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What Causes Twitching In Lower Lip?

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Posted on Tue, 5 Jan 2016
Question: My lower lip has been twitching for three days. At some points it is more severe than others and can be seen in the mirror. Sometimes it feels like the entire area around my mouth is tingling/twitching, and other times its just the lower right side of my lip twitching. This is manly on the right side and I also noticed a mild bruise like feeling under my right jaw that could have happened before the onset of the twitching and caused it, or could be caused by the twitching, or completely unrelated.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (38 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Twitching lip likely to resolve on its own

Detailed Answer:
Good day and thank you for asking a question on our service. I'm very glad to help out as an adult neurologist. I have many patients who experience twitching similar to what your're describing. You'll be pleased to know that the vast majority of cases whether it be an eyelid, a lip, fingers, thumbs, biceps, or thigh muscles tend to go away on their own.

Sometimes they can be due to stress, fatigue, medications, dehydration, and most of the time we can never determine what the cause turns out to be but they usually will resolve in a few days to few weeks. BTW, eating bananas won't ever fix anything like this in case you were wondering!

It certainly doesn't hurt though to have America's most popular fruit every now and again.

Sometimes we resort to getting blood work to look at electrolytes and other parameters if the twitching doesn't seem to be resolving or is more forceful than the patient particularly feels comfortable withstanding but again, the majority of those cases turn out to be quite normal.

In your case, since you've got some additional symptoms aside from just isolated twitching such as a bruised feeling and it doesn't sound as if you can recall any trauma recently I think a visit to a dental specialist could be useful. They can do a very thorough examination of the oral cavity as well as your dentition to see if anything could be present which may be triggering this persistent twitching. There are other structures in the mouth such as salivary glands, ducts, etc. which can become affected by some means and again, based upon your soreness under the right jaw I believe a thorough examination of your oral cavity is in order if this twitching doesn't stop on its own soon.

The tingling sensations could also be looked into by doing a bit of bloodwork and looking at things such as Vitamin B12, folate, and Vitamin D levels, perhaps magnesium, and in general electrolytes as well as a complete blood count. I might even look at some thyroid panel studies if you haven't had anything done recently just to check on those elements since muscle twitching and thyroid imbalances can sometimes be related.

I would shy away from any imaging studies of the neck, face, or head at this juncture unless the examining physician felt there were some utility to those sorts of tests based upon their examination and how things progress.

I hope this addresses your concerns and that you'll keep me in mind for future questions regarding these or other neurological/medical issues you feel I may be able to help resolve.

I would appreciate your rating this interaction on a HIGH STAR SCALE if you found the information informative and would very much appreciate a few words of feedback.

Write to me at: bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi for additional comments, concerns, or to provide status updates if possible. I'd like to know how things turned out for you as it may help patients in the future with similar issues.

All the best to you during these holidays in our nation's capital!

This consult request has taken a total of 37 minutes of time to read, research, and respond.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Dariush Saghafi (10 minutes later)
Thank you for your reply. I will wait it out a few more days and see if it goes away on its own. I recently had my yearly checkup and had a normal complete blood count and thyroid panel, however I do not think they looked at electrolytes and vitamins.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dariush Saghafi (2 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Sounds reasonable

Detailed Answer:
That sounds like a plan.

You certainly could ask that they look at a few more parameters that I'd mentioned if the twitching doesn't go away. Usually when offices do routine annual checkup work in the blood they DO look at electrolytes....but it's possible not to look at the specific vitamins I mentioned.

If you've no further questions or comments would you do me the favor of CLOSING THE QUERY, grading our interaction, and leaving a smidge of feedback? ;)

All the best to you and again thanks for your questions here on the network. Hopefully, you'll let me know how you're doing with this down the road a bit.

Cheers!

This consult request has taken a total of 42 minutes of time to read, research, and respond.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Dariush Saghafi

Neurologist

Practicing since :1988

Answered : 2473 Questions

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What Causes Twitching In Lower Lip?

Brief Answer: Twitching lip likely to resolve on its own Detailed Answer: Good day and thank you for asking a question on our service. I'm very glad to help out as an adult neurologist. I have many patients who experience twitching similar to what your're describing. You'll be pleased to know that the vast majority of cases whether it be an eyelid, a lip, fingers, thumbs, biceps, or thigh muscles tend to go away on their own. Sometimes they can be due to stress, fatigue, medications, dehydration, and most of the time we can never determine what the cause turns out to be but they usually will resolve in a few days to few weeks. BTW, eating bananas won't ever fix anything like this in case you were wondering! It certainly doesn't hurt though to have America's most popular fruit every now and again. Sometimes we resort to getting blood work to look at electrolytes and other parameters if the twitching doesn't seem to be resolving or is more forceful than the patient particularly feels comfortable withstanding but again, the majority of those cases turn out to be quite normal. In your case, since you've got some additional symptoms aside from just isolated twitching such as a bruised feeling and it doesn't sound as if you can recall any trauma recently I think a visit to a dental specialist could be useful. They can do a very thorough examination of the oral cavity as well as your dentition to see if anything could be present which may be triggering this persistent twitching. There are other structures in the mouth such as salivary glands, ducts, etc. which can become affected by some means and again, based upon your soreness under the right jaw I believe a thorough examination of your oral cavity is in order if this twitching doesn't stop on its own soon. The tingling sensations could also be looked into by doing a bit of bloodwork and looking at things such as Vitamin B12, folate, and Vitamin D levels, perhaps magnesium, and in general electrolytes as well as a complete blood count. I might even look at some thyroid panel studies if you haven't had anything done recently just to check on those elements since muscle twitching and thyroid imbalances can sometimes be related. I would shy away from any imaging studies of the neck, face, or head at this juncture unless the examining physician felt there were some utility to those sorts of tests based upon their examination and how things progress. I hope this addresses your concerns and that you'll keep me in mind for future questions regarding these or other neurological/medical issues you feel I may be able to help resolve. I would appreciate your rating this interaction on a HIGH STAR SCALE if you found the information informative and would very much appreciate a few words of feedback. Write to me at: bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi for additional comments, concerns, or to provide status updates if possible. I'd like to know how things turned out for you as it may help patients in the future with similar issues. All the best to you during these holidays in our nation's capital! This consult request has taken a total of 37 minutes of time to read, research, and respond.