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  • CO2 Laser Treatment For Actinic Cheilitis
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Dr. Epstein: All right, so we have here is a 40...

Scott: One.

Dr. Epstein: One-year old male. Lots of sun exposure, and he's getting some break down in his lip here. And he gets this lesion, he said, especially when he's in the sun now. And this is actually... It looks like cheilitis. And this was what the CO2 laser was originally used for was to treat some of the sun damage in the lips. So, that's what we're going to do here today.

I'm giving him a little bit of local anesthesia, but I can feel how rough and irregular this whole surface is. So, even though he knows one spot, we're going to go ahead and do the whole lips today. Hang on.

Now, when we can visibly see a spot, there are probably many other spots that need to be treated as well. So, you should just go ahead and treat the whole lip because it's only a matter of time before the other ones will appear. And this will help prevent any cancerous lesions down the road developing on the lip.

What you want to do is get under the lip, like that. You want to [inaudible 00:01:15].

Assistant: All right.

Dr. Epstein: Now, OK. So, here we are now in day three with Scott after we've done the CO2 laser to his lip.

Assistant: For actinic cheilitis.

Dr. Epstein: For the actinic cheilitis, and you can see it's healing up pretty well. Can you stick your lip out a little bit for me? There we go. And how's it feel?

Scott: Stings just a very tiny bit.

Dr. Epstein: OK, and you're just still putting just a little bit of Vaseline on it?

Scott: Yes, I'm using Aquaphor.

Dr. Epstein: OK, Aquaphor. And so, probably in like another two or three days, this should be pretty much healed. And from now on, sun protection for that lip.

Scott: Sun protection for everything.

Dr. Epstein: Yes, exactly. Thank you.

CO2 Laser Treatment For Actinic Cheilitis

Dr. John Martin demonstrates the use of a CO2 laser on a 51-year-old male presenting with what the doctor believes to be actinic cheilitis, or "sailor's lip." This condition is a result of prolonged sun exposure and could lead to cancer.