functional impairment. However, they can suggest chromosomal abnormalities or other, more severe congenital anomalies (malformations of the heart or brain) so diagnosing these minor anomalies is important.

Facial structures to be examined are the nose, lips, ears and chin. The efficacy of prenatal ultrasound is low in case of these malformations and they are often left undiagnosed. As ultrasound techniques develop, the detection of anomalies such as cleft lip and palate (**Figure 4**) before birth is getting more accurate, reaching a sensitivity of 14–25% [19, 20]. 3D technique proved to be more effective in assessing the facial structures of the fetus [21].

**Figure 4.** Cleft lip. The detection of anomalies such as cleft lip and palate before birth is getting more accurate.

In our study, only 43 out of 135 face malformations were diagnosed prenatally (31.85%). We found that cleft lip and palate was detected with the highest sensitivity (53.33%), while no choanal atresia cases and only 9.09% of micrognathia cases were found.
