Surgical treatment of lower lip mucocela -case report

Introduction: Mucocele are one of most common lesions on the lower lip mucosa salivary glands. Their etiology is sub-epithelial accumulation of mucous due to retention or extravasation of mucus from minor salivary glands.
Clinically they appear like an asymptomatic vesicle or bulla with a pink or bluish color. They may be treated in both ways, surgically or non-surgically (cryotherapy). These lesions are often called cysts, but mucoceles are not true
cysts because they have no epithelial lining.
Aim: To emphasize the importance of most appropriate surgical technique selection, in order to perform complete
surgical elimination of pathologic lesion.
Case report: A male, generally healthy patient came to our Clinic with cyst like lesion on lower lip mucosa. He complained of a painless swelling on his lower lip lasting for one year. The patient also had a history of lip-biting. Upon clinical inspection, a soft, round, dome-shaped bluish lesion with a pearly appearance was identified on the left
side of lower labial mucosa. On palpation, the lesion was mobile and non adherent to the underlying tissues. After clinical examination working diagnosis of mucocele was obtained, and surgical excision of a lesion (“in toto”) was planned and later performed. Histopathological analysis was performed which proved our working clinical diagnosis. Conclusion: Complete surgical removal of the mucocele lesions minimize reoccurrence rate of the lesions, and
local tissue scarification.
Key words: мucocele, surgical treatment, histopathology, low lip