Warts on the lip: how to get rid of them and what to do, causes and treatment

Why do warts appear on the lip?

Warts on the lip can appear in men and women at any age. They also often affect children and adolescents. The only reason for the appearance of these benign growths is the papillomavirus. The latter has a high level of contagiousness and is easily transmitted from one person to another through contact in everyday life, as well as during intimate intercourse.

HPV infection with the subsequent appearance of warts on the lips can occur through kissing, unprotected oral sex, as well as through the use of decorative cosmetics (lipsticks, pencils, lip balms) and personal hygiene items shared with an infected person. Sometimes the source of a viral infection can be shared utensils with a sick person. However, such cases of transmission of the virus are rarer than through personal contacts, since the pathogen is not able to live long in an external dry environment.

Another factor that increases the risk of transmitting the virus is the thin, sensitive skin of the lips. In this zone, it is easily damaged, injured, and through abrasions, scratches and cracks, the papillomavirus easily penetrates into deeper layers and begins its pathogenic activity.

The incubation period of HPV ranges from 1 month to several years. Many people are interested in whether warts can appear on the lips immediately after contact with an infected person. The answer to this question is negative. It may take several months for new growths to appear on the skin. And in some cases they never form. It depends on the individual characteristics of the human body.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the transition of HPV from the passive to the active stage:

Weakened immunity;
Frequent stress and nervous exhaustion;
Chronic infectious diseases;
Hypothermia, colds;
Sharp hormonal surges;
Having bad habits;
Frequent change of sexual partners.

However, even if a person does not develop warts on the lower lip or upper lip, the infected person is a viral danger and can easily infect healthy people.

Prevention

Since the virus is activated only at those moments when the human body is weakened, patients with HPV will need to constantly maintain their immunity at the proper level. This can be done with proper nutrition, hardening the body and taking immunostimulating drugs. At the moment the formations appear, the patient can infect other people. Therefore, those who are not sick with papillomavirus should avoid oral contact with a person on whose lips neoplasms are noticeable.

You should definitely use protective equipment during sexual intercourse, because the virus is easily transmitted during intimacy. At the same time, the infected person himself may not know that he is sick, which means he can infect his partner unintentionally.

What do warts on the lip look like?

Photo of warts on lips

Since the papillomavirus has many different types, the neoplasms it causes can have different appearances. Warts on the lips can be like this:

Vulgar (simple) . Such growths are most common. They are caused by non-oncogenic strains of the virus. They look like small skin nodules. Their surface is uneven, as if wrinkled, and there is no skin pattern. The size is usually within a few millimeters. But occasionally such growths can grow and reach a diameter of 15 mm. Initially, these neoplasms do not differ in color from the shade of healthy skin around them. But the older the wart vulgaris, the more likely it is that it will darken, become more pronounced and brighter. As a rule, these growths are painless and do not cause any discomfort.
Flat (youthful) . This type of neoplasm protrudes several millimeters above the surface of the skin. They have a round shape and clear contours. Usually do not reach large sizes. Their surface is smooth and even. The color is no different from healthy epidermis. As a rule, such warts on the lips affect teenagers and tend to go away on their own.
Condylomas acuminata . These are also neoplasms caused by HPV, but they differ significantly from the warts described above. Condylomas are considered a manifestation of an infection provoked by oncogenic strains of papillomavirus. Most often, infection with condylomas occurs through oral sex. They look like cockscombs fused together. The shade rarely differs from healthy skin. They can affect both the outer and inner parts of the lip and mucous membrane. Sometimes they can provoke skin itching and burning in the affected area.
Filiform . They are also called acrochords. These warts on the lip can be elongated, oval, or round. They are attached to the skin with a thin stalk. They have an elastic, slightly loose structure. They can form groups or appear singly. They do not cause discomfort, but can be easily injured due to their shape.

Diagnostic methods

At the first appearance of growths on the lips, you should consult a dermatologist. Only he will be able to identify the formation and determine that it is papilloma or condyloma, and not a manifestation of any other disease.

As a rule, after consulting a doctor, an HPV test is prescribed, a tissue biopsy of the growth is performed, and only then appropriate therapy or radical removal of the tumor is prescribed.

In addition, this neoplasm can be malignant. It cannot be treated with the same methods as regular warts. In laboratory conditions, it is possible to identify both the nature of the growth and its benign quality.

What is the danger of warts on the lip?

Warts on the lip are, first of all, a pronounced cosmetic defect. They are located on a noticeable area of the face and can cause certain psychological discomfort in a person. However, in addition to this, they also pose a certain threat to the patient’s health.

Many people who first encountered this pathology are interested in what to do with warts on the lip. The answer is clear: treat under the supervision of a doctor. These are viral formations, which means that a person is an active carrier of HPV and poses a potential threat to others.

In addition, some warts can be caused by oncogenic strains of papillomavirus. This means that sooner or later the growths can degenerate and become malignant tumors, which require much more serious treatment than simple benign tumors.

There are many factors that can cause malignancy of warts on the lip. First of all, this is injury to growths. In the case of lips, this happens quite easily, since the integrity of thin and delicate skin and neoplasms here can be damaged by teeth, food, hands, and clothing.

Even if an injury to a wart does not lead to its degeneration, it can cause severe bleeding, inflammation, and the addition of an additional infection followed by suppuration.

Also, warts on the lips can grow, interfere with eating, speaking, and cause speech defects. When exposed to frosty air, painful cracks and crusts appear on these formations.

There is also a risk of self-infection. This happens especially often in children, when when the patient frequently touches the wart, he spreads the virus throughout the body. For this reason, pathological growths may appear in other areas.

Symptoms

If there are papillomas in intimate places, symptoms are divided into subjective (sensations, complaints) and objective (which can be directly seen by a specialist). Subjective ones include:

the presence of growths (single or multiple);
spots on the skin and mucous membranes of the genital organs;
itching and other unpleasant superficial sensations in the affected area;
pain during sexual intercourse;
if male papillomas in intimate places are located in the urethra, burning and painful itching and difficulty urinating may be observed.

The pathology is characterized by the presence of painful cracks and bleeding of the skin and mucous membranes.

Objective symptoms include:

rashes;
papules and spots;
wart-like papillomas;
pointed condylomas localized in the perineum and perianal area.

Methods for treating warts on the lip

If you are interested in how to get rid of a wart on the lip, then you should first of all consult a specialist. After a detailed diagnosis of the tumor, the doctor will prescribe a comprehensive course of treatment. Usually it is carried out in several directions: destruction of growths, drug assistance to the body in the fight against HPV.

Methods for removing warts on the lip

Usually, when dealing with warts on the lip, doctors first prescribe removal of the tumors using various instrumental techniques. Currently, there are several of them, and you can choose the right one individually for each patient. Let's consider the main methods of destruction of growths:

Laser coagulation . The main advantage of the laser beam is that it penetrates to the desired depth and this point can be easily controlled by the doctor so as not to damage healthy tissue. This method can get rid of any type of benign growths quickly and almost painlessly. In addition, laser removal of warts on the lip is recommended from an aesthetic point of view. After such a procedure, no traces in the form of scars remain on the delicate skin. The cost of the procedure is 800-2000 rubles in Russia and 300-650 hryvnia in Ukraine.
Radio wave coagulation . This method of eliminating warts on visible areas of the body is also one of the preferred ones. Its peculiarity is that the radio wave acts directly on the site of attachment of the formation to the skin. Removal is low-traumatic, does not cause bleeding and rarely leaves scars. Wound healing is also quick and painless. The price of radio wave removal of a wart on the lip is 2000-3000 rubles in Russia and 500-1300 hryvnia in Ukraine.
Cryoremoval . Involves the use of liquid nitrogen to remove build-up. Doctors use this method with caution in the case of tumors localized on the lips. This is due to the fact that liquid nitrogen, whose temperature is -190 degrees, can penetrate too deeply into the tissue. This provokes not only the death of pathological wart cells, but also healthy areas. This will cause scar formation in the future. Therefore, this procedure requires special skill of the doctor. The cost of cryo-removal is 500-1300 rubles in Russia and 200-450 hryvnia in Ukraine.
Surgical removal with a scalpel . Before removing a wart on the lip in this way, the doctor must determine the indications for this. These include the large size of the growth, the need for histological examination of the removed tissue, and its location on the inside of the lip. After removing the wart on the lip with a scalpel, cosmetic stitches are applied to the wound. The regeneration process in this case is quite long. Scarring of the skin is also likely. The price of surgical excision of the growth is 600-900 rubles in Russia and 200-300 hryvnia in Ukraine.

There is another instrumental way to eliminate formations on the skin - electrocoagulation. However, this is a rather traumatic method of exposure, and therefore it is practically not used on the lips, so as not to provoke deep damage to the soft tissues.

Medicines for warts on the lip

In the photo are preparations for warts on the lips

The localization of warts on the lip imposes certain restrictions on the choice of medications for the treatment of this pathology. Thus, it is not recommended to use cauterizing or destructive drugs in this area. These are various chemical solutions based on alkalis, acids, and phenol. This is due to the fact that thin skin can be easily damaged and cause great aesthetic damage to the face.

However, there are groups of drugs that help fight warts on the lips from the inside. These are various immunomodulatory and antiviral agents. They can be in the form of tablets or injections. They should only be prescribed by a doctor after a comprehensive blood test not only for the content and type of virus, but also after a number of additional tests. They help identify the viral load, the state of the immune system and some other indicators.

Immunomodulators are products that often contain animal interferon, which helps the human body launch the processes of producing its own antibodies and immune system cells. This group of drugs includes Imiquimod (from 3,700 rubles) and Cycloferon (from 300 rubles), as well as their analog Kagocel (about 300 rubles).

Antiviral medications also help the body fight the virus that causes lip warts. However, their activity is directed not at the human immune system, but at the causative agent of the disease. These medications can inactivate HPV and transfer the disease to a passive stage. They are not able to completely destroy the virus, but they can completely suppress it. Using these tools, you can prevent relapses after removing growths using instrumental methods. Currently, the following drugs are popular: oxolinic ointment (about 100 rubles), Panavir (about 170 rubles), as well as their analogs - Isoprinosine (about 700 rubles), Groprinosine (from 400 rubles).

Folk remedies against warts on the lip

It is not recommended to self-medicate warts on the lip. This is fraught with dangerous consequences, for example, burns, scars, suppuration, and malignancy of growths. Therefore, any traditional medicine recipes should first of all be discussed with a doctor before getting rid of a wart on the lip.

The following herbal remedies are safe and more or less effective:

Celandine juice . A traditional way to get rid of warts on the lower lip, upper lip and other organs. It is necessary to use fresh juice from a mature plant, preferably in the flowering phase. They need to lubricate the growth several times a day for 7-10 days. During this time, the new growth should darken and dry out.
Dandelion juice . The milky liquid that the plant releases after cutting has about the same effect on the wart as celandine juice. It should also be applied several times a day until the growth is completely eliminated.
Rowan juice . It has antiviral activity and can destroy pathological tumor tissue. You need to lubricate them with juice several times a day. You can also crush the berries into a paste and apply them to the wart as a compress.
Garlic . This plant is also capable of destroying viruses and stimulating local immunity. To remove a wart on the lip, you need to apply cut garlic cloves or a paste of them as compresses.