man, with the vermilion border mostly brown in colour, with pinkness in the inner part. The lips are composed wholly of
soft tissue. The skin of the face is thicker than the skin overlying the lips where blood vessels are closer to the surface. As a consequence, the margin of the lips shows a transition between the thicker and thinner skin, represented by the vermilion border. It therefore has the appearance of a sharp line between the coloured edge of the lip and adjoining skin. It has been described as a pale, white rolled border and also as being a red line. Among dark-skinned people, the vermilion border may be brown instead of red-pink in colour. This fine line of pale skin accentuates the colour difference between the
vermilion and normal skin. Along the upper lip, two adjacent elevations of the vermilion border form the
Cupid's bow.
Microanatomy The vermilion border represents the change in the epidermis from highly
keratinized external skin to less keratinized internal skin. It has no
sebaceous glands,
sweat glands, or
facial hair. • This epithelium contains
eleidin which is transparent and the blood vessels are near the surface of the papillary layer, revealing the "red blood cell" color. At the angles of the mouth, there are sebaceous glands, without hair follicles, which are called
Fordyce spots. ==Clinical significance==