Normal Lip Healing

[VeryConfuzzled]

Without trying to look too stupid here I'll Just say I punctured my lip.  My questions is, is it normal for a lip to become really swollen from a puncture, I can't find anything on it and while it has gotten much smaller it's freaking me out.  It is currently my profile picture.  Any thoughts?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Lips have abundant blood supply and if you have caused lip trauma by puncture then there is nothing to worry. Keep the area clean with topical antiseptics and apply some topical antibiotic cream like Mupirocin or Neosporin. For the pain take some anti inflammatory pain killer like Ibuprofen or acetaminophen and consult your doctor for a prescription of oral antibiotics.

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.

[maatson]

Very interesting. The response of the lip or skin to minimal injury with a papular flare is known as pathergy. While this is diagnostic in behcet's you need not worry. This occurs in normal people too.