Repair of lip lacerations.

Abstract

1. Linda S. Parlin, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery* 1. 2. *University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Rochester, NY Lacerations of the lip are a common injury seen in a pediatrician’s office. Obtaining an optimal long-term result depends on following basic surgical principles of wound repair. When repairing a lip laceration, the goal is to have what surgeons call a “tidy wound,” that is, a wound that has minimal associated tissue damage. Areas of devitalized or crushed tissue will have an increased inflammatory response, which will result in increased scar formation. The nature of the injury is the most important determinant of this. A sharp injury will result in minimal tissue damage outside the immediate zone of injury; a blunt or crushing injury will result in a much larger zone of injury to the tissues, even if the length of the laceration is the same. Gentle handling of the tissue is important, particularly in a laceration that has irregular margins or multiple or stellate flaps because any additional injury produced by crushing with forceps or instruments can lead to increased scarring. The first step in the evaluation of lip laceration is to determine the extent …