Clinical and pathological features of squamous cell carcinoma of the lip

The aim of this study was to evaluate the patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lip in terms of age, sex, tumor localization, tumor size, histopathological subtype, lymph node metastasis, and recurrence rates.
Forty patients with lip SCC were included in the study. A large majority of the patients were within the age range of 61–79 years (50%). SCC was located in the lower lip in 35 (87.5%) patients. The average diameter of the tumor was 2.15 cm (range 0.4–7 cm). The most common histopathological subtypes were well differentiated (n = 15, 37.5%) and microinvasive SCC (n = 12, 30%). All patients underwent tumor excision with safe surgical margins. In six patients (15%) with local recurrence after total excision, two SCCs were localized on the right side of the lower lip, two on the left side of the lower lip, and two in the middle of the lower lip. Four of them were well-differentiated SCC, one was poorly differentiated SCC, and one was moderately differentiated SCC.
Cervical lymph node metastasis was detected in two (33.3%) patients with recurrence. SCCs located on the lower lip were more aggressive than basal cell carcinomas, which were quite common in the head and neck regions. Despite total excision, patients should be followed up closely in terms of recurrence and metastasis. Tumor localization, size, and submandibular lymph nodes should be taken into account in addition to the histopathological subtype of tumor at the time of diagnosis.