Buckingham

Hi, I am a busy working function band trumpet player and last week experienced major pain in my lower lip. The pain was as if someone have stabbed my lip with a pin.

A small spot like lump appeared on my inner lip and all one side of my lower lip has become inflamed and is very tender to touch. It looks like and feels like a bruise. Have I torn a muscle?

I Played on Friday and I coped just, then when I played on Saturday the pain became to much and my ability to play became very difficult and I had to stop.

I have seen the local Dr and they have no-idea what it is.

This is the first time that this has occured in my 15 years of playing.

Can any of you tell me what has happened and if you know what the problem is, how should I deal with it.

Thank you

Lee

trickg

It sounds to me like you have an abscess on your lower lip. I'm assuming from your description that what you are dealing with is stemming from the inside of your lip and not the outside.

I have gotten one before, although thankfully it wasn't on an area that I needed to play. Mine came from one day while I was chewing ice and I accidentally bit the inside of my lip HARD...hard enough to draw blood. Anyway, the wound closed but got infected anyway and I finally "popped" it by biting through it. Painful, but it worked. I don't necessarily recommend that for you though.

It could be that you have just overworked the area though and have experienced a muscle tear. Did the doc suggest that you stop playing for a time and let it heal? If not, that's about the best advice I can give you. If it is an infection, it's possible that it won't heal up right until it has been drained which means that it has to be lanced and cleaned out with sterile water. Then, you will probably get a prescription for both an anti-inflamatory and an antibiotic - all assuming that you do indeed have an abscess in your lip. If not, staying off of it for week or so (if you can) and taking a healthy dose of an anti-inflamatory such as ibuprofin might help if it's an inflamation of the muscle tissue in the area, or an inner inflamation of the soft tissue of the lip.

Good luck. I don't envy you right now.