| Editor/Planner: Cici Editor: Xiaoya & Fanny Review: Li Yun
Before reading the article, you can first guess who is the star of a black "mole" on the lips in the picture below? The answer can be found in the message area. (No prize quiz)
Did you guess the answer? When Xiaohua was a child, she often watched TV dramas, and the "mole" on her lips was too recognizable and too sexy, so at that time, she especially wanted to have a mole on her lips. (I am definitely not the only one who has this idea)
Until one day when I looked in the mirror, I found that I also had an extra "mole" on my lips, black, similar to blood blisters, and it was soft to the touch. If a friend also has this situation like a small flower, be careful. It is not necessarily a mole on the lips, it may be a lake of veins.
What is Venous Lake?
Venous lake, also known as venous vasodilation, senile lip hemangioma, is an acquired superficial middermal venous dilated skin disease.
According to histopathology, veins with a distinctly dilated superficial dermis can be seen, and the wall of the tube surrounds smooth muscles with varying numbers of layers. Lesions appear as round or oval nodules or papules protruding from the skin.
(Vein Lake: Source Reference [4])
Symptoms of the venous lake
The color of the vein lake is cyan or blue-purple, the skin lesion is clearly demarcated from the surrounding normal skin tissue, the surface is smooth, and it is in the shape of a dome of different sizes, generally 2-10 mm in diameter.
Because the inside is full of blood, the finger pressure will become flat or dented, and after releasing the hand, it will return to its original state again within 10-20 seconds.
(Source reference[3])
If the venous lake lesion is relatively large, the surface will be irregular in shape, and the lesion can be single or multiple. When the volume is large, some patients may feel swelling or slight pain, which can cause bleeding and ulceration after injury.
Common population and site of onset
It is more common in middle-aged and elderly people, and the site of onset is generally in the lips, ears, face, head and neck, and the lower lip is the most common.
What is the cause of the disease?
The cause is not fully understood, but because it tends to occur at the exposed site, it is thought to be related to damage to the vascular wall and dermal fibers caused by ultraviolet radiation.
What is the difference between moles and spots on the lips?
Lip nevi is a skin manifestation caused by an increase in melanocytes in the epidermis and dermis. There is no blood inside and no change in compression. Most pigmented nevi are more stable. Common colors are brown, black, or brown.
Here, mention the difference between simple lip sunspots (spots) and venous lakes, which can occur at any age. It is usually a single shot, and it persists and does not resolve on its own. If the number of sunspots continues to increase, it is recommended to treat them as soon as possible.
(Lip Sunspot)
What are the treatment options?
The venous lake in the early stages of development is smaller and will slowly increase if left untreated. Therefore, it is recommended to seek medical treatment in time to avoid growing bigger and bigger.
There are many ways to treat venous lakes, including laser, freezing, infrared irradiation, sclerosis and surgical excision.
●Laser treatment
Laser therapy is the most common treatment method, laser treatment of vein lake has the advantages of small trauma, fast healing, generally not easy to leave scars, etc., is a safer and more effective way to eliminate lesions. However, this treatment is more testing of the doctor's technique.
●Cryotherapy
The use of liquid nitrogen enables tissues and cells to undergo processes such as freezing and melting, thereby eliminating lesions.
●Infrared coagulation therapy
The therapeutic purpose is achieved by the thermal coagulation effect of infrared rays at a wavelength of 400~2500 nm.
●Sclerotherapy
For superficial lesions such as venous lakes in the lips, local blisters and pigmentation may occur when sclerothes are injected with improper handling techniques.
●Surgical treatment
Although this method of treatment of vein lake has little damage, fast healing, and good effect, it may leave scars after surgery, and it is difficult to achieve the desired cosmetic treatment effect.
In general, some lesions can achieve good results by choosing a single treatment, and some require a combination of several methods. This requires the doctor to choose the treatment method according to the location and size of the lesion, the depth and scope of the lesion.
Are there people around you who suffer from upper lip vein lake? Share this article to let more people know About Vein Lake.
〔Reference〕
Kong Yaqun,Zhao Jizhi. Research progress in oral vein lake. Journal of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences2015,37(6): 746-749.
Wang Tao,Huang Jun,Peng Jianzhong. Application of dermoscopy in the identification of lip venous lakes and lip sunspots. [J].Chinese Journal of Dermatology and Venereology Vol. 19, No. 4, 2020.
[3] Yu Ruiyao, Wang Jiabi, Qi Jun, etc. Atlas of Common Dermatological Diseases (3rd Edition).2013.
Zhao Yan. [M].Chinese Clinical Dermatology (2nd Edition).2017.