In the fall of 2015, I started taking private lessons for horn. Of course, the first thing I had to do was fix my horrible embouchure. I ended up really liking it, even to this day, but I still had some problems with it. I was more prone to embouchure problems where my playing was affected significantly for around an entire week at a time. For a long time, I thought that my actual top lip was the cause of the problems because of swelling, but my lips never really felt swollen during my troubled periods. Until today, I thought it was some freak lip problem, but then I saw that my vermilion borders of my lips were swollen and were puffy. With my new embouchure, two thirds upper lip in the mouthpiece, that swollen ridge takes up a lot of space and impeded proper embouchure buzzing movement. This replaces my old theory/cause for the problems I've been having lately, but I don't know what's causing the swelling there. Any ideas on what's causing it and what to do in order to stop it? Thanks.

The swelling is a typical symptom of overuse. Everything can get to be a big cycle and create chronic problems.

It's really beyond my knowledge to help you much except to recommend a place that seems to me to have a lot of good information.

http://www.embouchures.com/index.html Make sure to read the emergency and rehabilitation areas, but there is much more there you will likely find helpful.

Best wishes.

I didn't think of it at the time, but another cause of swelling can be metal sensitivity. Switching to a different material like plastic or gold would tell you. If you are aware of a nickel sensitivity due to jewelry or such that would be a good place to start.

I had a problem like this all during my early years of playing, roughly ages 13-24. It was so bad I'd have to stop practicing for a week at a time. No one ever suggested that it was a metal allergy. I stopped playing for nearly 20 years. When I picked up the horn again, same thing. Tried all sorts, including a brand that said its brass contained no nickel. Nothing would stop it. Finally tried a 14 buck plastic mouth piece just to check the theory that was building. Sure enough, though a horrible mouth piece, all was well. I made the investment in stainless, and loved it. No swelling, no itching, no lack of control, or tingling. I have a great Houser SF mouthpiece that works well on the smaller bore/throat/bell instrument, but my Giardinelli C15 with mid-60's C rim works so much better, that I'm having him cut a custom MP from his collection (sounds like he has almost every Giardinelli MP on file). Give plastic a try to see if this helps.