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Venous lake on my lip

By December 23, 2008 - 8:20am
 
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I have this dark blue/purple lesion on my lip that keeps getting bigger. I went to see the dermatologist and she said that it's a venous lake. She said it was nothing I had to worry about. Does anyone else have one or know of someone who does? If so, what was your/their treatment?

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EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I have not yet got the result of the biopsy but I am very glad to say that the site of the biopsy is healing miraculously. It has had 4 days of healing and it's looking + feeling almost healed. Have had to be careful when eating and my lip did get really dry so I used a little tiny bit of bacitracin. I will update again when I know the result of the biopsy. It helps to know that I was not the only one who didn't know what on earth the thing was.
~C~

October 7, 2013 - 5:53am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I wish I had found this forum before! I have had a purple looking place on my lower lip close to the corner for about 30 years. The first time someone asked me about it was a dental assistant when I was in the Air Force -- I was about 22 then and I told him I'd always had it - no hesitation. Now I am almost 50 and until last year I was able to ignore the thing - it never got very big and never bothered me. But last year I had a lot of stress (more than my usual amount) and also was in a different colder environment which I love - but anyway - it seemed as if I noticed it had changed some. It seemed irritated a bit maybe slightly bigger and slightly red to add to the purple. Then sometimes it looked like it always had. But at one point it bothered me quite a lot and I remember putting antibiotic creme on it. Odd. Because it had never bothered me before. I was not really thinking straight - going to cancer treatments daily with my dad and really stressed out. When I got back to my home I made a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned and brought the thing to the attention of my dentist. He said the best thing to do was get it biopsied so I could get peace of mind and know for sure it is not harmful. He didn't really have a name for it but did say that there were several benign (non cancerous) things that it could be. The thing is my family history includes oral cancer (dad survived that 14 years ago) and so I let him do the biopsy this week. It was $250 out of pocket covers the dentist and lab and I will know in about a week the result. Oh how I wish I had found this list before going thru that.
Now I am worried because I think without a doubt from the descriptions here that mine was a venous lake --- and now it is healing from the biopsy which looked like a little v cut -- but now is scabbing over quickly, very itchy and its not much fun trying to eat. I have a very small mouth to begin with. Anyway, now I expect the result of the biopsy will come out clear and I hope I don't have to go have this thing removed surgically because of the disruption to it. I mean it was not even bleeding before. I have no idea what it will do now. I took a before picture. And I am taking daily pictures as it heals. I know he didn't put a stitch just used some smelly cauterizing stuff. This is the 2nd full day since the biopsy. Too bad I don't have a doctor I trust right now or I would have gone and talked to my doctor before letting the dentist biopsy. It was rather major in terms of having that done now that I am almost certain it was a non harmful venous lake. Maybe this will help someone else at least get more info before having stuff done. I probably reacted with fear because of my dads cancer being a head and neck one and the medical history.
~C~

October 4, 2013 - 12:44pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

I sincerely hope that the biopsy comes back clear. I fully understand why you did it. I went to four doctors and asked them what mine was, one of them could tell me! what a joke....so I googled purple spot on lip, in an instant I was looking at pictures that were exactly the same as the spot on my own lip. You would think doctors would know that these are called venous lakes...my faith in them is now diminished... Good luck.

Deb from OZ

October 7, 2013 - 3:12am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Deb from OZ

I had the same experience. Had a purple spot on my lip for years and recently Googled it and found it was a common venous lake. I did read the comments on this blog before selecting a treatment and got some feedback on the options between plastic surgery and laser treatment. Unfortunately my plastic surgeon convinced me that surgery was the best option and I regretted it immediately. It was much more intrusive than I expected. It's been 7 weeks since the surgery and I have a small pink bump on my lip where the anchor stitch was located and a hard pea sized lump inside my lip where scar tissue is forming. I wish I had gone the laser surgery route as most on this site are pleased with the results of laser removal.
Deb from Oz which treatment did you decide on and what were your results?
JB

October 7, 2013 - 10:26am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

I meant to say NOT one doctor could tell me....

I still have mine unfortunately because a specialist consultation is really expensive, one day I'll get it removed, I despise it and I'm SO over the comments I get, people think I have lip cancer, gets on my nerves.

Sorry to hear of your experience, but it's great you have told others and myself so we can make an informed decision. ;)

October 8, 2013 - 2:02am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

~C~
Sounds like the biopsy was not too intrusive since there were no stitches. You can always opt later for the laser surgery to have it removed without stitches or scaring. Keep us posted here on the results of the biopsy and any future treatment.

October 4, 2013 - 9:41pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

It is now a week after the venous lake surgery and I'm disappointed with the results. I strongly urge anyone to try laser removal before surgery. I wish I had. There is bruising on the opposite of my lip and I hope it's not permanent. Anyone else had surgery on a venous lake?

August 23, 2013 - 5:57am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I have had a venous lake on my lip for 10 years. It got bigger and more noticeable and I decided to have it removed. I was referred to a plastic surgeon and had surgery 3 days ago. I finally had to courage to look into the mirror today and I'm alarmed at the result. He hasn't removed the stitches yet but it looks awful. I wish I had sought out a dermatologist who utilizes the laser treatment. The plastic surgeon said it was too big for laser treatment but he doesn't utilize laser in his practice. Has anyone else gone the surgery route and what were your results?

thanks

August 18, 2013 - 10:38am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

44 year old male Toronto Canada. years ago i had cosmetic surgery to have one removed on my lip, off to the side. just enough of one be be annoying and noticable...would get sore. had it frozen and 'removed' 15 years later its back again. thinking of doing same thing but this time my wife uses a cutera laser and she recommended i try that..... all your experiences seem to have worked? its not super deep or large and have had laser hair removal done so if no worse i will do it. hopefully one treatment will be enough. anyone local that can offer past success??

May 1, 2013 - 9:07am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I had it for about a year. Then is went away on it's own. No treatment.

March 19, 2013 - 10:20am
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