Shirley W. was a patient I had often seen for minor complaints and skin checks. But after a call for an urgent appointment, she was now sitting on my exam table with a problem she had never had before. “Dr. Norman,” she asked worriedly, “What the heck is going on with me?”
It was obvious why she was so concerned. Shirley’s upper lip was grossly swollen, puffed up to almost three times the size of her lower lip. My 38-year-old patient otherwise looked healthy, with clear blue eyes and light blond hair pulled back into a designer clip. She was a sales and marketing manager, and though she’d had the swelling for only two days, she was afraid her distorted lip would make it hard to meet with clients.
I could sympathize. The swelling was disturbing even to me. In my career as a dermatologist, I’d had only a handful of patients with lips swollen to this size.
