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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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Find a dentist that has a diode laser. This treatment is very simple with the right equipment and it doesn't hurt. No needles required , just a strong topical anesthetic. 15 minutes of total time will probably take care of the average lake. Too many plastic surgeons and dermatologists don't have diode lasers because they like the more powerful ones. Trust a dentist!

November 1, 2014 - 7:54pm
(reply to zoobok)

15 minutes?? they zapped mine and it was all over and done with in less than a minute. I'm pleased to say it's gone! wasn't very painful at all.

November 1, 2014 - 10:11pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Debra Moncrieff)

Hi Debra, I know this is an old thread but could you please tell me what laser was used and what the recovery was like? I had a too NYC doctor treat mine and after two weeks of a small blister and thinking it would heal to reveal a normal lip, it's just getting back to what it was. I'm afraid it'll get worse than it was originally after reading through these.

June 28, 2017 - 1:55pm

I am adding my comment to the discussion with the idea it might help others who have a problem with venous lakes. I have 3 of them, 2 on my lower lip and 1 on the upper lip. They have been present for years, and are nearly impossible to cover w/lipstick. My dentist commented that he had seen patients w/one in his practice but never anyone w/3 lakes. They have slowly started to change over the years--becoming more prominent and larger as time went on. I became very self-conscious about the number and size, so 2 yrs ago I met w/ a plastic surgeon who did 2 laser treatments, neither of which had any effect at all on the VLakes. I did not ask him about the type of laser he used. After searching the WEB over a period of time I found out there are lasers that are preferred for VL---and others that do a very poor job at reducing or eliminating the VL. This past Friday I had the 1st of 2 treatments w/ YAG Varilite laser at my dermatologist office and the result was dramatically different from my other treatment. One VL was gone the next day, and the other 2 are crusting and shrinking. The dermatologist suggested 2 laser treatments followed by surgical removal if I was not happy w/the result. He said to expect 20% shrinkage w/the 1st treatment, and the same w/the second.
After all this time I believe that it is the patient who must find a physician practice with the correct laser---I understand from my doctor that lasers are changing all the time, and it is too expensive to purchase new ones ----so physician offices continue to use older technology due to cost. I also feel that since VLakes are just a cosmetic problem, some physicians are complacent about them.
I hope my experience will help others.

August 17, 2014 - 3:14pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to magicdancer)

Thank you, this really helps!

January 6, 2015 - 1:22pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to magicdancer)

Thank you so much, yes yo helped me. My Dentist to noticed mine and his brother in his office does Lasser reading your story was like mine so thank you and I will let my dentist know of your story or I can google results from the lasers ... Thanks again for sharing !

September 29, 2014 - 6:28pm

I've had a venous lake for years on my lower lip. I was surprised to see that it's a thing that appears mainly on people aged 50, because I'm 22. It was a small spot, which seemed to swell up a little when it was hot outside or when I was eating something warm or spicey.
Others didn't seem to notice it for all this time until last week. Maybe it had coloured more dark or had grown bigger, though I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary apart from the venous lake how it had been on my lip for all those years.

I asked my dentist about it and he said I shouldn't worry too much and that it was probably just a blood vessel. It just bothered me so much that I went to see a doctor.
The doctor said that it was benign and that it was a blood vessel. so I had nothing to worry about. I asked her if it could be removed, but she said it would get bloody and that I should better leave it like that. She told me she almost didn't see it from where she sat (behind her desk)...

Then, weeks later (last week) I went back to see another doctor and she told me that it probably wasn't a blood vessel because when she pressured it, it wouldn't change colour. She asked me if I bit myself but I can't remember that from happening. She said that I could go and see a dermatologist and so I did this morning. I had seen this site and I wanted a laser therapy because of the positive responses, but I noticed yesterday that the place I went to didn't do laser therapy. The appointment was already made so I thought I'd just go and see what happened (I have to pay for everything because my insurance won't cover it).

The dermatologist had a quick look with two kinds of medical instruments and then told me that it was indeed a blood vessel (aka venous lake, but he didn't say that). It all got really quick and he offered me to burn it away. Since I have to pay for the consult anyway, I figured it would be cheaper than going to another dermatologist for laser therapy, so I said yes.

He drew a few dots around the venous lake and then he anesthetized my lip which hurt quite a lot. He then got some kind of tool which I didn't get a clear look on and pressured it a few times on my lip. I smelled my own flesh burning which smelled awful, but I didn't feel it. It looked like he was done but then he pressured the tool two other times and then he was done. I think he pressured the tool like five or six times tops.

It left a huge black crust on the place the venous lake was.
Now, about seven hours later, the crust seem to have shrunked a tiny bit. I hope the venous lake and the crust are gone within a few days.

July 16, 2014 - 9:52am
(reply to TomONeill)

In case this way of replying to my own post doesn't work properly, this is TomONeill.

I tried to make photos of the whole progress, but after 8 days it was barely visible and I didn't care anymore enough to take photos.
I uploaded the photos I did make here (sorry for the weird edit, hehe):
http://s4.postimg.org/9bateo0t9/venous_lake_progress.png

I didn't have a clear pic of the venous lake, I mostly tried to retake the pic so that it would show the least. In real life, it would look bigger and in some pictures (in dark) even enormous!
The photos are from different times of the day and lightning, so that's why my lip colour looks different on every photo.

I'm really satisfied with the result. You seriously can't see anything; no scar, no nothing.
As you can see on the picture, a big black crust was left on my lip after treatment.
6 days after treatment, the crust had fallen off already and it left a pit in my lip.
Two days later, I noticed something black in the pit. I was worried it might have been the venous lake returning (because that could happen, as the dermatologist said), but after a day or two the black thing, what probably was a new crust, was gone.

My lip turned white on the spot where the venous lake used to be. It was barely noticable, but it was definately there. It seemed to turn a bit darker, grayish maybe, but before I knew it, my original lip colour had returned!
I was so happy when it was white coloured, that I didn't mind the spot anymore and which is why I forgot to make photos. After a few days when it got normal, I realised I had to make another photo of the venous lake being gone for good, so the endresult was actually a few days earlier.

I hope you didn't mind reading my story (which could have been way shorter, sorry for that) and I hope it helps you make your choice, if you also have a venous lake.

August 7, 2014 - 2:30pm
(reply to TomONeill)

Bad news. The venous lake is returning slowly. I started to notice it a few weeks after treatment. Days later, I thought I mislooked because it wasn't there anymore. Now in January, it is back though not really that noticable. I'm afraid it will 'grow' back and reach it's old size. Don't know about laser therapy, but that's probably a better choice since burning it away doesn't seem to be a solid solution. For the ones who are interested: in The Netherlands I had to pay for it myself and it had cost me € 131-ish. In dollars, that would be $ 156-ish.

January 6, 2015 - 3:41pm
(reply to TomONeill)

Bummer, sorry to hear this Tom. Thankfully mine hasn't come back and I really hope it doesn't...Mine cost me around $180 and that included the consult ;)

January 7, 2015 - 12:51am
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