Do you have black spot on lip? May it have resulted from blackheads, sexually transmitted infections, blood blisters, vitamin deficiency, smoking or hormonal imbalances? Get insights as we explore more on the causes of black spots on both the upper and lower lips. You will also learn more about the blackheads and blood blisters on lips.
Black Spot on Lip
Having black spots on your lips can be quite embarrassing and can lower your self-esteem as they affect the appearance of your lips and your general look. It is also alarming to have a sudden appearance of black marks on your lip since it can be symptomatic to a serious underlying condition.
Some of the black spots may fade away after using various remedies and treatments while others won’t go away easily no matter what. There are various causes that can result to this lip condition. Some of them includes the following:
- Vitamin B deficiency
Lack or inadequate vitamin B in your body is the main causes of black spots on lips and tongue. Vitamin plays a very big role in energy production and making red blood cell. Therefore, its deficiency can lead to various conditions and complications.
Although vitamins are found in many foods that we eat, most of them are destroyed when cooking food and excessive consumption of alcohol. Taking poor diet can also lead to deficiency of vitamin B in your body. Taking food that is rich in vitamin B or supplements can help to fix your problem.
- Hormonal changes
Both men and women normally experience hormone imbalances at some point in their life. For instance, during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, menopause and taking birth control pill, our bodies undergoes hormonal imbalances that can lead to black spot on lip among other skin problems.
When having severe hormonal imbalances, it is advisable to visit your health care provider for treatment. You will be given some medicines that helps to restore the normal hormone levels in your body.
- Excessive smoking and alcohol abuse
Excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco smoking can cause black spot on lower lip skin and other parts of your mouth. If it is a must you have to smoke and drink, then do it moderately. Alcohol and tobacco smoke contains harmful chemicals that can affect your health.
Apart from the dark spots on lips, smoking also increases the risk of developing dangerous conditions like cancer. Quit smoking and focus on how to get rid of black spots on lips and detoxifying your body.
- Allergic reaction
Some of the black spots may result from an allergic reaction. Oral and skin care products like toothpaste, lipstick, makeup, lip balm, lip gloss and other cosmetics may contain an allergen that may result to an allergic reaction.
An allergic reaction can lead to various symptoms like dark dots on lips, lip swelling and bumps on tongue and other oral cavities. Try to change your cosmetics and oral care products when having black spot on lip or other part of your face and mouth.
- Excessive sun exposure
Exposing your lips to the sun especially during the summer time can lead to damaged lips. It also increases the risk of developing cancer when you are exposed to ultra-violet rays. Protect your skin and lips by applying a lip gloss containing sunscreen and wearing long sleeved clothes.
- Excessive iron in your body
Having black spots on your lips can be symptomatic to excessive iron in your body. This condition can make your lips to look dry, cracked and generally unhealthy. Make an appointment with your doctor when you suspect that you are having this medical condition.
- Low quality lip products
Using inexpensive, low quality and expired lip products like lip makeup, lip gloss and lipstick can also cause the black spots. Ensure to use a high quality lip care products and check for the expiry date before purchasing such product.
- Lip licking and biting
Licking and biting your lips constantly can result to the black spots. Try to be very careful when eating to avoid biting the lips. It is also important to avoid the habit of licking your lip when trying to get rid of the black spots.
- Ill-fitting dentures
A black spot on lip can also result from ill-fitting dentures. When buying the dentures, ensure that they fit well. Wearing too tight or loose dentures can cause friction that results to black spots on your lips and other oral cavities. Visit your dentist to fix them well to avoid such problems.
- Cancer
Although in rare cases, having dark spots on the lips can be an indication of mouth cancer. Such spots are usually painless and resistance to home remedy treatment. Over-exposure of your lips to sun rays and smoking increases the risk of developing cancer.
It is easier to treat oral cancer when discovered early. Unfortunately, most of the people normally discovers they are suffering from cancer during the secondary stage when it has already spread to the surrounding tissues. However, this condition can be treated through surgery to remove the affected cells, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
- Dehydration
Having inadequate water into your body can lead to dryness of your lip. Dry lips can crack to expose the internal tissues to bacterial infections that can result to black spots. Keep your body hydrated by taking plenty of water. You can also apply a moisturizer on your lips to prevent dryness or cracking.
- Hyper-pigmentation
Having excessive pigmentation on your lips can also result to black spots. There is various remedies you can use to fix this condition. Continue to read to get enlightened on some of them.
Black Spot on Lip that won’t go away
Do you have black spots on your lips that won’t go away easily? Having black spots on your lips that won’t heal easily may be as a result of lip cancer. This occurs when you have uncontrolled growth of cancer cells on your lips.
Lip cancer is among the types of oral cancer that affect throat and other oral cavities. Although it is rare but it commonly affects the lower lip due to squamous cell carcinoma. Symptoms of lip cancer varies from one person to the other depending with severity.
However, the common symptoms includes a sore that don’t heal easily, discolored lump on the lip, numbness and swollen lymph nodes when other parts of the mouth are affected. It may be difficult to identify lip cancer during the initial stages since the symptoms are similar to those of other conditions.
Although everyone can get lip cancer, the chances increases due to smoking tobacco or using smokeless tobacco, excessive consumption of alcohol and over-exposure to ultra-violet rays from the sun. Males can also develop this condition after suffering from human papillomavirus. Other risk factors includes having a family history of cancer.
Lip cancer is easily treated when discovered in its initial stages. However, most of the people will suspect this condition during the secondary stage when most of the tissues are damaged. It is important to visit your doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
Diagnosing includes biopsy whereby some of the affected cells are taken and examined under an electric microscope to determine the presence of cancer cells. Treatment involves surgery to remove the affected cells, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Black Spot on Lip STD
Have you developed dark spots on your lips some days after engaging in unprotected sexual contact? Black spots can also appear on your lips due to sexually transmitted infections like syphilis, HIV and genital herpes as shown below:
- Syphilis
Syphilis is a highly contagious bacterial infection that is caught by involving in sexual activities like oral or anal sex, kissing and direct contact with blisters from an infected person.
This infection is characterized with various symptoms like small painless sores on the lips and around the genitals, red rash in the palms and feet soles, black spot on lip that may turn dark, tiredness, fever, muscle and joint pains and swollen lymph nodes.
Visit your doctor for treatment when having syphilis since it won’t heal on its own. It can be treated by either taking a course of antibiotic tablets or an injection of antibiotics. Treatment is determined with how long you have had the infection.
- Genital herpes
Genital herpes normally manifest itself as cold sores on your lips. This infection is caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 or 2. It is a highly contagious infection that is spread through sexual activities like kissing, direct body contact with the sores, oral or anal sex.
It features as pain, itchiness, sores around the genital areas and mouth. This infection has no treatment, however, you alleviate the symptoms and boost the healing process by taking antiviral medicines. The antiviral medicines includes acyclovir, Val acyclovir and Fanciclovir.
- HIV
HIV does not cause black spot on lip directly. It lowers your body immune system making it prone to other conditions that results to dark spots on lips. So far this infection has no treatment, however, you can prevent it by having protected sex, abstaining from sex or having one faithful sexual partner.
Blackheads on Lip
Blackheads are small dark bumps that commonly appears on the lip line, ear, nose and any other part of your body. They are referred to as blackheads since they causes a black spot on the affected areas. They are formed when the hair follicle become clogged up with excessive oil or sedum, dead skin cells, bacteria and other debris.
When the clogged pore becomes open, the air oxidizes the accumulated material to become black in color and hence the name blackheads. The chances of developing blackheads increases under the following circumstances:
- Hormonal imbalances. During puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause that activates the sebaceous gland to release excessive oil that may end up blocking the hair follicles.
- The type of your skin. People have different types of skin, some may have a skin that produces more oil that may clog the pores to form a blackhead on your lip line and other parts of your body.
- Poor personal hygiene. Just like any other types of pimples, blackheads can develop on your lips due to poor personal hygiene. Not cleaning your mouth after eating greasy foods can clog the pores on your lip line to cause blackheads.
- Poor diet that is greasy and fatty. Eating a diet that is greasy and fatty increases the chances of developing blackheads that ends up to a black spot on lip or around your mouth. A part from clogging the pores on your lips when eating, they also increases the amount of fat in your body.
- Poor quality lip makeup. Using inexpensive and poor quality lip makeup like lipstick, lip gloss or lip balm that are oily can clog the hair follicles on your lip line to form the blackheads or whiteheads.
- Presence of propionibacterium acnes on your lip. This is a type of bacteria that causes acne on different types of your skin. It can attack your lips to cause blackheads or other types of pimples.
- Certain medications. Medications that contains corticosteroids, lithium and androgen increases the risk of developing blackheads on your lips and other parts of your body.
- Using oral care products containing fluoride. Sing a toothpaste containing fluoride increases the chances of developing acne around your lips.
Blackheads can be embarrassing since they affect the appearance of your lips and general appearance of your face. Therefore, there are various home remedies and treatments you can use to get rid of blackheads on your lips. Some of them includes:
- Exfoliate your lips regularly by brushing with a soft-bristle brush to get rid of blackheads and any black spot on lip.
- Use over-the-counter products containing alpha hydroxyl acid, benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid.
- Clean your mouth thoroughly after eating greasy of fatty foods to prevent blackheads from developing.
- Steam your lips to open the clogged pores.
- Use honey and milk pore strip to extract the blackheads.
- Exfoliate your lips using a mixture of baking soda and water.
Black Spot on Upper Lip
Do you have dark spots on your upper lip? Over-exposure to the sun is the major cause of dark patches on the upper lip. You will notice this condition few days after spending a lot of time outside on a sunny day without wearing sunscreen. The upper lip skin is sensitive, therefore exposing it to the sun for a long time can result to more melanin production.
Some facial hair may also appear on the upper lip. Removing such hair aggressively through waxing or shaving can leave small injuries on the lip line. This may end up causing tiny dark spots on the upper lip especially on the vermillion boarder.
The other causes that we had read earlier like allergic reaction, hormonal imbalances, inexpensive and poor quality lip care products, conditions like cancer, hyper-pigmentation, ill-fitting dentures, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption can also lead to darkening of your upper lips.
Black Spot on Lip Blood Blister
Dark spots can also appear on the lips as a result of blood blisters. A blister is a fluid-filled bump that can appear on any part of your body including the lips, inside mouth, hands and feet. The size and the shape of the blister is determined by the cause.
A blood blister can appear on any part of your lip including the lip line, inside lips and at the corners on the lips. Blood blisters are characterized with various symptoms that includes tingling of the affected tissues, tiny bump on the lip, painful sore, swollen bump and redness.
Severe blistering can cause fever, muscle pain and generally feeling unwell. Most of the blood blisters normally heal on their own without treatment while others may require a medical treatment. Blood blisters can occur as a result of numerous reasons that includes the following:
- Black blood blister on lip due to allergic reaction
Can allergic reaction cause a dark blood blister on your lip? The answer is probably yes. An allergen found in foods, medication and oral care products can trigger an allergic reaction. An allergic reaction is always accompanied with other symptoms like irritation of the oral tissues, sneezing, vomiting and skin rash among others.
Try to avoid foods and drinks like alcohol that can result to blood blisters on your lips. Severe allergic reaction can cause a conditions known as anaphylaxis. It causes your lips to become swollen and may require a medical treatment.
- Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
Black spot on lip blood blister can also result from smoking and alcohol abuse. Tobacco smoke contains harmful chemicals that increases the chances of getting oral cancer. It also causes tiny blood blisters inside lower lip when exposed to the mucous membrane of the lower lip.
On the other hand, excessive alcohol consumption causes dehydration that can lead to dry lips. As you read earlier, dryness is among the causes of dark spots on lips. You have to stop the habit of smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol when trying to get rid of the blisters.
- Could black spot on your lip blood blister be a sign of cancer?
Tiny blood blisters on lip that won’t go away easily can be a sign of cancer. These abnormal bumps usually bleeds easily and are characterized with other symptoms like black or white patches on lips, swelling and tenderness of the jaws and recurring ulceration in the mouth.
Some of your lifestyle and habits like excessive alcohol consumption, smoking tobacco or using smokeless tobacco increases the chances of developing lip cancer. Alcohol and tobacco smoke contains toxins that irritates the mucous membrane of your lips to cause infections and life threatening conditions like cancer.
It is important to visit your health care provider immediately when suspecting to have lip cancer. The doctor will perform various test to determine the damage caused by your condition. Treatment is determined by the severity of your condition. However, you may undergo surgery to remove the affected tissues, radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
- Can vitamin deficiency cause black spot on lip blood blisters?
Deficiency of vitamin B-12, vitamin C and some minerals like zinc and folate can result to tiny blood blisters on the oral cavities including the lips.
Although most of the foods we eat contains plenty of vitamins, most of them are destroyed during cooking while others are not absorbed into our body due to excessive consumption of alcohol or as a result of other body conditions.
Eating food that is rich in vitamin B-12, vitamin C and minerals like vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, poultry and meat may help to boost the amount of vitamins and minerals in your body. Alternatively, you can take vitamin and mineral supplements in order to prevent blistering of the lips and other oral cavities.
- Black spot on lip blood blister after lip piercing
A blood blister can develop inside the lip near the pierced site after lip piercing. Given that your mouth contains numerous bacteria and other pathogenic micro-organisms, they can enter your piercing to cause an infection. Practicing poor oral hygiene after lip piercing also increases the chances of getting an infection.
An infected lip piercing is also characterized with other symptoms like swelling, redness, irritation and inflammation, swollen lymph nodes, presence or yellow or green discharge from the affected area. It is advisable to follow the aftercare instructions provided to prevent infections.
- Dark spots on lips due to angina bullosa haemorrhage
This is a condition that causes dark blood blisters to develop on the mucous membrane of the lips and other oral cavities. The cause of this condition is unknown but it is believed to be trigged with mouth injuries or trauma that results from biting, scalding, irritation from ill-fitting dentures among other conditions.
Black Spot on inside of Lip
What might be the cause of black spots on inside of lips? Black spots can appear inside your lips due to various reasons including cigarette smoking, constant lip biting, deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals, hyperpigmentation inside lips, hormonal imbalances, excessive iron in your body, irritation from hot foods and drinks among other causes.
Serious life threatening conditions like cancer can also cause a black spot on lip. It is therefore important to visit your healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment.
However, most of the dark spots normally disappears after making some lifestyle adjustments like avoiding excessive consumption of alcohol and smoking, taking vitamin supplements and minimizing the time you spend outside on a sunny day.