Oral medicine case book 52: pleomorphic adenoma of the upper lip

Abstract

A 46-year old female presented at the Oral Medicine Clinic complaining of a large and painless swelling of her upper lip. The lesion had slowly enlarged over the past year and was causing an increasing aesthetic and speech impairment. Her medical history revealed nothing of note. Extra-orally, the patient presented with a swelling involving the right side of the upper lip and extending from the right alar of the nose, to the right commissure (Figure 1). The intra-oral examination revealed a firm and well circumscribed mass in the upper right labial mucosa, opposite the upper second incisor, canine and first premolar. The mass was approximately 2x3 cm in size and the overlying mucosa was of normal consistency and colour for the region (Figure 2). A fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of the mass was performed (Figure 3).