Application of Local Flaps in Repairing Total and Near-Total Lower Lip Defects of Young Patients.

Background: It has always been a great challenge for clinical doctors to reconstruct total and near-total lower lip defects. Compared with elderly patients, the repair operation in young patients is more difficult where free flaps are usually used for transfer. In order to obtain better postoperative results, the authors combined two kinds of local skin flaps for operation purpose, and evaluated their postoperative clinical effects.

Methods: From April 2011 to May 2019, a total of 5 young patients with lower lip tumor or trauma were included in this study, with an average age of 30.4 years old. The lesion was all resected and resulted in a defect of 87% to total area of the lower lip, accompanied by a partial defect of the chin each. To repair the defect of the lower lip, the authors firstly used the modified Bernard flap. Then the authors designed the double Abbe flap to perform the operation according to the recovery of the patient 3 months later than the first operation. Finally, the outcomes of either operation were compared upon slit width, mouth opening height, aesthetics, and function of the patients, and statistically analyzed the results.

Results: All patients underwent the repair of modified Bernard flaps and double Abbe flaps of with no hemodynamic disorder of the flaps and well-recovery. At 3 months after the operation, the average gap width of lip was 4.34 ± 0.24 cm, the average opening height was 3.18 ± 0.28 cm, the average aesthetic score was 7.98 ± 0.51 (full score of 10), and the average functional score was 11.4 ± 0.55 (full score of 12). The 5 patients showed no obvious scar but a good shape on the lower lip. The function of eating, pronunciation, expression of feelings and smiling change were close to normal. Three patients had mild numbness in the lower lip, while the other two had normal sensory function.

Conclusion: Combined modified Bernard flap and double Abbe flaps can bring out promising reparative outcomes of near-total or total lower lip defects in lower lip in young patients with good aesthetic and functional recovery, which is recommended while considering surgical alternatives.