Complications Associated with Treatment of Lip Cancer

Lips play a key role in facial expression, phonation, mastication, and retention of oral contents. With so many dynamic functions, treatment of lip cancer can be a challenging endeavor from both ablative and reconstructive standpoints. Treatment outcomes can vary due to tumor size, ablative and reconstructive techniques, tumor location, and recurrence. This vast array of factors has significant effects on overall prognosis and quality of life. Therefore, careful preoperative evaluation and planning are crucial to retain preoperative function and esthetics while maintaining adequate oncological margins. Treatment should be specifically tailored to each patient taking into account the tumor’s clinical characteristics and cervical nodal staging. Even with advanced planning, complications still occur including functional deficits, poor esthetics, recurrence, and locoregional or distant metastasis.