Background: Cleft palate surgeries are one of the most common surgeries done by Plastic surgeons.

Aim: To determine the role of postoperative antibiotics in terms of incidence of complications in cleft palate surgery.

Study Design: Prospective randomized control trial.

Place and duration of study: Department of Plastic Surgery, Bashir Hospital, Sialkot from May 2016 to January 2019

Methodology:. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups received a single dose of injection Ceftriaxone (50mg/kg) about 30 minutes before incision. Group A (n=25) received a 5-day regimen of oral Amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid (15mg/kg/dose in three divided doses per day) post operatively. Group B (n=25) received 5-day regimen of oral Amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid (15mg/kg/dose in three divided doses per day) plus oral Metronidazole (7.5mg/kg/dose in three divided doses) for 5 days postoperatively. Patients were followed up postoperatively at 2 weeks, 1month and 2 months for complication such as infection and wound dehiscence.

Result. .Candidates belonging to Group A, (Amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid group) were reported to have Infection 6 (24%) (P 0.005) and delay oral intake. Candidates who were administered oral Amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid (15mg/kg/dose in three divided doses per day) plus oral Metronidazole (7.5mg/kg/dose in three divided doses) 2 patients (8%) had infection in group B which was settled with improvement in oral hygiene.

Conclusion: whose candidates who were admitted or stayed for longer duration of time in hospital had insufficient and poor dietary intake. One of the candidates was again admitted due to being dehydrated along with rotavirus whereas group A 24% patients got infected on the other end group B only 8% patients got infected.In net shell, this study revealed that use of postoperative antibiotics (Amoxicillin + Clavulanic acid and metronidazole) can reduce the incidence of infection and results in better surgical outcome of cleft palate surgery

Keywords: cleft palate repair, Amoxicillin, Clavulanic acid, Metronidazole, Prophylactic Antibiotics