Abstract
The cleavage lines of the skin have been variously called Langer’s lines, cleavage lines, and Dupuytren’s lines. These names indicate the fact that when an attempt is made to open a round hole in the skin, instead of a round hole a split occurs like the crevasses in a snow field or a glacier. With the conviction that such lines could be found also in the oral mucosa, the mucosa of the palate, cheeks, and floor of the mouth were examined in Japanese cadavers, using the same methods as are used for similar experiments on the skin. Using an awl round in cross section and conical at the tip, the mucosa was pierced and the piercings were stained with black ink. As a result, cleavage lines appeared in the same way as in the skin and these were named provisionally “Mucosal cleavage lines”.
