Small numb spot on lip?

[Miss Sparkly]

I don't want to pay a doctors fee/wait 2 hours/be told I don't know anyway and this is the strangest thing. I woke up with a small numb spot on my bottom lip (tip of finger sized so not even close to the entire lip) and it's stayed numb for the past four hours. What on earth!? Of course google comes up with a stroke but that's not it. Could I have bit my lip an severely damaged it? No signs of trauma.

 

[shihtzulover]

Maybe the beginning of a cold sore? They say that one of the first signs could be numbness or tingling.

 

[TimMD]

SB, it is always hard to answer medical questions like this that could be 100 different things but good thing is most of them wouldn't be overly concerning. I would be curious if you don't have the making of a fever blister, which can sometimes start out with "tingling", "burning", or "numbness", the so called "prodrome" we can see 1-2 days before the lesion develops. Pinpoint numbness (or should I say fingertip) on the lip with no other symptoms whatsoever is not very concerning for a stroke. There are many "cool" (at least cool to an Internist) things that can cause "peri-oral paresthesias" (numbness around the mouth) but they typically wouldn't involve just one localized spot. If it starts to spread and/or involve the entire mouth and/or other symptoms develop, you should get it checked out, otherwise, I think it is reasonable to wait to see what happens as I wouldn't be surprised if you go on to develop a fever blister or maybe you did in fact bite it (unknown to you) or sleep on something funny. Not sure if that helps, but those are my thoughts.

 

[stargurl78]

I wonder if you ate something that you are allergic to? I get a numb swollen bump on my lower lip when I eat apples or mushrooms and I know for sure I'm allergic to mushrooms so I assume that's what causes it.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

Well I'm allergic to peanuts but know that I didn't eat any of those. I just find it kind of odd an interesting Like going to the dentist and then making funny faces in the mirror with a numb lip

eta: I've never had a cold sore in my life and I hope it stays that way!

eta again: I just realized that is the section of lip I chomp on when I'm anxious. Maybe I permanently killed it this time

 

[somethingshiny]

I get hives on my lips that start as a small numb spot. Within a few hours, it reddens and swells. Benadryl takes care of it usually.