Pigment on the lips — moles, venous lakes and freckles — is often easier to treat than facial pigment. On Clarity 2, CO2 laser and aftercare.
Hello. This is Dr. Lee Yumin of MeSOnBom Clinic.
Many people only notice something dark on the lip while putting on lipstick, or when someone says "have you got something on your lip?"
People react quickly to blemishes on facial skin, but when pigment appears on the lips they often decide lips are an area where spots cannot be removed, and leave it.
To put the conclusion first: spots on the lips can be removed far more easily than people expect.
For those who give up without even asking, today I want to clear up the misconceptions about types of lip pigment and how they are removed.
Dark lesions on the lips are not a single condition.
Patients usually call them spots, but in practice they appear in various forms.
Ordinary moles (melanocytic nevus): common spots formed by proliferating melanocytes.
Venous lake: a vascular lesion with a red or dark blue tone, very common on the lips.
Freckles and blemishes: if you tend to develop freckles or blemishes on facial skin, pigment often appears on the lip mucosa too.
What I find most unfortunate is when patients assume the lips are too sensitive for treatment.
In fact lip pigment is no more difficult than ordinary skin pigment treatment, and is often removed more easily.
At our clinic we mainly use Clarity 2 or the CO2 laser, matching the device to the nature of the lesion.
The process is relatively simple.
A short treatment: the procedure itself is over in moments.
Momentary discomfort: because of the nature of the lip area it can sting a little, but the treatment is so short that it is easily tolerated.
Not every spot comes away in a single session, however.
Where there are a great many, or where a spot is deep-rooted and long-standing, treatment is divided safely across several sessions to avoid scarring.
A few cases to share.
Case 1 — a woman in her late twenties, with a spot on the lower lip.
Case 2 — a woman in her early thirties. She has had pronounced freckles since her teens, and at some point freckles appeared on the lips as well and she came to have them removed. The dark mark on the lower lip is a mole; the rest appear to be freckles that have developed on the lip. Before and after one session.
Case 3 — a woman in her late twenties. As with the case above, she had freckles on the face from childhood and at some point they appeared on the lips. We removed the lip freckles at the same time as the facial ones. Again, before and after a single session.
Case 4 — a woman in her early forties. After giving birth, many blemishes appeared on her face and at some point on the lips as well. In her case one session did not clear them completely, so lip blemish removal was performed twice.
Lip spot removal does not call for elaborate aftercare. But please remember the following for a quick, clean recovery.
Thorough moisturising: the lip may feel hot or develop a small blister afterwards. Rather than applying a regenerative tape, the most important thing is to keep the lip constantly moist by applying lip balm frequently.
Avoid irritating food (just three days): spicy and salty food and hot soup irritate the treated area and slow recovery. Please avoid them for just three days so the wound heals quickly.
A single small spot on the lip can dull your whole impression or become a source of stress.
Rather than deciding alone that nothing can be done, do come in and have it looked at.
You can have clear lips back more easily than you expect.
Our medical team will advise you based on your skin condition.
