Lips are meant to love, to express, to complement a perfect smile, and to enhance your overall appeal. Lips are, in fact, a symbol of health and wellness. Bright lips indicate good health whereas sick lips may steal the charm of a lovely face while impacting its appeal. Sick lips may actually suggest underlying medical conditions that may often require serious attention and treatment. In this article, we will focus on Fordyce Spots that are commonly observed in men as well as women. Here are some tips to prevent and cure Fordyce Spots.
Fordyce spots are small raised, pale red, yellow-white, or skin-colored bumps or spots that are prominently seen on the vermilion border of lips, penis, labia, or scrotum. These spots are named after the American dermatologist John Addison Fordyce. He described the condition in a medical journal.
Causes of Fordyce Spots:
Fordyce spots appear when the over-secreting sebaceous glands near the lips get filled with pus or oil. The reason behind the abnormal secretion of the gland is that sebum, the natural oil of the skin, gets accumulated in the sebaceous glands, leading to the formation of small white spots around the mouth and lips. Under normal conditions, the oil gets secreted in the hair shafts. However, when there is an absence of hair follicles, the body does not have any other way of secreting the sebum.
It must be noted that people from any age group – anytime right from birth – can suffer from this problem. Unlike pimples, Fordyce spots do not cause inflammation. It is mainly due to this fact that many doctors often fail to diagnose the spots accurately. It is common that patients suffering from Fordyce spots on their lips visit several doctors, but only a few doctors identify what they are and provide information regarding the causes, nature, and possible treatments.
Fordyce spots do not admire gender discrimination and mostly occur on the lips and genitals of men and women alike. Fordyce spots are not only identified by their white color but by their bumpy appearance as well.
Symptoms of Fordyce Spots
On the vermillion border – where lips meet the skin – small, pale yellowish or pinkish bumps or spots, ranging between 1 and 3 mm diameter may become visible. They are mostly painless and do not cause any itching. But they are covered by thickened skin and have abnormally dilated blood vessels. Besides, the corner of the lips also gets spots and white patches develop on the lips too.
One of the major complications associated with Fordyce spots is that patients suffering from severe Fordyce spots on the vermillion border of the lips suffer from the risk of anxiety and depression. As eyes and lips serve as an introduction to the face, people certainly notice them, making the sufferers feel stressed out emotionally.
Tips to Prevent and Cure Fordyce Spots
Treatment
Fordyce spots on lips are self-resolving. Medical practitioners mostly do not prescribe any treatment for them. For those who suffer from the risk of anxiety and depression, and for those who find them unattractive, there are plenty of options available for treatment.
Electro Desiccation
If an individual’s concern is purely cosmetic, electro-desiccation is applied as one of the options. Here, laser beams are used to make the spots less visible. This method is associated with some degree of success.
Pulsed Dye Lasers
This treatment method is considered to be successful and effective in some cases. The method is specifically used to treat sebaceous gland hyperplasia – a skin disorder of the sebaceous glands. Pulsed dye laser treatment is expensive, but it is more effective in curing Fordyce spots compared to other methods of treatment.
Micro-punch Technique
According to Professor Norbert Pallua, from the Department of Plastic Surgery in the University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany, Micro-punch treatment produces promising results. In this method, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery is performed to cure the spots. In a study conducted by Pallua and the team in 2003, during the postoperative observation period, the team found no signs of recurrence of Fordyce spots.
Tretinoin Cream
Curing Fordyce spots with Tretinoin cream or gel is one of the popular ways to reduce the prominence of the spots. According to medical practitioners, this cream can be used in combination with alpha hydroxy acid to yield better results.
Chemical Peel
A trichloroacetic acid chemical peel works by peeling off the skin on the spots which, in turn, reduce the appearance of the spots on the lips. However, sensitive skin and dryness are some of the side effects that this treatment may be associated with. One can avoid this problem by keeping his/her lips continuously moisturized.
Cryosurgery
In this method, bumps are destroyed in cold temperatures. This is an effective method of getting rid of Fordyce spots but the risk of nerve or tissue damage in the surrounding area of the spots is high.
Tips to Prevent and Cure Fordyce Spots: Home remedies
Consumption of Garlic
Garlic is known to decrease the population of bacteria in the bloodstream. This further helps in reducing white spots. Due to its many medicinal properties, garlic can gradually ward off the spots by keeping up oral cleanliness.
Fresh Fruit Juices
Fresh juices of lime and orange are proven to be effective in reducing Fordyce spots. Applying aqueous juice on the spots with cotton helps in the reduction of patches after a couple of days.
Oil Treatment
Benzoin, cabreuva, and tea tree oil, when mixed with some olive oil and Scotch pin essential oil, may produce the best results. Apply this formula to the spots and allow them to dry. Then, clean off with lukewarm water and a gentle anti-bacterial cleansing soap. Including Frankincense, Palmarosa, and Galbanum essential oils into the abovementioned oil combination will work to enhance the effectiveness of the treatment method.
Jojoba and Argania oils are easily available. They possess Tocopherol extracts and are found to be efficient in alleviating Fordyce white patches on the lips. Using this combination regularly can scale down the spots at a greater speed.
Coconut Or Olive Oil
Firstly, clean your lips with gentle antimicrobial soap or a face wash, and then hydrate your lips with coconut oil or olive oil, as cleaning takes away the moisture from the lips. The application of coconut oil or olive oil on the lips certainly brings down the appearance of the spots on the lips.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Use apple cider vinegar just once or twice a week and clean off with lukewarm water after a couple of minutes. This has proved to be effective in minimizing the appearance of Fordyce white spots on lips.
EndNote:
There’s a cure for every health condition provided there’s a cure in your mind. The cure starts with consciousness and courage. Face a situation with courage and you are sure to overcome it at some point in time. Good Luck! Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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