This is no big deal, right?
April 8, 2020 9:51 AM   Subscribe

Need reassurance about sudden lump under chin...

YANMD disclaimer and all that....but I just wanted to get some reassurance from the hivemind--

Yesterday night I was in bed when I rested my chin on my hand and felt a jab of pain. I felt around and realized there was a hard lump right under my chin, in between the jawbone, slightly to my right side. It's painful to the touch, though definitely not a zit (I get enough chin zits to know what they feel like). I figured it was probably a swollen node, and after googling, probably a submental lymph node? It sprang up really suddenly though, maybe in the matter of an hour or two, because I rest my head on my hands a lot and I would have noticed the pain earlier.

The only reason why it gave me extra anxiety is because 1) during these times it's easy just to get worked about anything unusual, health-wise and 2) This is a pretty rare occurrence for me, I haven't had a swollen node in like...years. In trying to google possible causes and even looking at old askme's, I figured that the cause might be some deep zits/blemishes on chin that I've been fighting/irritating the past few days (I know, I know)...maybe I aggravated it to the point of minor infection? But I've never had this reaction from that before. Healthwise I'm otherwise feeling fine, no fever or anything.

So again, YANMD but this is probably nothing to worry about, right? I know in normal circumstances I could just seek out/call a health professional, but in these times I really loathe to add to their load for something that's probably nothing.
posted by sprezzy to Health & Fitness (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: A person I know got a salivary gland stone a while back and it kind of sounds like what you're describing. I wouldn't freak out but I would definitely call my doctor and ask to speak with a nurse. Doing something by phone won't add to their workload too much.
posted by selfmedicating at 10:06 AM on April 8, 2020 [5 favorites]


That's the exact position where I get a zit under my skin that never erupts into a proper pimple but hurts like fuck. Hot compresses, a pain reliever and time make it go away. Try that and see if it resolves.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:17 AM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]


I had one of these last year and it turned out to be an abscessed tooth. (I had an MRI to rule out something more nefarious like a tumor before we figured it out.) It was a root canal tooth so I just couldn't feel it in the tooth itself. If you have a root canal tooth above where the lump is you might want to get a dentist to take a look.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 10:30 AM on April 8, 2020


I would not much worry about a sore-to-the-poke lump that only hurts when poked. If it starts hurting full time or in response to non-contact stimuli, you can cross the bridge of whether you need medical attention. It could very well be a cyst, boil, unusual zit, momentary blip, ingrown hair, random irritated follicle - none of which require medical attention except in very extreme circumstances. On the chance it's a skin/follicle thing, clean your face with a gentle cleanser and dab some neosporin on it.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:36 AM on April 8, 2020


I had this, and went to the GP about it - he confirmed it was a swollen lymph node, and told me it was probably due to a tooth infection. I made a dentist appointment. But before I got to it, I realised that a skin problem on my nose had become worse, went off to the walk-in, and got a diagnosis of cellulitis and antibiotics. Cellulitis can get nasty quite quickly so I was really glad I went. Once I was on the antibiotics, both the cellulitis and the lymph swelling went away.

This is to say, it might be worth doing two things:

- Making an appointment with your dentist, whenever they open again, and

- Keeping an eye on those zits/blemishes. If you've been scratching them, bacteria could have gotten in, and that might turn into badness. Don't mess about if you're worried as cellulitis that gets out of control is no joke.
posted by greenish at 12:17 PM on April 8, 2020


I have a spot that sounds exactly like this that crops up around behind one of my ears. It's like...a hard little pea under my skin, hurts like a bitch if I intentionally press on it but otherwise I wouldn't notice it except for when I touch that spot on my head and it feels like a pea under my skin.

It comes and goes. Comes extremely rarely, goes after a day or so without a trace.

Once I had it actually at the same time as a doctor's appointment and was like hey what is this thing I've been getting off and on since I was a preteen, and he was like probably an auricular lymph node, I wouldn't worry about it.

And so there you have it.

To be fair, if I try really hard to find it on a normal day I can find it, right there behind my ear, just small and squishy. Sometimes it gets angry though and turns into a hard little pea. In conclusion, bodies are weird. I wouldn't worry about this unless it sticks around.
posted by phunniemee at 1:29 PM on April 8, 2020


I also came in here to say salivary gland stone, of which I've had several. One easy treatment is to keep yourself well hydrated + continually suck lemon drops, breath mints or anything else you have on hand -- meaning, keep yourself salivating as much as possible to potentially push the stone through. (In my case, I stopped getting recurrent salivary stones after I finally got my wisdom teeth out, around age 35.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:12 PM on April 8, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I actually ended up just following selfmedicating's (hehe) advice and went ahead and called the nurse hotline anyway. They were actually right in that it seemed like the call wasn't a very big burden at all...in fact when the doctor called me back he said that since all appointments were by phone now he has blasted through all his previous appointments and was calling me early.

He said he couldn't say for sure what it was over the phone, but that it was likely not something serious (like cancer or anything) if it popped up so quickly, and it could be a swollen node, though he noted it was unusual for just one to be swollen. But he went ahead an prescribed me a week's worth of antibiotics to take if it did not improve.

So yay!
posted by sprezzy at 3:06 PM on April 8, 2020 [1 favorite]


« Older Question about state and federal unemployment...   |   Fixing the Message store has reached its maximum... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.