hi there,
ok here goes, i know the post is long, but it is a strange a problem so please give it time, thanks!
i am a healthy 20 year old white male. i’m a smoker and a light drinker. i’ve been having this problem with my lips for around a month and a half now or 6 weeks-ish.
it all started when i was in work one saturday, and i had forgotten my chap stick. so i had resorted to licking my lips every now and again to maintain hydration. about an hour later i felt a strange sensation (not at all painful) on the lips and went to the bathroom to find out what was wrong and saw that my bottom lip had swollen a little, become red and had a few raised bumps (hard to see) when i stretched my lip out with my tongue. not thinking much of it, i stopped licking my lips and waited until i got home and applied some lypsyl to try and soothe it. they were feeling a little numb now.
when i woke my bottom lip was inflamed and had begun to crack over. thinking that this was a cold sore i applied some ‘blistex relief cream’ to the area, and within hours everything returned to normal with no numbness. feeling relieved i maintained the use of this cream for the next 2 1/2 weeks, but minor swelling was still evident when i stretched the lip out by the force of my tongue, this also brought out 2 dark dots near the left side of my bottom lip, which were slightly raised. as soon as i stop examining the lip and return it to normal it looks fine, and the dark dots are not visible.
a week later (week 3 of the problem) i bought another product called ‘lypsyl cold sore gel’, because although the blistex cream proved useful in relieving the symptoms, it was not treating it or curing it since as soon as i had stopped using it the symptoms would return within half a day.
with this new gel i immediately felt a numbing feeling in my lips, and about 2-3 hours later the lips began to crack and chap, and the dark dots were a little more evident. the longest i have gone with the use of this product is about 4 days where chapping was getting quite bad.
unfortunately i could not give the gel any more time as i work on the weekends and my job requires me to look my best, so i had to use blistex again, which makes the lips look normal cosmetically, but the problem is still very much there. (i also noticed on some days i get very slight redness on the skin near the outer corners of my eyes.)
now i know that cold sores last only 7-14 days max, but what i think has happened is that the blistex cream doesn’t give the cold sore time to run its course and merely pauses it, whereas the lypsyl gel seems to let the cold sore run its course, but i haven’t given the gel more than 4 days because of work.
i have to point out that no pus, fluid or blood has been secreted from my lips at any time, and it is not at all painful, even when i stretch them out, and only numb a little when using the lypsyl cold sore gel. only the bottom lip is affected mainly.
it may also be the case, however, that this is not a cold sore. i have researched this online and have come to some other possible conditions, none that fit my symptoms exactly. it could be eczema of the lip, cheilitis or worse of all, cancer of the lip!!! i don’t think its cancer because i have had no ulcers at all, and with the application of blistex my lips look normal. cheilitis seems the most likely, but i can’t find enough info on it.
so if anyone has any info on what i might have and how to treat it, then please, please tell me! i can’t find any info about these strange, raised dark dots anywhere!
i have some pictures of my lip which would help my explanation a lot more, but i don’t know how to post them here.
looking forward to some interesting replies from what i consider one of the greatest collections of minds on any forum, and thanks for taking the time to read through this lengthy post!
ps. this is my last resort before i see a dermatologist, i’m the type that always just lets it heal, but this ain’t healing! :smack:
, but if you’ve had sex even one time in your life you need to see a doctor, or your local county health department, and get that blood test done (and yes, syphilis is a reportable disease, so yes, if it’s positive they’re gonna need to know the names of all your sex partners).