Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

Lip issues

Okay so first I would like to say thanks to anyone who might be able to help me. Before I even start describing the issue it should be noted I had a sample taken directly from my lip by a doctor and the HSV test came back negative. Also I had a blood test for STDs and everything came back negative. These problems started happening over a year ago. It may be a coincidence but I smoked cigarettes for about a month during the previous year, and I drank very heavily during the year previous to noticing these issues. Other than that one year I have never smoked and rarely consumed alcohol. I now do neither. I have a mixed diet. For lunch I have fast food or whatever is around, and for dinner I usually eat fruits, vegetables, and fish or chicken. I usually drink soda with lunch; and water for the rest of the day. I have tried all combinations of diet and supplements. Nothing helped.  I exercise regularly, so I'm in shape, and I am a very happy person.

So here's the problem. I get small "pustules?" on my top lip almost daily. Not the border but the actual lip part. They look like tiny white-head zits that barely raise the skin when they are at their worst. They do not come out of the skin like a blister. They stay under the skin but cause it to rise as they get bigger. There are about seven locations where they occur, and they only occur in these exact locations. All locations are spread across my top lip, and not in the corners. It is very uncommon for me to have more than one or two at a time, and there seem to be three locations where it happens more regularly. They start out as tiny yellow (not clear) pockets of pus barely noticeable under the skin of my lip and within a few hours gets barely large enough to be noticeable by me. When they are at their worst other people might be able to see them if they are close to me. Any other time I can usually only see them when I am inspecting my lips. If I run my lips under water for a couple minutes the to allow the skin to get really soft then I can take a small piece of toilet tissue and make it into a point and push on the area just barely which easily causes the pus to come out instantly with no effort. There is only a tiny amount of pus. Once it comes out my lip looks like the pore is inflamed very slightly. It really looks like a needle has poked a tiny hole in my lip. There is absolutely no blood. If all the pus comes out then the tiny amount of inflammation will completely disappear by the end of the day. I have two spots that do this almost daily. I have searched the internet and tried many many different approaches. Nothing helped and I can't find a solution. As I mentioned earlier I went to a skin doctor. He took a sample of pus directly from my lip and the test came back HSV negative. He said he didn't know what it was, and told me to just use some medicated chapstick they had for sale. I used it for a long time and there was no change.I also went to my regular doctor and had a blood test for all STDs. Everything came back negative. The problem has been going on consistently for over a year. There is no pain.

If there are any more details I can provide then I'll be happy to do so. I tried taking pictures with my phone but the areas are really small, and it just wasn't showing up.

Thank you for any advice or theories.
3 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
Side note: it is getting harder to do a bad diet test because I have gotten so used to drinking water that soda doesn't appeal to me as much now. I have moments of weakness when a Dr. Pepper tastes so good, but most of the time the thought of any soda when I'm thirsty seems too thick and syrupy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you for your input, and thank you so much for taking the time to give me a direction to research.I have researched cheilitis glandularis quite a bit and determined that it seems similar (on paper) but somewhat different from my condition. It seems to only occur on the bottom lip, and my issue is only on the top. I'm not ruling out the possibility that my condition could be some kind of variation of the one you recommended or a different form. I am ruling it as unlikely in my opinion that this solves my diagnosis. Every time I think I have exhausted myself with research I seem to find yet another condition that sounds similar. I do however have an update.

Update: I have made a huge breakthrough with this problem. I started eating a fruit salad every day and drinking nothing but water. Guess what... GONE! I did this for about a month, and it slowly faded. Now I am phasing my old diet back into my life one item at a time to see if it was a certain item or if it was just a horrible diet. I have been drinking sweet tea during the day and water at night. I have also been skipping the fruit salad many days. Still there is nothing. There is absolutely no way this has been a coincidence. I'm not saying the problem is gone. I am instead claiming that my diet causes it to make it happen. A couple weeks ago I had a weekend when I stayed home and relaxed the whole time. During this weekend I abandoned water completely and drank a LOT of soda, ate chips, and ate Big macs etc.. That week I had the issue. That was the first time I tried that combination of diet. Since then I have been drinking nothing but water and eating fruit at night but during the day I have been eating fast food. Nothing. One soda a day doesn't cause it to happen. This is still is the test phase of course. I haven't had the issue for a while so I am ready to do the soda/junk food test again. I will do my best to upload a pic the next time it happens. I don't know what specifically I did that weekend, or even for sure if it was my diet, but I am focusing on diet tests for now and ruling out one thing at a time. Until then, here are the things I know for a fact I can do without causing it to happen.

drinking:
1 soda a day
lots of water

eating:
fruit salad
tuna salad and crackers
1 fast food meal a day
Helpful - 0
563773 tn?1374246539
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
It can be due to cheilitis glandularis which is of three types: simple, superficial suppurative and deep suppurative. There are dilated ductal openings on the mucosal surface of the lips which may have suppurative discharge. Confirmation is done by bacterial and fungal culture of the suppurative discharge from the lips and lip biopsy.

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 doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.



Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Dermatology Community

Top Dermatology Answerers
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Learn to identify and prevent bites from summer’s most common pests.
Doctors argue for legislation to curb this dangerous teen trend in the latest Missouri Medicine report.
10 ways to keep your skin healthy all winter long
How to get rid of lumpy fat on your arms, hips, thighs and bottom
Diet “do’s” and “don’ts” for healthy, radiant skin.
Images of rashes caused by common skin conditions