Lower lip reconstruction after wide excision of a malignancy with barrel-shaped excision or the webster modification of the bernard operation.
BACKGROUND
Because there are numerous methods for reconstruction of the lower lip, it is not easy to choose the optimal method. In choosing the surgical method for lower lip reconstruction, we obtained acceptable outcomes based on our treatment strategy, which included either a barrel-shaped excision or the Webster modification of the Bernard operation. We report on the surgical outcomes based on our treatment strategy.


METHODS
This study included 26 patients who underwent lower lip reconstructive surgery from September 1996 to September 2010. The operation was done using either a barrel-shaped excision or the Webster modification, considering the location of the defect, the size of the defect, and the amount of residual tissue on the lateral side of the vermilion after excision.


RESULTS
In our series, 3 patients underwent a single barrel-shaped excision, and nine patients underwent a double barrel-shaped excision. In addition, the unilateral Webster modification was performed on in 6 patients, and there were eight cases of bilateral Webster modification. All of the patients except one were satisfied with the postoperative shape of the lip. In one case both recurrence and dehiscence occurred. One patient had a good postoperative lip shape, but had difficulty wearing a denture, and also underwent commissuroplasty. Furthermore, there were two patients who complained of drooling, and 4 with paresthesia.


CONCLUSIONS
A SOFT TISSUE DEFECT RESULTING FROM WIDE EXCISION OF A LOWER LIP MALIGNANCY CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY RECONSTRUCTED USING ONLY ONE OF TWO SURGICAL METHODS: the barrel-shaped excision or the Webster modification of the Bernard operation.
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Hyung Joon
HJ
Seo
Seong Hwan
SH
Bae
Su Bong
SB
Nam
Soo Jong
SJ
Choi
Joo Hyoung
JH
Kim
Jae Woo
JW
Lee
Yong Chan
YC
Bae
Facial neoplasms; Lip; Reconstructive surgical procedures