Swollen lip due to crohns

[LilyRose]

Hello,

My little boy (6 yo) has ha a swollen lip for a while now which I've been told is due to his crohns. It seems a bit worse at the mo, and sometimes the skin has split.

Last time I asked the gastro dr he siad he could inject steriods in to the lip to take down the swelling.

At the moment my son is not on any crohns meds, as his perianal fistula is looking healed, and hopefully won't reopen again.

Has anyone else heard of lip swelling and local steroid injections? If it does get to the point of doing this, I wondered if it would be under a general anaesthetic or would they do a local anaestheic??

I do know this is a mild issue in the scheme of crohns. I am just wanting to keep myself informed and on top of things.

Thanks for any thoughts,

LilyRose

 

[DustyKat]

Hey LilyRose,

I have heard of this being an oral manifestation of Crohn's. I think it is called Granulomatous cheilitis, and from what I remember about the treatment of it is the use of topical corticosteroids and also treat it systemically. I think the thing with the swollen lip is it is often a predictor of intestinal disease.

I don't really know much more about it than that. I guess the use of steroids as the doc has suggested may well be one the ways to use "topical steroids". Just my thoughts but I would imagine it would be done under a local not general anaesthetic. They could use numbing cream before administering the local.

Good luck Mum and all the best to your little guy, bless him...:hug: Keep us posted!

Dusty. :heart:

 

[LilyRose]

Thanks for all that Dusty. I'll bare in mind it could be an indicator of intestinal flare ups too. At the mo he is really well, but it has routine blood tests soon, so it will be good to see if they show up any signs of further inflammation. His scopes were a year ago now, and at the time all normal - he just had perianal disease. And now has the lip too - both ends!!!!! I am hoping he can skip disease in the middle bit for a while yet as he is still so young!

Anyway, thank you again. I am so pleased I found this forum.

Cheers,
LilyRose

 

[kimmidwife]

LilyRose,
I am so sorry to hear what your little guy is going through. If I were you I would ask about trying topical steroids before injectable. Steroid injections can be quite painful. Good Luck Keep us posted on how he is doing.

 

[LilyRose]

Thanks so much kimmidwife. We have an appointment in a few weeks and I'll be asking about it again then. Thankfully it doesn't bother him, even though I think it looks quite swollen. He says it doesn't hurt and I don't think he is self-concious. We're off to do our routine blood tests today..........hopefully the are good!

Thanks again,
LilyRose

 

[DustyKat]

Good luck with the blood tests! Let us know how you get on.

Dusty. :heart:

 

[Dexky]

I think if his bloods are ok and the swelling does not get any worse, I'd be disinclined to inject anything, let alone steroids. I hope the tests come back good Lily! Good luck!

 

[bewky001]

Hello,
I apologise how late my response is- I am very new to this.
I am a 22yo female suffering from Granulamotous Chellitis & Crohns.
I used to receive steroid injections into my lower lip (approx 6 injections) about every 2 months. I found it to be the only thing that helped with the swelling. My doctor (after about 8 months) decided to stop the needles as he stated it wasn't a very good long term solution & could affect the nerves and shape of my lip. I've tried MANY medications and am currently on 100mg of Dapsone daily which seems to be working ok (not as effective as the needles but more effective than any other tablets.)
Just thought I would share a little bit of my story.
How is your son going????

 

[my little penguin]

One thing we have seen swollen feet legs ( vasculitis) were indicative if on going disease even when he blood work was normal .
We had to up the crohns meds to keep the EIMs under control.
Has he had a fecal caloprotectin test done? Or MRE?

 

[gcmunro]

Its been great reading all these links. I am very new to this site but have already read so much which could help my son. His bottom lip is so swollen at present and as he is 13 nearly 14 years old he is very consious. The slighted knock to his mouth and he will get an ulcer, usually more than one. He has been perscribed steriods but in tablet form and my doctor has said this can't happen to offen as the side effects and damage to organs are very high.

 

[Farmwife]

Hi gcmunro,
I'm glad you found your way here.
If you go to the top of this page and click the search button and type in swollen lips, it will bring up a lot of past threads on this topic. They might be useful to you.

Welcome aboard!

 

[gcmunro]

Thank you so much Farmwife. I have been reading up on Granulomatous cheilitis and am excited that I finally may have found the disorder that my beautiful son may have. I just have to try and get my doctor to listen!!!!