Median lip fissure

Forty-two cases of median lip fissures are reported. The majority of these had earlier been treated conservatively without healing. All cases were corrected by surgery, the first 10 by excision only, the remaining 32 by excision combined with Z-plasty. In the first group, one total and one partial relapse occurred; in the second group all patients healed uneventfully. Pedigrees were obtained and indicated that a hereditary component in the cause exists. The location of and the resistance to conservative treatment may suggest that these lesions that seem to be due to a weakness in the lip may be very discreet manifestations of the cleft, which, in more severe cases, was classified as no. 30 by Tessier.