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This left cheek incision extends from the left commissure towards the left ear and it breaches the vermillion border (click to see close-up). In order to maintain esthetics as best as possible, the first suture was placed at or near the vermillion border to ensure a contiguous line upon healing.

The normally sharp demarcation between the red of the lip and the adjacent normal skin, the vermillion border is important in dentistry and oral pathology because it is used as a marker to detect pathosis (disease), such as in actinic cheilitis. It represents the change in epidermis from highly keratinized external skin to less keratinized internal skin.