Lip Scar

[TJ-00]

I had a large acne cyst on my lip a few years ago that left me with a raised whitish scar. The texture of the scar is no different from the rest of my lip, it's not hard or fibrous. It hasn't lessened over the last few years as I'd hoped.

My first question is what is it classified as, and my second question is there anything that can be done to remove or minimize the appearance, such as cortisone, laser resurfacing, or similar. Pic at http://tinypic.com/157jms

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

As far as I can tell from the picture, it looks like ordinary scar tissue.  Cortisone flattens scars, but this one is flat already.  I doubt that lasers would do anything.  Lipstick would help (I can't tell, but assume you're male, so cosmetic cover-ups are not relevant.)  I think you'll just need to live with it.

By the way, it's not clear to me how an acne cyst--which doesn't usually affect the lip--would produce such a scar.  But whatever did produce the mark seems to have left a permanent one.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[TJ-00]

Thanks for the response. It was definitely an acne cyst, the only one I ever got on my lip, surprised my derm too.

It is raised if looked at from the side, so perhaps cortisone would help there. But as for the coloration, wouldn't micropigmentation (permanent make-up) help? Apparently they use it for other types of lip/scar discolouration.