 The proposed dog-ears excised, that were to be discarded during reconstruction, were evaluated for the presence of any visible lesions i.e. ephelid, lentigo, seborrheic keratosis, nevi. Dog-ears with any skin lesions were excluded. The specimens were inked by the surgeon on the side to be cut by the histotechnician. The specimens were placed in formalin bottles and submitted to the pathology department at Mayo Clinic Rochester for processing. The tissue was cut 4 microns along its long access and stained with routine H E and Mart-1 MelanA immunostains. 