Triple Advancement Flap to Repair an Upper Lip Defect

Abstract

A 66-year-old woman was referred for Mohs micrographic surgery of a basal cell carcinoma on the left upper cutaneous lip. The tumor was cleared after one stage resulting in a defect measuring 1.4 Â 0.9 cm that did not penetrate the underlying orbicularis oris muscle (Figure 1).

Modified Three-Point Rotation-Advancement Flap for the Repair of the Melolabial Groove and a Peri-Alar C-Shaped Defect

“…The flap is also useful for treating larger defects, because it minimizes loss of normal tissue and has shorter closure lines than primary side-to-side wound closure. 5 We have also tried to use the classic triple advancement flap to reconstruct skin defects in the upper lip, peri-alar, and melolabial fold regions, as described for the present case, but side-to-side movement of the triple advancement flap caused severe woundclosure tension and the upper lip to move upward, distortion of the nasal ala, and bluntness of the natural melolabial fold. Therefore, we modified the classic triple advancement flap to create the modified three-point rotation-advancement flap.…”

Full-Thickness Triangular Advancement Flap for the Closure of Lateral Upper Lip Defects

“…4,7 The full-thickness skin graft requires too much skin tissue to fill the postoperative wound, and a good aesthetic outcome cannot be guaranteed. 4,8 Staircase, rotation, or transposition flaps result in a change of the cheek and the adjacent tissues due to the large postoperative defect. In addition, swelling and numbness might appear.…”