Lower lip hypertrophy secondary to port-wine stain: combined surgical and carbon dioxide laser treatment.

BACKGROUND

Port-wine stains (PWSs) are capillary malformations that usually show progressive stasis of the vascular channels and cause slow hyperplasia of the soft and hard tissues. When these lesions involve the lower lip, macrocheilia may be developed along the time. Vascular-specific lasers are not adequate to correct these three-dimensional tissue deformities, and surgical management becomes necessary, resulting in considerable morbidity and aesthetic disturbances.

OBJECTIVE

To report a case of macrocheilia secondary to PWS treated by combination of surgery and carbon dioxide laser.

METHODS

A 51-year-old man with macrocheilia of the lower lip and severe functional impairment, secondary to long evolution PWS, received treatment with carbon dioxide laser vaporization and minimal surgical correction, resulting in significant improvement of the lower lip hypertrophy, good aesthetic and functional status, and preservation of the muscular function.

CONCLUSIONS

Combined carbon dioxide laser and surgery treatment may constitute a valuable alternative in treatment of macrocheilia secondary to PWS because bleeding risk is minimized and improves the preservation of muscular function and aesthetic results in relationship to conventional surgical approaches.