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Anonymous
I just wanted to let everyone here now about my experience having the venous lake in my lip treated. I'm 30, male and live in the UK and I had a noticeable venous lake on my lower lip. It had been growing slowly for a few years and was quite large and deep within my lip. While it wasn't obvious all the time, sometimes it would swell up and look like I had a black ink on my lip (usually when my blood pressure was up I guess). Sometimes people would tell me I had ink on my lip or ask me what was wrong and after a while I noticed I was curling my lip under or trying to hide it. I was even called “lippy” at work!
I saw my GP (doctor) and he basically advised not to mess with it. I lived with it a bit longer and was eventually referred to a dermatologist. They tried to freeze it but it was pointless. I was then recommend laser surgery but told I couldn't have it free on the NHS.
Eventually I went to a private cosmetic surgeon. While the surgeon did have access to lasers he recommend against them saying that my venous lake was too deep and too large. He explained that in order for the laser to penetrate deep enough to effect the lesion, the surface of my lip would become much hotter. He said I would likely need several treatments by laser (costly) and complications (scarring etc.) would be possible.
Instead he suggested I had it cut out. I was very worried about this. He explained that I would probably be left with a small line or crease on my lip, but as you have these on your lips anyway it wouldn't be very noticeable. He said that there is always a possibility of more widespread complications but this would not be likely. He said most people who have the treatment are very happy with it.
After a few months thinking about it I agreed. The treatment itself was absolutely painless (apart from the little aesthetic injection – but that wasn't too bad!). He cut a small line in my lip, took out the venous lake, and stitched it back up again with dissolvable stitches. The whole thing only took 5 or 10 minutes and I couldn't believe how quick and painless it was.
I was expecting my lip to swell up quite badly but it didn't. The most noticeable thing about it was some blue ink the surgeon had put on my lip (which took a few days to come off). In the days after my treatment my lips became very, very dry. I don't know if this was because I had developed a habit somehow or if it was a reaction to the surgery. No matter how much lip balm I put on them they just went hard and started cracking. This looked a bit messy but after a week or two my lips peeled and started to look more normal. After a few more days the stitches started to come out which looked like small bits of white cotton which I carefully trimmed. This lasted about 3 days and was painless.
The treatment cost about £800. I know it's expensive but I'm glad I had it done (about three months ago). My lip looks a lot better now – there is a very small scar/indent but this isn't isn't really noticeable and just looks like an ordinary feature of my lip (certainly much better than my venous lake). I can feel a small lump inside my lip but this seems to be slowly getting better and is not visually noticeable. The surgeon said there is always a possibility that the venous lake could return but that this isn't very likely, especially in the next few years.
Obviously there are no guarantees that someone else will have the same experience as me or that they will be as equally satisfied with the result, but I thought someone might find some the above information useful. Good luck.
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I just wanted to let everyone here now about my experience having the venous lake in my lip treated. I'm 30, male and live in the UK and I had a noticeable venous lake on my lower lip. It had been growing slowly for a few years and was quite large and deep within my lip. While it wasn't obvious all the time, sometimes it would swell up and look like I had a black ink on my lip (usually when my blood pressure was up I guess). Sometimes people would tell me I had ink on my lip or ask me what was wrong and after a while I noticed I was curling my lip under or trying to hide it. I was even called “lippy” at work!
I saw my GP (doctor) and he basically advised not to mess with it. I lived with it a bit longer and was eventually referred to a dermatologist. They tried to freeze it but it was pointless. I was then recommend laser surgery but told I couldn't have it free on the NHS.
Eventually I went to a private cosmetic surgeon. While the surgeon did have access to lasers he recommend against them saying that my venous lake was too deep and too large. He explained that in order for the laser to penetrate deep enough to effect the lesion, the surface of my lip would become much hotter. He said I would likely need several treatments by laser (costly) and complications (scarring etc.) would be possible.
Instead he suggested I had it cut out. I was very worried about this. He explained that I would probably be left with a small line or crease on my lip, but as you have these on your lips anyway it wouldn't be very noticeable. He said that there is always a possibility of more widespread complications but this would not be likely. He said most people who have the treatment are very happy with it.
After a few months thinking about it I agreed. The treatment itself was absolutely painless (apart from the little aesthetic injection – but that wasn't too bad!). He cut a small line in my lip, took out the venous lake, and stitched it back up again with dissolvable stitches. The whole thing only took 5 or 10 minutes and I couldn't believe how quick and painless it was.
I was expecting my lip to swell up quite badly but it didn't. The most noticeable thing about it was some blue ink the surgeon had put on my lip (which took a few days to come off). In the days after my treatment my lips became very, very dry. I don't know if this was because I had developed a habit somehow or if it was a reaction to the surgery. No matter how much lip balm I put on them they just went hard and started cracking. This looked a bit messy but after a week or two my lips peeled and started to look more normal. After a few more days the stitches started to come out which looked like small bits of white cotton which I carefully trimmed. This lasted about 3 days and was painless.
The treatment cost about £800. I know it's expensive but I'm glad I had it done (about three months ago). My lip looks a lot better now – there is a very small scar/indent but this isn't isn't really noticeable and just looks like an ordinary feature of my lip (certainly much better than my venous lake). I can feel a small lump inside my lip but this seems to be slowly getting better and is not visually noticeable. The surgeon said there is always a possibility that the venous lake could return but that this isn't very likely, especially in the next few years.
Obviously there are no guarantees that someone else will have the same experience as me or that they will be as equally satisfied with the result, but I thought someone might find some the above information useful. Good luck.
March 21, 2012 - 1:27pmThis Comment
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