Angular Cheilitis

Around mid-December I was struck with a case of angular cheilitis on the corner of my lip.  I didn't make a big deal out of it, as to me it appeared to be nothing more than some dry skin on the corner of my mouth.  It was quite uncomfortable though, particularly when eating and having to open my mouth up wide.  I didn't do anything to treat it for the first week or so (pretty much waiting it out) but it didn't go away.  The fact that I was constantly licking it didn't help either I can imagine.  

Now, is it common for something like this to pop up randomly?  I've read that one's diet can play a major factor in it.  I consume heavy amounts of caffein, as well as diet soft drinks on a daily basis.  Could this have potentially been a major reason as to why this happened?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

I cannot confirm anything without examination,but it sounds like angular cheilitis.It is an inflammatory lesion at the labial commissure, or corner of the mouth.

Angular cheilitis can be caused by bacteria, but is more commonly a fungal infection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to treat it with vasoline or lip balm because it will increase the moisture level and possibly lead to spreading the infection. The treatment of choice is clioquinol cream or iodoquinol cream which are available over the counter.

If even after treatment there is no relief then pls consult a dermatologist.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep us posted if you have any additional queries. Kind regards.

[baggio10]

The lesion has been gone for a couple of weeks now, as I used polysporin to get rid of it.  You are right though, vaseline doesn't help as that was the first thing I used to treat it, and it did nothing at all to remove the lesion.  After a couple of days of applying polysporin though it was enough to almost completely remove it.  

I was told that this can be a common thing during the colder winter months, and that it's nothing to be worried about.  Is this true?  How does one usually get a "fungal infection" anyways?  Was it something that I potentially caught from someone else?

Thanks!