Clinical Analysis of Lip Skin Diseases

Kim, Seok Rim; Kim, Chi Yeon

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Lip skin diseases are common findings in dermatology. However, most dermatologists are not familiar with the clinical features of lip skin diseases due to the special characteristics of the lip.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and histopathological features of lip skin diseases.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 259 patients who underwent biopsy for labial diseases at the Department of Dermatology from January 2002 to December 2011. We compared the clinical and histopathological diagnoses and analyzed the rate of concurrence and labial tumor distribution. In addition, demographic and clinical features, including age, sex, location, and disease duration, were investigated.
RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 56.8 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1:0.77. Lip skin diseases accounted for 4.1% of all new patients during the study period, with the lower lip being the most commonly affected site (88.4%). The most common disease was actinic cheilitis (35.1%), followed by chronic cheilitis (11.6%), mucocele (10.0%), and squamous cell carcinoma (9.7%). The most common type of tumor was actinic cheilitis (54.8%), followed by mucocele (15.7%), squamous cell carcinoma (15.1%), hemangioma (4.2%), pyogenic granuloma (4.2%), keratoacanthoma (1.8%), and basal cell carcinoma (1.2%). Before the patients came to the university hospital, they received medical treatment at various clinics and departments, including dermatology clinics (55.3%), internal medicine (26.2%) and urology departments (10.7%), and general practitioners (9.7%).
CONCLUSION
This study provides novel and useful data on the incidence and characteristics of lip skin diseases. Compared to previous studies, the frequency of lip tumors was relatively high and variable in this study. Based on these results, we advise physicians to, if in doubt, initially diagnose and treat for actinic cheilitis and labial tumors (especially squamous cell carcinoma) caused by long term exposure to the sun.