# Red spot on lower lip



## Jerbs

Hi all,
Our 2year old shepherd mix has developed a red spot on his lower lip over the past 3 weeks. It has consistently grown in size over that time. I've found threads with similar situations on the forum but this looks a little different from what I've seen in other posts. 

As you can see in the pics it is both pink and dark red in color. It is completely smooth to the touch- no bumps- and does not seem to hurt him at all. His behavior and habits haven't changed at all. There are no other spots anywhere else on his body. 

Nothing in his life has changed apart from us all moving to a new home, however the spot showed up before we moved. So I'm guessing it's not an allergy to something at home. 

Any thoughts on what this could be is appreciated. 

Jeff


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## Magwart

It could be minor, but I'd go to the vet because it could be a first symptom of something major. There are a bunch of possibilities. 

I would specifically ask the vet whether it's consistent with canine discoid lupus, and probably run a test for that. One of the pictures looks like it might be ulcerated. Although noses are more typical first outbreak spots from what little I know of this disease, lips are also supposedly a common target. It's one of those things I'd want to rule out, if it were my dog. 

It could also be something like contact depigmentation (e.g., from an old bowl leaching chemicals or one with biofilm that doesn't get cleaned regularly). Again, your vet will vet will be able to recognize that, if that's what's going on.


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## Jerbs

Thanks for the input on this. Yeah, we will head in this week to see what the doc says. I'll let you know what's discovered.


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## Jerbs

Hey Magwart, the vet took skin scraping and fungal culture. The scrape came back negative, so we will wait on the culture. Hopefully it points us in the right direction so we can treat it symptomatically. He said it does not look consistent with discoid lupus.

In the mean time, vet said to use some hydrocortisone and Neosporin, separately, to see if it helps, fully knowing it probably won't stay on very long given the location. We've switched out his new water bowl to see if there's something chemically going on with the material. Meanwhile, the spot has spread a little more in the past few days. 

If we are left with no answers after the culture, sending in a full biopsy would be needed to determine what is going on.


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## phps01

Hello Jeff, 
Peri had similar looking stuff near his snout and i realized that i had forgot to wash his steel bowl for 2 days..i feed raw (Like Magwart said, the biofilm affected him),once i got back to regularly cleaning of bowl and spraying the general anti-bacterial spray that i had, it went away, but it took 7-10 days. While you are waiting for the lab results, you can check the feeding bowls too.

Hope it is something simple, 
Phebe.


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## Magwart

I'm glad the vet sent it out to be cultured. I always hate the long wait for results from fungal culturing though...seems like it takes forever.

If you're using neosporin, another product you might look into is Vetericyn. It's nontoxic, so I wouldn't be afraid to put it on the face near the mouth. The main ingredient (hypochlorous acid) has been used in human hospital settings for many years, so it's pretty well studied. It would be easy to spray it on the lip, and it doesn't sting, so it might be easier to use than neosporin. If you want to talk about the science of the product with your vet, this may help:
http://www.woundsresearch.com/artic...ul-microbicidal-antibiofilm-and-wound-healing


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## Jerbs

Hi Phebe and Magwart,
Thanks for your input on this and the tip on Vetericyn. After putting Neosporin on it for a couple of weeks, the spot disappeared.

We also had immediately switched out his water bowl right when we saw the spot. We had just received the bowl as a gift around the time the spot appeared. It was clay, and was painted and sealed/coated with a protective layer. Perhaps there was a chemical reaction going on there. In any case, the spot is gone, and all seems back to normal. 

Thanks again,
Jeff


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