The risk of nodal metastasis is 5-fold greater for cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCCs) on the vermilion lip compared with those on the cutaneous lip, according to a recent study. Furthermore, SCCs of the cutaneous lip have a nodal metastasis risk similar to cSCCs in general (1.5%). Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 303 patients with 310 primary cSCCs of the lip (138 cutaneous, 172 vermilion) diagnosed between 2000 and 2015 at 2 academic tertiary care centers in Boston, MA. They found:

• Of the total study participants with SCCs of the lip, 153 (50.5%) were men, and 150 (49.5%) were women; median age at diagnosis was 68 years (range, 27-93 years).
• Outcomes were as follows for vermilion vs cutaneous locations: local recurrence, 6.4% (11 of 172) vs 2.9% (4 of 138); nodal metastasis, 7.6% (13 of 172) vs 1.5% (2 of 138); distant metastasis, 0.6% (1 of 172) vs 0.7% (1 of 138); disease-specific death, 3.5% (6 of 172) vs 2.9% (4 of 138); and all-cause death, 26.7% (46 of 172) vs 29.0% (40 of 138).
• The difference was statistically significant for nodal metastasis.