Can a cold sore turn into a canker sore?

[Nyx001]

So last Thursday (a week ago) I woke up with one small blister on my bottom lip ALMOST on the inner part (very close but not quite). So I treated it as a cold sore (I hardly ever get them and this was in a spot I’ve never had one before. But my sister and mom already both had a cold sore. I’m very careful about not sharing anything but who knows someone could have taken a sip of my water or something). I spent about two days trying a few things (I was quite harsh on it) including Abreva (which really did nothing) peppermint oil, and hydrogen peroxide. But the best was apple cider vinegar, which dried it right up into a scab in a few hours.

Now the area above the blister/scab, which spreads into the beginning of the inner lip, turned white and ‘gooey like’ (like an ulcer). I thought maybe it was an effect of the hydrogen peroxide or the vinegar. A few days later the scab came off. The blister was totally gone but instead of new lip skin it was very raw and bloody, so obviously the skin hadn’t healed yet. I applied some HP to prevent infection. Then the raw skin (where the cold sore was) turned white like the skin above it already was.

Now I’m prone to canker sores and this looks exactly like one. White coloured ulcer with a red boarder around it. It doesn’t look like a cold sore. There is no blister anymore. No ‘fluid’ whatsoever. I think it definitely started off as a cold sore. But maybe treating it so aggressively caused some trauma and now I have a canker sore? I just don’t see how this can still be a cold sore because there are no blisters. If I peel off the ‘white skin’ (like I did accidentally with my tooth brush this morning ow!) it is raw and bloody underneath.

I got some Kank-a and hopefully that help the healing process.

[Nyx001]

Well my first cold sore has come back. The white stuff has been replaced with a definite cold sore blister. No matter what I put on it I cannot get it to dry up.

My lip dried up pretty badly and while picking at it (which I know I shoudn't have done) I accidently torn off some live skin on just the beginning on my inner lip which left an area (about half the size of a dime) raw. I applied some hydrogen peroxide and the raw area was quickly covered by this white membrane. I got a lot of swelling for about two days and the white membrane still stayed. If I put hydrogen on it, it kind of bubbles up and makes what looks like air pockets. I thought it was just a canker sore caused from the trauma of tearing off the skin but a few days later I got a few cold sore looking blisters below the area (on my outer lip. To clarify more: White membrane on inner lip, blisters on outter lip). Those blisters have dried up, but the white stuff remains. It's been about 5 days. 12 days in total!

Is it possible that that a cold sore can be covered by a 'white membrane'?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like a canker sore. Avoid spicy or acidic foods during this time.You can use topical ointments like numbing ointments, such as benzocaine (Oragel), anti-inflammatory (steroid) gels, Benadryl allergy liquid mouthwash, oral preparations of steroids and vitamin supplements.

But if the sores last for more than 3 wks or start spreading then please consult a dermatologist. In that case herpes simplex I has to be ruled out. You need to get some investigations like sample from the sores to identify the virus, culture analysis, Tzanck smear, antigen and antibody studies and blood sampling for antibody studies done to confirm the diagnosis.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[Nyx001]

If you want a better idea it looks  like this http://www.cidpusa.org/A/lip-ulcer-s.jpg

It says that lip ulcer is from Behcet's disease. I don't know if I have that, but that is definitely what the thing on my lip looks like.