recieved stitches on lip (1 month ago)..not area is hard (lump)

Hi there, I fell exactly one month ago and pretty much chipped my teeth, however as i fell my two front teeth peirced my botton lip and came thru the skin (i know it was a hard fall). I recieved stitches on my skin below my lip (non dissolvable) and had them removed (that healed and is ok) and recieved 5 stitches on my lip (dissolvable), now one month later the cut area on my lip seemed to have gotten hard, i have feeling in this area.. still feels a little numb, but its pretty hard now.  I still see the dissolvable stitches on the lip and still see the area that was cut however it looks to still be healing and the color is almost the color of the rest of my lip.  Any ideas? does it still have a chance to heal back to normal or will it always be hard like this? what should i be doing? how long do i wait if attention is needed? ice?   thanks a bunch

[Howard Rosenberg, MD]

This is a common questions on this site.  Deep lip lacerations aften heal with scarring within the lip that may leave a lump or fullness.  It is always at its worst at one month post injury.  If fullness and a lump remain after three or four more months, then a surgical revision of the may may be appropriate.  If the dissolvable sutures are still visible at this stage, I would have them removed.

[b2092]

A related discussion, scar tissue in my lip was started.