Mystery rash

[Jen7nz]

I have a red, dry, scaley, extremely itchy rach on my upper lip. When I scratch too much, it starts to weep clear fluid and starts to sting as well as remaining itchy. A steriod cream has not worked. What could be causing this? It's driving me crazy, and looks awful.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Two possibilities are coming to my mind from your symptoms. One is cheilitis grandularis. The other is cheilitis granulomatosa. Cheilitis glandularis affects the lower lip almost exclusively, although it has been reported to affect the upper lip. It presents as black marks due to puncta of the salivary gland swelling. Then viscous clear secretions and crusting may be there.

I suggest you to consult a good dermatologist and get a culture sensitivity of the fluid sample from lip and  biopsy of the lip done to confirm the diagnosis.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[Jen77NZ]

Good grief, I'd forgotten this! I found out what was causing it. A cream I had been using changed their ingredients, and I was apparently allergic to one of them. Now I cannot use that cream, nor Nivea lip balm as they both cause the rash. It's gone now, thank goodness.

[Jen77NZ]

Good grief, I'd forgotten this! I found out what was causing it. A cream I had been using changed their ingredients, and I was apparently allergic to one of them. Now I cannot use that cream, nor Nivea lip balm as they both cause the rash. It's gone now, thank goodness.

[Jen77NZ]

Now why has this silly thing done my comment twice?!