Reconstructive possibilities in oncological surgery of the lips

The authors face the problem of the treatment of tumours of the lip. First of all they express their own opinion about the choice between surgery and radiotherapy, specifying the reasons why they prefer in some cases one therapy and in others the other one. When they use surgical treatment, it is their duty to look not only at the oncological result, but to take care of the functional and aesthetic point of view. So, after the operation, it is very important to ensure complete lip closure without microstomia, with a good mobility and sensibility and an appearance as normal as possible. Beyond these aims we must comply with the aesthetic demands, as we work on the patient's face. So the reconstruction must be performed immediatly after the surgical removal and when it is possible, by means of local flaps. Actually the reparation performed with these kind of flaps simulates fairly well the original lip and often the scars are hidden in the natural lines of the face. In order to describe the different procedures used in the surgical treatment of these tumours, the authors classify these in: tumours of the lower lip; tumours of the vermillion; tumours of the labial commissure and tumours of the upper lip. Furthermore, for the neoplasms of upper and lower lip, they consider the extension of surgical removal (less than 1/3 of total lip length; from 1/3 to 2/3; more than 2/3). For everyone of these situations they choose and describe the surgical methods which, in their opinion, are most suitable to yield the best functional and aesthetic results