Question: Hello! My husband was diagnosed with stage 3B malignant melanoma on his left side just below the armpit in 2008. He underwent surgery, 30 days of interferon into a port and 8 months of interferon injections that he gave himself. At that time, his upper lip became red, swollen and extremely painful. His doctors prescribed some ointments and eventually, the symptoms disappeared. Fast forward to 2016. We went to Hawaii in March and within 5 days he came down with a terrible cold with lots of coughing and coughing up phlegm. When we returned home, a chest x-ray was done which ruled out pneumonia but he was prescribed prednisone for the inflammation in his lungs. He's since completed the prednisone treatment, but has now developed the same sore upper lip that he had before. It's very red, appears to have some small white patches and excruciatingly painful. He found some of the ointments that were prescribed for him prior, but it's not clearing up and actually appears to be getting much worse. He put some over the counter aquaphor on his lip last night and had to remove it immediately because it burned so badly. Could this lip reaction be a result of the prednisone treatment, being out in the sun with sunblock on while in Hawaii, or is it possible that the melanoma is coming back? He sees his dermatologist every 6 months and has received a clean XXXXXXX of health since the cancer treatment - for which we are very grateful!

Thank you for your prompt response. I half suspected it would be the candidiasis. We will get him to his dermatologist for the proper treatment.

On a different issue, I myself have had 2 serious mouth injuries in my lifetime, one when I took a header off a moped and landed right on my mouth, knocking out my front teeth and needing 6 stitches into my lower lip. Another time, I somehow managed to trip over the cat and again landed right on my mouth. No lost teeth this time, but I did split open the inside of my lower lip. I probably should have gone for stitches then too, but I didn't. the first accident occurred over 30 years ago and the second accident about 13 years ago.

Now, over the past 6-9 months, I've noticed a small black spot on my lower lip. It's just flat - not raised - and black, no pain and but now my lipstick won't cover it - it shows right through. I pretty much assumed it was some kind of scarring that's decided to show. Does this sound like anything to worry about?

Thank you! I appreciate your wonderful advice!
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