Case report: mucosal melanoma of the lip and the cheek

Mucosal malignant melanoma arising from the mucosa of the head and neck region is a rare entity. We report one case of mucosal melanoma of the lower lip and the internal face of the cheek. Lymph nodes were not detected in the submandibular or cervical region. The patient had a large exerese of the lower lip and internal area of right cheek and an unilateral neck lymph node dissection. Histopathology showed superficial extended melanoma type SSM, index Clark III, fair metotic index and breslow index 1.5 mm. Lymph node metastasis was not found. Reconstruction was done after 15 days. Complementary investigation showed metastatic lesions but without confirmation. The interest of our observation relies on the rarity of the mucosal melanoma of the lip and the difficulty of the treatment. This patient represents the first case of mucosal melanoma in our series. The particularity is the presence of 3 lesions. In our case, unilateral neck lymph node dissection was indicated in reason of gravity of mucosal melanoma and because sentinel lymph node is impossible on the neck.