title: Intraoral extraction of cheek skin cyst.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  When a physician encounters a benign subcutaneous cyst in the cheek, his or her decision whether to excise and how to excise the cyst takes into account the potential risk of postsurgical scarring.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe and show an intraoral buccal mucosal approach to excising a cyst in the inferior-anterior cheek so that skin scarring is avoided.
  
  
  METHODS
  An incision was made intraorally in the buccal mucosa, and dissection was carried through the buccinator muscle until the cyst wall was seen. Careful separation of tissue around the cyst was done by blunt dissection, and the unruptured cyst was removed through the buccal mucosal incision.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The entire intact cyst was removed without creating any excision marks in the cheek skin. No complications were encountered, and buccal mucosal healing was excellent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A buccal mucosal intraoral approach is an alternative to a percutaneous excision to remove a cyst in the lower cheek region. The intraoral approach avoids a visible scar on the cheek skin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Muba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taher
authors.forename: Justine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002610:Cheek; D003560:Cysts / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000601:surgery*