Purple lips are a sign of some disease. What blue lips indicate. Causes of illness in children

Blue lips are a sign that is most often attributed to hypothermia. From low temperatures, they can turn blue completely or partially - in the form of blue or dark spots. However, these symptoms can also be caused by serious illnesses. If the color of the lips has changed and this is not a short-term phenomenon, then there is a possibility that there are problems in the body.

Why can lips turn blue in an adult?

In adults, the most common causes of blue lips are:

1. Reception harmful substances . Blueness of the lips in an adult is a sign indicating the use of toxins or smoking. Toxic gases contained in cigarettes, when inhaled, affect the mucous membranes of the mouth and lips. As a result of this, on upper layers epidermis appears bluish tint. Blueing also causes hypoxia, which may accompany poisoning.
2. Pregnancy. In the process of bearing a child in women, many changes occur in the body. If, along with a change in the color of the lips, a pallor of the face appears, then this indicates iron deficiency anemia. This happens due to low level hemoglobin, which often accompanies pregnancy.
3. External stimuli hypothermia and lack of oxygen. In the first case, the color changes due to blood vessels. Due to low temperatures, they narrow, and the blood stops circulating through the lips, falling into other parts of the body. In the second case, bluish lips can be the first symptom of a lack of oxygen. This can occur due to illness or due to suffocation.

The main thing is to identify and fix the problem in time.

In addition to these reasons, many diseases of varying severity can cause such symptoms.

A sign of what diseases can be blue lips?

Often a person is faced with a situation where blue or even purple lips indicate he has diseases.

Such diseases include:

1. Croup is a disease respiratory system. Accompanied not only by the cyanosis of the lips, but also by additional symptoms: a strong cough, breathing problems, profuse salivation.
2. Diseases of the cardiovascular system and lungs. If the natural color has changed simultaneously with the appearance of a rapid pulse and holding the breath, then problems in the work of the heart and lungs are likely.

If you do not pay attention to the symptoms in time, you may experience heart attack, heart attack, asthma. Therefore, experts recommend at the first warning signs seek help from a doctor. Only he can determine the disease and prescribe effective treatment.

In the photo, cyanosis of the lips with croup in a child - the color can vary from blue to dark purple:

Causes of cyanosis of the lips in children

Almost every parent has encountered a situation where the child's lips and the area around the mouth turn blue. The most common reason is that the child is simply cold.

But if there is no reason for hypothermia, then this may indicate apnea. AT medical terminology the phenomenon is called "affective-respiratory attack". Sometimes the child's breathing may stop for short span time at the time of inspiration. The first sign is the appearance of pallor skin. The second is lilac lips or the area around them.

Most often, the disease is faced by parents of babies who are between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. The duration of each attack is no more than 1-2 minutes. In this case, an attack can occur both once a day, and several times a week or a month.

This disease is characteristic of many children, most often does not require treatment (although an appeal to a neurologist is mandatory) and passes without consequences by 6-7 years. The main reason for the occurrence of ARP is considered to be a strong surge of the child's emotions - crying, fear, fright, etc.

However, the cause of cyanotic lips is the presence of other diseases:

1. Inflammation vocal cords in children early age(3 years or less). Additional symptoms dry cough, hoarseness, fever, heaviness when inhaling.
2. Cerebral edema or meningoencephalitis. With a disease in the blood, the balance of calcium and phosphorus is disturbed.
3. Heart disease, pneumonia, asthma. In addition to cyanosis, the baby has problems with sleep, coughing, weight loss.

Cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle in an infant

The main recommendation for all parents in such circumstances is urgent appeal see a doctor to find out why the child blue lips, and he will appoint proper treatment. The specialist should provide all available information about seizures: frequency, duration and other signs.

How to treat, first aid

Depending on the disease indicated by blue lips, first aid is also different.

If a person has cold and blue lips, then he must be transferred to warmth, covered with a blanket. After that, if hypothermia became the cause, proper circulation will be restored in the body, the organs will receive required amount oxygen, the person will warm up.

To make the recovery process faster, the victim can be given hot tea to drink. It is not recommended to give coffee to the sick, as caffeine constricts blood vessels. Forbidden to take hot bath if the victim has not yet warmed up - sharp drops temperatures contribute to vascular damage and internal hemorrhage.

Do not forget that when physical activity vascular tone increases. A few minutes of jumping rope or 2-3 laps in the stadium will give you the opportunity to increase the speed of blood circulation.

If cyanosis is caused by a lack of iron in the body, especially during the period of bearing a baby, then special food supplements (Hemobin, Nova Ferrum) or drugs (Ferretab, Maltofer, Gino-tardiferon, Sorbifer-Durule) can restore its level.

Pregnant women should take any drugs only on the recommendation of their doctor!

In the case when blueing is caused by smoking, then the only way to remove it is to quit smoking.

If these methods did not help get rid of the symptom, then the problem lies in more serious reasons that require specialist intervention.

Lips take on a bluish tint in frost or cold wind, but change in color when normal temperature can also indicate serious violations in the work of the body. Such a symptom in medicine is called cyanosis. If the lips turn blue without exposure external causes, a person needs a qualified health care.

Why do lips turn blue?

The main reason for discoloration of the skin is the lack of oxygen in the blood. Moreover, not only the lips acquire a bluish tint, but also other parts of the body. Call oxygen deficiency may serious ailments cardiovascular system, such as thromboembolism pulmonary artery. In diseases of the heart and blood vessels indicate a rapid pulse and shortness of breath.

If the lips turn blue, this may be a symptom of a malfunction of the circulatory system.

There are other reasons why lips turn blue. These include:

Abuse of alcohol and cigarettes;

Poisoning the body with toxic substances;

Iron deficiency in the blood (anemia);

Pathology of the respiratory tract.

In preschool children, the bluish tone of the lips may indicate the onset of a serious illness - croup. Additional features here are shortness of breath, throat spasms and barking cough.

What to do if the lips turn blue?

Plum lips from hypothermia are easy to return to the original pink color. Blueness in this case occurs due to vasoconstriction and insufficient blood flow to the mucous membrane.

How to deal with a cold reaction:

Go to a warm room and wrap yourself in a cozy blanket.

Drink hot drink, better herbal tea. Coffee will not work - caffeine causes vasoconstriction.

Jump a little, wave your arms, squat. Physical exercise will help improve blood circulation.

If you still need to get to a warm room, a simple trick helps. Cover your mouth with cupped palms and breathe into them. It will warm both hands and lips.

Heavy smokers and drinkers to return normal color lips will help only the rejection of bad habits

A slight iron deficiency will help restore foods rich in this trace element:

Veal and liver;

Grapes and pomegranates;

Tomatoes and beets.

Prolonged anemia requires medical supervision and taking iron supplements. This is especially true for women in position and young mothers.

If your lips turn blue not from hypothermia, but you are indifferent to alcohol and cigarettes, you need to seek the advice of a therapist. Perhaps it alarm signals a serious illness, especially if the change in the shade of the mucous membranes is accompanied by other unpleasant symptoms.

Why do lips turn blue?

In a satisfactory state of human health, the lips have a reddish or pinkish tint. Not surprisingly, this indicator has become the key to beauty: pink lips symbolize health, while blue in this area is frightening. Blue lips are dangerous symptom which is definitely worth paying attention to. Especially if the blue lasts for long term and does not disappear. Blue lips can indicate a number of problems that should be discussed in a separate order.

This phenomenon may indicate problems with blood supply, as well as pathology of the respiratory tract, comorbidities. All these aspects deserve special attention.

Causes of blue lips

Cyanosis, as blue lips are scientifically called, is not individual disease, but a symptom that accompanies a number of diseases and conditions, both harmless and dangerous. The lips turn blue mainly due to the fact that deoxyhemoglobin accumulates in the blood in a very large quantities. That is, the blood does not receive the volume of oxygen it needs, it darkens. Darkened blood is clearly seen in those areas where the skin layer is initially thin. And the lips are normally red just because the vessels are visible here, this is an area with thin layer epidermis. This is easy to verify - everyone sometimes peels off the skin from the lips, it is transparent, not red and not pink.

Related materials:

Why is there blood?

Varieties of pathology, concomitant symptoms of cyanosis

Central cyanosis gives a bright blue color to the lips and cheeks, it occurs due to problems with blood circulation, due to which carbonic anhydride accumulates in it. There is also peripheral cyanosis, which occurs due to a decrease in the rate of blood circulation in the vessels, due to congestion, which provides the blood with the accumulation of carbon dioxide. There is cyanosis and due to the fact that venous, arterial blood mixed in the human body. In this case, a person has an increase in breathing. If in the first situation cyanosis is usually provoked increased loads on the body, also sometimes - hypothermia, then in the second it occurs due to cardiovascular pathologies.

Why do lips turn blue in the cold?

The most common occurrence is blue lips due to cold, but this is not the only reason. Blue lips due to cold is associated with vasoconstriction that responds to low temperatures. The blood supply worsens, the blood stagnates, acquires a bluish tint due to the fact that it gives off oxygen even before it reaches the peripheral tissues. This is where the specific color comes from. Oxygen deficiency in the room also causes blue lips, as well as an overdose of certain drugs, increased physical activity.

blue lips may indicate serious pathologies in the body. Therefore, you should immediately remember the doctor as soon as you notice.

Accompanying symptoms there may be blue nails, a rapid heartbeat, an increase in temperature, a severe cough, sweating, problems with normal breathing.

In all these cases, you should also visit a doctor.

Causes of blue lips

Doctors call blue lips cyanotic, the main reason for this phenomenon is called, which can occur due to cyanosis of the skin.

Signs of such a state are pronounced purple all mucous membranes and skin. This is a consequence of the excessive content of reduced hemoglobin in the blood. Cyanosis in a patient is a signal of problems with the cardiovascular system.

One more common cause cyanotic lips can become smoking and constant exposure to excessive amounts of toxic gases on the body. Sometimes a very pale skin tone is added to the blue color of the lips. In this case, doctors suspect that this is often observed during pregnancy. Iron is involved in various processes taking place in the body and is one of the most important trace elements that are very necessary for it. In particular, iron is a component of hemoglobin, which gives the blood a red tint.

Often, children have blue lips with. it serious illness, which is accompanied by violations of normal breathing and a strong cough.

Changing the color of the lips from red to blue, especially coupled with a rapid pulse, holding the breath, makes you think about obvious problems with the heart or lungs. Similar condition fraught with the development of asthma or bronchitis, since this clear sign oxygen starvation.

In some cases, blue lips are associated with the formation of a blood clot in the lungs, and this is a reason to consult a doctor.

Blue lips often become with hypothermia of the body. This is explained by the fact that blood vessels on the lips narrow when they freeze and do not allow blood to completely fill them. This leads to most of blood from these vessels flows to internal organs: heart and kidneys, brain. This is necessary to maintain constant temperature of the whole body.

The normal color of the skin and lips is preserved only when the blood moves through the vessels constantly in the usual volume and at the same speed. Warming up your body can be returned blue or pale lips their natural pink color.

In some cases, blue lips are observed in patients with Raynaud's disease, in which case the vessels burst when exposed to low temperature, but it can also happen from severe stress. Trying to fill the vessels with blood, the body reduces the flow of blood to the skin and lips, and the body becomes blue. If blue lips are observed during pregnancy, then this may indicate an iron deficiency in the body of the expectant mother. This is a fairly common condition, but there are a number of drugs that successfully solve this problem.

What to do if lips turn blue?

If your lips are blue, try to wrap yourself in a good terry towel or a warm blanket so that the body warms up faster. The blood will begin to circulate through the internal organs faster and will soon rise to the limbs and lips. Drink hot tea. However, one should be careful with coffee in this state, taking into account that the caffeine contained in it constricts blood vessels. sports training(aerobics, running, etc.), also quickly warm the body, remove the cyanotic tint and replace it with a more pleasant pink. Sport well accelerates oxygen to all tissues of the body.

Because nicotine and tobacco smoke lead to accelerated vasoconstriction and reduce the flow of oxygen to the tissues.

Surely every person at least once in their life has come across a person whose lips have a shade of blue color. This phenomenon is equally inherent in women and men. In no case should you ignore the bluish tint of the skin of the lips. In this case, it is imperative to immediately consult a doctor and determine why the lips turn blue, if necessary, carry out competent treatment. An appeal to a specialist is also necessary if, along with a change in skin tone, heartbeat, blue nail plates appear, body temperature increases, work intensifies sweat glands, there is an intense cough and severe shortness of breath.

If the lips turn blue in an adult or a child, this condition always has a specific reason, it does not arise from nowhere. Representatives official medicine The blueness of the lips is called cyanosis. The reasons that a person turned blue upper lip or underlip, may be different, but they are all dangerous to health and even to life. You need to pay attention to them, because this is evidence serious violations in the body. Key reason what makes lips blue is acute deficiency oxygen in the body.

oxygen deficiency

The first manifestation of cyanosis is precisely the cyanosis of the skin (they can completely change color or only the corners are stained). If the lips turn blue or purple, this is a clear sign of existing disorders in the functioning of the cardiovascular system. The reasons for the development of hypoxia or oxygen starvation are:

1. If the lip turns blue, the cause is an acute oxygen deficiency in the air. This happens if a person is a heavy smoker, also when living or professional activity on the hazardous industries, where there is a high level of toxic emissions into the air.
2. Blocking of the airways foreign body(if fainting occurs, tongue retraction can provoke overlap).
3. Prolonged stay of a person in a motionless or lying down, in which air stagnation occurs in the lungs, non-exhausting viscous mucus is formed, a bacterial process occurs in the lung cavity, it is required mandatory sanitation through a special apparatus.
4. Implementation of surgical procedures using general anesthesia. This effect also negatively affects the work of the heart.

Only a doctor deals with the treatment of any diseases. Do not ignore the condition that occurs due to cyanosis, you should visit a specialist as soon as possible and find out the cause, undergo a course of treatment.

Hypothermia of the body

Lips often become cyanotic from the cold, with hypothermia of the body. This condition is characterized by the direction of blood to the internal organs so that they can warm up. Blood vessels on the lips and in some other parts of the body narrow, a bluish tint appears. This reason for blue lips is one of the most common, especially during the cold season.

When the blood vessels freeze, they narrow sharply, the blood fluid does not fully fill them. As a result, a larger volume of blood fluid comes from the vessels to the internal organs - to the brain, heart, kidneys. This ensures a stable body temperature. The color of the epidermal layer normalizes when the blood circulates through the vessels stably and at the same speed. When the body warms up, the lips will turn pink again.

Physical exercise

With intense physical exertion in adults and children, blue sometimes also appears. Under load, there may also be various violations in circulatory system. Usually this phenomenon is temporary, disappears on its own after a while, when the exercises are completed and normal blood circulation is restored.

Low hemoglobin

Normal skin tone may change with iron deficiency anemia. If there is anemia, this is accompanied by pallor or cyanosis of the epidermis, a feeling severe dryness in the mouth, weakness. This condition may occur in the absence of good nutrition, at profuse blood loss. Blue lips are often observed during pregnancy, since during this period many women have a hemoglobin level below normal.

A low hemoglobin level can be caused not only by the development of iron deficiency anemia, but also by frequent and intense blood loss. This happens during critical days, in the presence of severe injuries, with exacerbation of stomach ulcers.

Other reasons

In case of disturbances in the functioning of the body, a bluish tint of the skin may appear. Because the main reason blue lips is a violation in the blood microcirculation system, do not ignore similar symptom. AT medical practice sometimes there were blue lips, as a sign of altitude sickness, deterioration of gas exchange in pulmonary system. Such conditions are accompanied by dizziness, pallor of the epidermis, shortness of breath.

What to do in this case? There must be an appeal to the doctor and finding out the cause, certain tests and diagnostics will be needed.

Blue lips sometimes appear with Reynaud's disease. In this case, with increased psycho-emotional load if it occurs severe stress, small blood vessels burst. The body tries to replenish them with blood, as a result of which some parts of the body acquire a blue or blue tint.

In children, this symptom accompanies the development of a serious illness called croup. Additionally, there are bouts of debilitating cough, difficulty breathing.

Other causes of this symptom are: exacerbation bronchial asthma, heart attack, clot in the lungs. You should contact specialists in time, because only a doctor can find out what is the reason that the lower or upper lip turns blue, the sign of which disease is so obvious. Sometimes such a symptom may indicate that an overdose has occurred. medicines intended for the treatment of the heart and blood vessels. AT this case cyanosis occurs at the edges, not over the entire surface of the lips.

Who to contact

A blue border or the entire surface of the lips indicates that there are violations in the body in cardiovascular system. Therefore, you should visit a cardiologist as soon as possible.

Diagnostic measures

The very first examination is electrocardiography, also prescribed ultrasound procedure heart, dopplerography, lung radiography, general and biochemical analysis blood.

What to do on your own

First of all, you need to wrap yourself in a warm blanket or blanket to ensure quick warming of the body. The blood fluid will begin to actively circulate through the vessels, the limbs and lips will return to their normal shade. Next, you should drink hot tea, but not coffee. It is necessary to give up caffeine and smoking, which can aggravate the condition.

Preventive actions

1. Eat a balanced diet, contribute to daily menu required amount of vitamins and minerals.
2. Moderate exercise.
3. Frequent walks in the fresh air.
4. To give up smoking.
5. Timely treatment of diseases of the cardiac apparatus and vascular system.