My lower lip is sore, especially on the inside.
I’m not sure why, as I’ve played flute for
a couple of years.
I have two thoughts.
As mentioned in another thread, I have a
boxwood flute with a finish to which
I’m allergic. I’ve protected myself
in the past by using tape as a lip-plate,
however a couple of weeks ago I took
off the old tape and played the flute to
see if I would get the response.
Guess what? I did. I immediately stopped
playing the flute. One explanation is that
I’m still suffering from the allergy.
Another explanation is that I’m jamming the flute into my
lower lip too hard while playing, and my
teeth are irritating my lower lip.
Does anybody have any notes to share
or suggestions? Don’t like this
very well.
you may recall I had an allergy to the nickel silver headjoint on a flute I had. That made the outside of my lower lip and chin sore (and caused it to break out), but the inside was fine. I guess your pain could be related to the allergy, but I’d be surprised (unless the allergy was pretty bad in which case maybe your lip is swollen and therby pushing into your teeth when you play).
It’ll take you till the life after that to save enough money to buy one. At least $5,000 US and that is for a bad student model about $30,000 for a pro level but iot depends on the maker a Hekel can go for up to $75,000 new.
Yes, I know a fellow who plays bassoon for
the symphony here in St. Louis. His wife
plays oboe. They tell me that, in addition
to the costs, the instruments don’t last
long, unlike flutes.
By the way, I think oboe might work in
ITM. Well, maybe not…
It is used in most of the other Celtic cultures I have always wonder why not in ITM and STM like in Brittany they use Bombarde and in Galician and Asturian they use Dulzanian another type of Oboe maybe the tradition just died out or maybe it never existed.
I saw a dermatologist this morning, a very good fellow
I’ve known for awhile.
He diagnosed my sore lip by a complex latin name
which means inflamed lip. So there!
We think the varnish on the boxwood flute
caused an inflamation that has mangaged to
continue for several weeks. This is a hypothesis, but it’s
the only circumstance that comes to mind.
This isn’t an allergy, it’s an irritation. We weren’t
principally interested in solving the mystery
but curing the malady.
He says the prognosis is good and he’s
given me a topical steroid cream. If it works I
should be alright in a week or so.
This info may be of help to somebody
someday, whichis why I share it.
I have nothin much visual in the way
of symptoms–no rash, etc. Though the
inside of my lip is a bit red. But my lips
sting when I play and the underside is
sore.
Since this has happened I have heard from
musicians who have described allergic
reactions to various wood, including blackwood,
that make this sound like a walk in the park.
I’ve made packing tape lipplates for all my
flutes–these are safe, the dermatologist says,
they’re perfectly functional–the slipperiness
soon goes away, they’re effective, and they’re
cheap.
Obviously irritations and such from flutes are
nothing to ignore.
As are the vast majority, if not all, of the reactions that people have to woods used for flutes. The reactions (although in your case apparently to the varnish) are Dermatitis, not allergic reactions. It’s a rather big difference as the latter can be far more serious on a systemic level…
I started learning oboe about six months ago. Part of the learning process is “making” reeds. The reeds would be easier to make, if they weren’t so tiny. The biggest challenge is keeping the reed making knife sharp. I’ve got all sorts of sharpeng tools, sort of like flute or whistle compulsive disorder.
To be more medically specific, such things are examples of “allergic contact dermatitis”. The body can become “sensitive” to about anything. Particularly if the substance is irritating or the skin barrier is compromised in any way. The body actually becomes “inoculated” to the substance and produces antibodies to it. The immune system starts watching for it and produces an inflammatory reaction whenever it is contacted. I have developed such “allergies” in recent years to iodine and tea tree oil. Touch me with either these days and I blister. Unfortuneately, the oils in some of our favorite flute woods can be similarly alarming to the body and cause the same response.
All allergies are actually immune-mediated reations of this type. Different parts of the body are protected by different classes of immunoglobulins (“anti-bodies”). The immunoglobulins (Ig) that protect the skin and mucus membranes or the respiratory tract tend to cause “local” inflammatory responses while the antibodies protecting the inside of the body cause a more systemic reaction. This is why your flute causes a local reaction (Ig-A or Ig-E) instead of a systemic reaction (Ig-M or Ig-G). Theoretically if an allergic individual injected himself with the wood he was allergic to he could expose his Igm and IgG anti-bodies so that next time he played his flute he would fall over dead from anaphylactic shock. This, of course, is why cocus wood should never be used internally.
Thanks Doc, it helps to have someone with the medical background step up here. I’ve pointed this out several time before (contact dermatitis vs. systemic allergic reactions) however we often still get folks worring that lip contact with a flute can cause anaphylactic shock, which isn’t the case.
Thanks for adding the technical Jargon Doc , perhaps folks will get a better grip on it now: Red, itchy lip does not a fatal episode make
I love it when you talk that way!
So, if I may ask the obvious,
what are the medical options in response
to dermatitis? Other than lip plates,
because I’ve tried that and I’ve
still got it.
How about steroids? If they don’t
work, what next? I’m not going
to wing it (treat myself in weird ways),
don’t worry, but, you know,
Knowledge is power.
I worry about players with nickel lip plates, the allergy being so common now and long lasting.
Has anybody had this problem ?
Tha keys could present a problem too, I imagine.
, perhaps folks will get a better grip on it now: Red, itchy lip does not a fatal episode make