Crab claw reduction cheiloplasty: The Indian way

The goals of lip reduction surgery are to reduce the volume of the lips and restore an aesthetic labial contour and to maintain an ideal volume relationship between upper and lower lips. The aim of this study was to minimize the excessive large lips by modifying the incision and to get more Indian appearance of the lips by using crab claw technique. A total of nine patients (six males and three females) of age-group 21–22 years, having aesthetic concern due to excessive large lips, were treated in the case series. The distance from the vermilion border to the lip line was recorded at midline and 6–7 mm apart from the either side, and the distance between two peaks corresponding to the philtral ridges at baseline and at 6 months follow-up. A mean reduction of approximately 10 ± 0.70 mm at midline, 10.11 ± 1.05 mm on the right side, and 9.55 ± 0.72 mm on the left side of the lip was obtained in all the nine cases. No postoperative complication was observed in any of the patients, and all the patients were satisfied with the result, which was carried out through a survey completed by all the patients. The lip reduction surgery using crab claw technique proved to be successful in achieving decreased lip volume while restoring anatomical morphometric pattern of lip to look more Indian way.