Cleft lip is a common congenital facial deformity which might cause speech, hearing, appearance, and psychological disorder. For the purpose of appropriate management for the cleft lip patients according to their individual situations, reviews of the historical evolution for the cleft lip treatment were summarized. More than 15 English written articles with 4 related historical books were reviewed, and the chronology of the cleft lip management from ancient to recent twenty first century, via middle ages and Renaissance, were summarized. Multifactorial causes of cleft lip, before the modern understanding of embryological background of it, most management of cleft lip has been explained under the basis of religions and/or superstitions. As the anatomic and embryologic knowledges were known and revealed, various misconceptions were corrected continously, and the simple closure of the lip defect was also evoluted to the applications of plastic concept. Recently, cosmetic outcomes with functional results, such as speech, hearing, psychological status, have been considered importantly, under the multidiciplinary care system. For the better understanding of cleft lip management as a routine esthtetic and funtional reconstructive procedure, the various historical treatment trends were reviewed and summarized as time goes on. This review presentation will discuss the appropriate management for cleft lip patients.