Long term objective lip assessment following electrical burns to the oral commissure in infancy and childhood

Abstract

Long term lip assessment was performed in 10 patients who sustained electrical burns to the oral commissure in childhood with a mean follow-up time of 15 years. None of the patients had any subjective symptoms and all were happy with the cosmetic appearance of the lips. Objectively, the lip elasticity index was within normal limits in all patients, but the soft tissue gap between the lips with maximum mouth opening was slightly below normal in 50% of patients. At rest, all patients had symmetric commissure positions. However, with wide grin, the injured commissure moved to a lesser extent than the uninjured side. Using the pommeter, the sphincteric power of the orbicularis oris was found to be within the normal range in all patients. Although none of the patients had any subjective sensory abnormalities of the lips, 50% of patients were found objectively to have a higher two-point discrimination and pressure threshold values in the injured commissure than the contralateral uninjured side.