Joshua came into the operating room in November, 2010 with a Band-aid across his upper lip. I didn’t realize that the Band-aid was  practically holding his face together. He had a tumor of the lip that had been present for years. The tumor was previously removed  but recurred. The tumor involved the entire upper lip and destroyed the central portion. There was a separate lesion was on his  nose.
The surgery required removal of the entire upper lip. After you remove someone’s entire lip, you realize there’s no going back!
We then reconstructed the mouth with a Gillies type Fan Flap. We cauterized the lesion on his nose.
I was so happy when he came back to see me three months later. His mouth was smaller, of course, but he could open it wide and  had good lip function. His speech was barely changed.
The tumor was a basal cell carcinoma. He refused radiation but has no recurrence to date.