Intraoral extraction of cheek skin cyst.
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.
Bennett
Richard
R
Department of Dermatology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
Taher
Muba
M
Yun
Justine
J
D000328:Adult; D002610:Cheek; D003560:Cysts / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000601:surgery*