There are different types of lip cancer treatments. Some treatments are standard and some are being tested in clinical trials. The different types of standard lip cancer treatments are:

1. Surgery: Surgery is the common treatment for all types of stages of lip cancer. Surgery might be given alone or in combination with radiation therapy. Following are the options in surgery:

A. Wide local excision: This type of surgery involves removal of the cancer and some of the healthy tissues around it. If the cancer spreads into the bone then it may involve removal of the bone tissue which is affected by cancer.

B. Neck dissection: This involves removal of lymph nodes and certain other tissues in the neck. This is done when the cancer spreads from the lip and oral cavity.

C. Plastic surgery: This is an operation that restores and improves the appearance of the parts of the body. Parts of the mouth, throat or neck may be treated by dental implants or a skin graft after removal of large tumors.

Although all the cancer is removed by the doctor that is seen at the time of surgery, still chemotherapy or radiation therapy is given after surgery to kill the cancer cells that are left. Adjuvant therapy is a lip cancer treatment given after the surgery to increase the chances of a cure.

2. Radiation therapy: In lip cancer treatment by radiation therapy high-energy X-rays or other types of rays are used to kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. Under external radiation therapy, machine is used from outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer. Whereas in internal radiation therapy or implant radiation radioactive substances sealed in needles, seeds, wires or catheters are placed directly near the cancer. The stage of cancer and type is considered at the time of treating lip cancer with radiation therapy.

3. Chemotherapy: In this type of lip cancer treatment by drugs, the aim is to stop the growth of cancer cells or stop them from dividing. Chemotherapy is either given by mouth or injected into a vein. The drug enters the blood stream and reach cancer cells throughout the body. This is called as systemic chemotherapy. By giving regional chemotherapy, the drug is placed directly into the spinal column, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen the drug mainly affects the cancer cells present in those areas. The type of the cancer and the stage is taken into account while giving lip cancer treatment by chemotherapy. Different other ways are also being explored to combine chemotherapy with other forms of cancer treatment to destroy the tumor and prevent it from spreading.

4. Hyperfractionated or superfractionated radiation therapy: This is a type of lip cancer treatment in which each day.s total dose of radiation is divided into two or more smaller doses, usually given across several hours instead of giving it at once.

5. Hyperthermia therapy: In this type of treatment of lip cancer the body tissue is heated above normal temperature to damage and kill cancer cells or to make them more sensitive to the effects of radiation and certain other anti-cancer drugs.