A Case of Congenital Midline Upper Lip Fistula

Herein, we describe the case of a 33-year-old woman with a rare 16-mm congenital midline upper lip fistula with a broad, cystic lumen. No connection with the oral cavity was observed. Congenital midline upper lip fistulas are not clearly associated with hereditary factors or sex. Sinus computed tomography revealed an inner ear malformation; however, no associations between external and inner ear malformations and upper lip fistulas have been reported. Because the developmental processes of the upper lip and inner ear are different, each develops independently, as in the current case. The standard treatment for congenital upper labial fistula is surgical excision. Shallow fistulas are often approached through a fusiform incision around the fistula. For deep fistulas, expanding the surgical field via a small skin incision is difficult, with a high possibility of a large incision. However, an incision through the oral mucosa minimises the incision size around the fistula.