Mouth Diseases

Tiny white pimple

06/23/2008 10:30PM

Question:

what are the tiny white pimple like on each corner of the upper lip called? What cause it?

Answer:

Without seeing you and what you are describing, I can only speculate on what is going on. If you are concerned, you should have either your primary care physician or dentist evaluate this more carefully. With that said, there are at least 4 different possibilities that I can think of.

Commissural lip pits; small 1-4 mm invaginations (pits) that are found on the vermillion border at corners (commissure) of the lips. They occur bilaterally, and in some cases become filled with saliva that can be expressed when squeezed.

2. Fordyce granules; ectopic sebaceous glands that occur in the oral mucosa and on the skin and lips (vermillion borders). Generally they are not paired entities, but are scattered throughout the oral cavity. They appear as whitish to yellow papules underneath the mucosa; these are clinically normal.

Angular chelitis; fungal infection that is caused by the Candida sp. and or Staph. sp. This erythematous, flaky cracking at the corners of the mouth may give an appearance of whitish pimples.

Actual folliculitis or a true pimple, generally may not occur bilaterally but could. Cause of this is a localized blockage of a hair follicle and localized bacterial infection with subsequent inflammatory response.
Another possible response to your question is a herpetic lesion (HSV vesicle) but those usually are clear vesicles that rupture almost immediately after they appear and then form a crusty scab.

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Response by:

Richard J Jurevic, DDS, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
School of Dental Medicine
Case Western Reserve University