Cheilitis or Herpes?

Hello,

About a month ago, I developed a cut in the corner of my mouth, where the top lip meets the bottom lip. It took about a week to heal, because every time it started to scab over, eating or talking would cause it to re-split. Eventually, however, the cut and scab healed and went away.

This past week, I developed another cut/scab in the same area, and the area became irritated. There were never any of the characteristic blisters or weeping of a cold sore, and I've never previously had cold sores. However, the resulting scab very much looks like the scab that results from cold sores.

Some other information - I recently started using Retin-A micro, and while I use it on the area around the mouth, I thought I avoided actually touching the corner of my mouth with the Retin-A. It is possible, however, that some Retin-A had touched the area before it became irritated.

My question is, does this sound more like herpes or cheilitis or something else?

-Nervous Nellie

[maatson]

Most likely Retin-A irritation.