Reconstruction of Perioral Defects after Mohs Micrographic Surgery or Excision: A Systematic Review of the Literature

BACKGROUNDAlthough many repair methods for postsurgical lip defects have been described, the literature lacks a comprehensive review of these methods.OBJECTIVETo perform a systematic review of lip defect repair methods after Mohs surgery or excisions.MATERIALS AND METHODSTerms related to perioral anatomy, Mohs surgery and excision, and reconstruction were used to search 8 databases. Articles were included if they reported postsurgical lip repair data for 4 or more patients, were in English, and were published from 2004 onward. Two reviewers screened all titles and abstracts, followed by the full texts of the remaining articles. Data were then extracted including author specialties, study design, demographic, tumor, and defect information, surgical procedures, outcomes, and complications.RESULTSForty-two studies were eligible, including a randomized trial, 25 case series, and 16 cohort studies. Most were written by dermatologic or plastic surgeons, and most studies were small, with an average subject number of 61. Very few studies used structured outcome measures. Many repair methods were described, the most common of which were linear closures and various flaps.CONCLUSIONMany repair methods for lip defects have been published, but overall, the quality of the available evidence is low.