Dark hue around daughters mouth

[Imjustme1985]

Hi please help my 2.5 year old has a dark hue around her mouth and it won't go away.

I am worried she will be bullied as a result when she is older.

Anyone else expeirenced this how can we resolve the pigmentation for good?

Thanka

As you've said she still uses a dummy, I imagine that will trap saliva next to the skin anyway
Skin pigmentation changes over time naturally

I think some posters are being insensitive.

it is usually caused by lip licking and wetness around the area. In white skins it usually looks red. In darker skins it just looks darker. try to keep the area dry of saliva and use vaseline as often as you can to provide a barrier.

Please see your GP who can hopefully reassure you as well.

And also … stop the dummy use!!

Does the skin feel the same as the rest of the skin on her face? Does it feel rougher, drier or anything? Is she bothered by it - causing her to scratch it, keep touching it , lick it?

Does she have any other pigmented areas anywhere - back, stomach etc ? Does the darker area round her mouth follow the shape of her dummy? If the answer to all these is no, you could get it checked by the GP but if she has brown skin it’s not unusual to have darker areas. From the photo you’ve attached I’d not have noticed if you’d not pointed it out. Has anyone else mentioned it ? If it’s started up since cold season has started, I’d follow suggestions about keeping her skin as dry as possible (not easy when they’re at the perma-snot stage I know ), maybe try vasoline at night if she’s sucking her dummy to protect the area and see if that does anything.

Honestly op, when you get chapped lips, especially in children it often spreads outside the line of the lip.

and as I said, I am similar coloured skin to the child. It goes a shade or 2 darker. Rather than red.

If you really don’t think that’s what it is, what do you think it might be. You are looking at in rl so maybe we are all wrong.

I knew a fellow Indian girl at school, she had dark skin, her skin around her lips was darker almost purple as she always licked her lips but that extended to all the way around her mouth. The boys would sing that Gillete song to her.
She's still got it although she's stopped the licking thing.
If this is what's causing it you need to try and break the habit.

my kids are mixed race and got this. Had to use Carmex cream not a balm to heal the skin, then keep on top of it with loads of Vaseline. As she gets an older always have a lip balm and use lunch and breaks. It happens autumn and winter and years ago kids lived in colder houses pre central heating. Poorer kids used to get it more as colder and no money for creams. Not being offensive as I was brought up in a poor area and it was very common fifty years ago.
Now you know, it is so easy to keep on top of, when the skin improves she will lick it less. Wish everything was as easy to solve as this

Pop some vaseline on at night.
Lose the dummy.
I agree this looks like it could be a problem related to excess moisture, from lip licking or trapped moisture between dummy and skin.
If so, will clear up naturally.
Babies and toddlers have very sensitive skin, it's quite a normal reaction

Thank you for the helpful tips everyone. I have never really noticed the lip licking but I think it must be due to moisutre trapped between the dummy.

We will wean her off this and try the vaseline to create a barrier.

I really hope the Vaseline helps OP. Might take a while what with it being the endless snot season. Plus when toddlers feel under the weather, which they do a lot at this time of year, the dummy might not be easy to get her to part with.

Hopefully a vaseline barrier, wiping away the candles of snot when you can so she doesn’t try to lick them away to feel more comfortable, and some mild lip balm throughout the day if her lips seem chapped or dry and you notice her licking, will hopefully help