Many people occasionally bite their lips when they are anxious or stressed. However, for some people, lip biting can become a habit. It can sometimes give you painful sores along with red and inflamed lips. Biting one’s lips can also lead to a bump called as mucous cyst. Habitual lip biting can lead to bumps on the lips. Read on to more details and treatment options to get rid of such bumps. We will answer your question, “Can Biting your Lip Cause a Bump” in this post here.
How Does a Bump Form on Lips Due to Biting?
There are many small glands located in the lower lip and each gland has its own duct to carry saliva to the mouth. When you bite the lip, you are more likely to block a duct leading to the formation of mucous cyst, also known as a mucocele. These fluid-filled swellings are usually temporary and painless. However, they can become permanent if they’re not treated in time.
How Does a Lip Bump Look?
The bump, usually formed by lip biting can look like a raised swelling, bluish red color lesion less than 1 cm in diameter.
When to See a Doctor if you have a Lip Bump?
You should see a doctor if the cyst becomes large and uncomfortable. Though these cysts are less than 1 centimeter in diameter, in rare cases, they can get as large as 3.5 cm. Also, your doctor might let your cyst to heal on its own most of the times. But, if it doesn’t go away even after two weeks, you must see your doctor again and consider other treatment options that your doctor suggests.
Do not let this condition untreated as it might require laser therapy to remove the cyst. Instead, here are a few things to do by yourselves to treat lip bumps:
- Check the cyst often to make sure that it does not become infected, and it’s not getting larger.
- Rinse your mouth with warm salt water as it may speed up the healing process.
- If you’re a regular lip biter, you should stop doing it and break the habit as soon as possible. Find the root cause of this habit— it will be mostly related to stress, anxiety, or boredom. Once you’ve identified the triggers, you can try to find ways to stop biting your lips like chewing on sugarless gum as it can satisfy the urge to bite your lips and harm yourself.
