Background The vermilion plays an important role in both the aesthetic and functional aspects
of facial anatomy. Due to its structural features, the complete excision of vascular
anomalies on the vermilion is challenging, making it difficult to determine the appropriate
treatment strategy. Thus, the authors analyzed the results of surgical treatment of
vascular anomalies on the vermilion.
Methods The medical records of 38 patients with vascular anomalies on the vermilion who
underwent surgery from 1995 to 2013 were analyzed. Nine of the cases had an involuted
hemangioma, and 29 cases had a vascular malformation; of the vascular malformations,
13, 11, one, and four cases involved were capillary malformations (CMs), venous malformations
(VMs), lymphatic malformations (LMs), and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), respectively.
We investigated the surgical methods used to treat these patients, the quantity of
surgical procedures, complications and instances of recurrence, and self-assessed
satisfaction scores.
Results A total of 50 operations were carried out: 28 horizontal partial excisions, eight
vertical partial excisions, and 14 operations using other surgical methods. All cases
of AVM underwent complete excision. Six cases experienced minor complications and
one case of recurrence was observed. The overall average satisfaction score was 4.1
out of 5, while the satisfaction scores associated with each lesion type were 4.2
for hemangiomas, 3.9 for CMs, 4.2 for VMs, 5.0 for LMs, and 4.0 for AVMs.
Conclusions It is difficult to completely excise vascular anomalies that involve the vermilion.
This study suggests that partial excision focused on correcting the overall contour
of the lips is effective and leads to satisfactory results.
Keywords
Vascular malformations - Hemangioma - Treatment outcome - Follow-up studies
