What causes lip lumps with itching and dryness after ingestion?
Patient: Hi. I recently went to a buffet and ate crabs with butter. Later that night my top lip was itching, and the next day I had tiny bumps on my lip. That later turned into dryness, so my top lil has been dry. (I ve never had any problems in the past when I ve eaten crabs.) Yesterday, I was eating chips and my lip started to itch again. Today my top lip is dry and looks like I have a carpet burn. It s also slightly bigger than the bottom. I ve tried Vaseline and lip gloss which soothes the dryness but you can still see that it is dry. I don t know what is wrong. Doctor: Hello,I can understand your concern. The symptoms you have described indicate that you have allergy to some substance. It might be something else that you have had during dinner or from the environment that may have caused the reaction. Sometimes it also happens that body develops allergy to a substance that you have been safely exposed to before. I advise you to take antihistamine such as Levocetrizine 5 mg (Levocet) or Loratidine 10 mg (Lorfast) once a day for about 5-7 days. If it is an allergic reaction, it should come under control with this medication. In addition, if you develop this reaction repeatedly in future, it is necessary to find out what substance is acting as allergen to you and then avoid exposure to it. In that case, you should go for a blood test for allergy. However, if the reaction does not come under control or increases in severity, you should visit a dentist or physician to get the lip examined physically and further investigations and treatment.I hope this answer helps you. Thank you for choosing HealthcareMagic. I wish you feel better soon.Best,Dr. Viraj Shah