Describing lips

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Adam Cruge

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The colour of lips is red, but sometimes when a person is sick and starved for a couple of days and suffering from some ailment in hospital, his lips are not as red as it normally is, rather is gets colourless, whitish and pale. What word should be used to describe such pale lips?
 

tedtmc

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pallid, anaemic

not a teacher
 

Adam Cruge

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Describe in a few sentences with some style, if possible.
 

emsr2d2

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[STRIKE]The colour of[/STRIKE] Lips [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] are normally red, but sometimes when a person is sick and starved for a couple of days and suffering from some ailment in hospital, their lips are not as red as [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE] they normally [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] are, rather [STRIKE]is gets[/STRIKE] they become colourless, whitish and pale. What word should be used to describe such pale lips?

Bloodless, perhaps. When it's due to cold or perhaps a lack of nutrition, we sometimes refer to them as "blue" as that's the colour they most resemble.

Remember that "lips" = plural.
 

Adam Cruge

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The lips of a patient in hospital is blue. Is it ok?

[Please write some sentences using your own words and style regarding this.]
 

emsr2d2

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The lips of a patient in hospital [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] ARE blue. Is it ok?

[Please write some sentences using your own words and style regarding this.]

As per my previous post, remember that lips are plural, therefore "....lips are blue...."

As far as your sentence is concerned, it sounds a little too general. It makes it sound as if all patients in hospitals have blue lips! It would only be certain medical conditions (or cold) which would cause this, and hopefully once someone has been in hospital having treatment for a short time, their lips should have returned to their normal colour.

You could say "Some patients' lips are blue when they are admitted to hospital".
 

tedtmc

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The lips of a patient in hospital is blue. Is it ok?

[Please write some sentences using your own words and style regarding this.]

I thought only a dead person would have the blue lips. Sick people would, at worst, have their lips turning white.
Anyway, this sounds like a school assignment. ;-)
 

Adam Cruge

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Not a school assighnment. I am about to write a paragraph, so I need to know this. I am posting my writing under EDITING AND WRITING TOPICS. And name of my thread is "Check my writing".

Though this matter of lips is yet to be written. But as I would finish writing this I would post it over there.
 

emsr2d2

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I thought only a dead person would have the blue lips. Sick people would, at worst, have their lips turning white.
Anyway, this sounds like a school assignment. ;-)

I can assure you that when I turned out to have a serious lung problem, causing a severe lack of oxygen, my lips were most definitely blue, not white, when I was admitted to hospital!
 

Raymott

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I can assure you that when I turned out to have a serious lung problem, causing a severe lack of oxygen, my lips were most definitely blue, not white, when I was admitted to hospital!
This is called "cyanosis" (recognize 'cyan'?) but it's actually a dark blue, caused by anoxia or hypoxia.
In anemia, lips can appear a light bluish, but that's just from a lack of contrasting redness.
 

emsr2d2

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This is called "cyanosis" (recognize 'cyan'?) but it's actually a dark blue, caused by anoxia or hypoxia.
In anemia, lips can appear a light bluish, but that's just from a lack of contrasting redness.

Yes, I remember clearly the nurse rushing towards me clutching an oxygen mask, saying "Sit down, you're cyanotic" so yes, I knew that was what it was called. At that point, I probably wasn't in any fit state to particularly notice whether my lips were light blue or dark blue - the fact that they were blue at all was more what was worrying me! :-D
 
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