It is mildly painful and it is about half the size of a pencil eraser, red and slightly concave. I has been there for 4 weeks with no change. I had a dentist look at it and he suggested getting a biopsy. I smoked occasionally for 5 years, not heavily and quit 2 years ago. If is it cancer is this considered an early stage cancer?

Hello Dave,
I would suggest you follow the advise of your dentist and do it really quick. I mean like yesterday.
paul

Dave please try not to think the worst honey, but do get it checked out.

love liz

By the way welcome to OCF.!!

liz

Thanks so much to all of you. My heart goes out to all who are fighting this terrible disease. My hope is to catch it early if it is cancer. I talked to a Dr. today and he is going to biopsy it but it seemeed to him to be too small at this point to be a Major threat. I am going out of town for 10 days and he said waiting until I return would be ok. Reading all this really had me scared timewise and I still am. I am a surfer with a lot of sun damage on my lips so I have always been super careful to go to the Dermatoligist but something inside my lip was a surprise. Thanks again, my best to you all.

Dave

Dave....a suggestion would be to get the biopsy done BEFORE you go out of town for 10 days. Then the results will be ready when you get back. Of course, it will drive you crazy while you are gone, but the problem is that IF it is cancer, you don't want to be waiting too many extra days. Do you have time to do the biopsy and get the results before you leave? That's what I would do. Then if it is nothing, you can relax and enjoy your trip. If it is dangerous, you can consider your options, which might include taking care of yourself first. I dunno....I hate to see you ignore it for another couple of weeks, given your history of sun damage and smoking.