Lip Cancer: Causes, Symptoms, Risk Factors, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention

The skin of the lips develops lip cancer. Lip cancer can develop anywhere along the top or lower lip, but it is most frequent on the lower lip. Lip cancer is regarded as a form of mouth (oral) cancer.

The majority of lip cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, which means they start in the squamous cells, which are tiny, flat cells found in the inner and outer layers of the skin.

Excessive sun exposure and tobacco use are risk factors for lip cancer. You may reduce your risk of developing lip cancer by quitting smoking, wearing a hat, using sunscreen on your face, and other preventative measures.

Surgery to remove the malignancy is typically the first step in treating lip cancer. Surgery may be a simple operation with little influence on your appearance for tiny lip malignancies.

Further invasive surgery can be required for larger lip malignancies. With careful planning and reconstruction, you may preserve your ability to eat and speak properly and still recover from surgery with an appealing appearance.

Causes Of Lip Cancer

What causes lip cancer is unknown.

Cancer typically begins when cells' DNA undergoes alterations (mutations). The instructions that inform a cell what to do are encoded in its DNA. When healthy cells begin to die, the modifications instruct the cell to start replicating uncontrollably and continue living. A tumor is created by the accumulating cells, which can invade and destroy healthy bodily tissue.

Symptoms Of Lip Cancer

Lip cancer symptoms and warning signs include:

• A pale lip discoloration that is flat or slightly elevated
• A lip sore that won't heal
• Lips or the skin around the mouth feels tingling, hurting, or numb sensation.

Risk Factors Of Lip Cancer

The following variables may have an impact on the probability of developing lip cancer:

• Any tobacco use, including using it to smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chew tobacco, or snuff, among other things
• Excessive sun exposure on your lips
• Fair skin
• Having a compromised immune system

Diagnosis Of Lip Cancer

For the purpose of diagnosing lip cancer, the following tests and procedures are used:

• Physical examination: Your doctor will check your lip, mouth, face, and neck during a physical examination in order to look for any cancerous lesions. Describe your symptoms and signs to your doctor.
• Tissue sample for analysis: Your medical professional will take a small sample of tissue during a biopsy so that it may be examined in a lab. A pathologist, a medical professional who examines bodily tissue, can identify the type of cancer present, its stage, and how aggressive the cancer cells are by performing laboratory tests.
• Imaging examinations: If cancer has gone past the lip, imaging tests may be utilized to identify this. Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography are examples of imaging examinations.

Treatment Of Lip Cancer

Treatments for lip carcinoma include:

• Surgery: The lip malignancy and a border of surrounding healthy tissue are surgically removed. The lip is then fixed by the surgeon to enable regular speech, eating, and drinking. Scarring prevention methods are also employed.
  • Repairing the lip following surgery may be easy for minor lip cancers. However, for more serious lip malignancies, the lip may need to be repaired by trained plastic and reconstructive surgeons. Moving tissue and skin to the face from another area of the body may be a part of reconstructive surgery.
  • Cancerous lymph nodes in the neck may also need to be removed during surgery for lip cancer.
• Radiation treatment: Radiation therapy employs powerful energy beams, such as protons and X-rays, to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy for lip cancer may be administered either before or after surgery. The lymph nodes in your neck could also be the target of the radiation, in addition to just your lip.
  • The most common source of radiation therapy for lip cancer is a big machine that carefully concentrates the energy beams. But in other circumstances, the radiation can be applied directly to your lip and held there for a brief period of time.
• Chemotherapy: Strong medicines are used in chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be combined in the treatment of lip cancer to boost its efficacy. Chemotherapy may be used to lessen signs and symptoms and improve your comfort if your advanced lip cancer has spread to other parts of your body.
• Targeted drug therapy: Specific abnormalities in cancer cells are the focus of targeted medicinal therapies. Targeted medication therapies have the ability to kill cancer cells by preventing these defects. Chemotherapy and targeted medication therapy are frequently combined.
• Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy is a type of medication that helps your immune system fight cancer. Because cancer cells develop proteins that help in their ability to protect themselves from immune system cells, your body's immune system, which fights disease, may fail to fight cancer. Immunotherapy interferes with this procedure in order to work. When the cancer is advanced and other treatments are not an option for lip cancer, immunotherapy may be attempted.

Prevention Of Lip Cancer

You can do the following to lessen your risk of developing lip cancer:

• Stop smoking or refrain from the beginning: Stop smoking if you already do. Don't start smoking if you haven't already. You expose the cells in your lips to potentially dangerous compounds when you use tobacco, whether you smoke it or chew it.
• Avoid spending time in the sun during the middle of the day: Many people in North America are most exposed to the sun's rays between the hours of 10 and 4 pm. Plan your outdoor activities for different times of the day, even in the winter or when it's cloudy.
• Wear broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 even on cloudy days: Apply sunscreen liberally and reapply every two hours, or more often if you're swimming or perspiring.
• Don't use a tanning bed: Lip cancer risk increases by the UV rays that tanning beds release.

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