Angular Cheilitis – Symptoms

A common problem occurring on the corners of the mouth is angular chelitis. It starts like a small rash and slowly cracks and fissures develop. The exact reasons for the occurrence are still to be found. You can see this condition in children as well as adults. In this article let us have a better understanding about angular chelitis.

What is angular chelitis?

Angular chelitis is defined as an inflammation at labial commissures ( which means at the corners of the mouth ). Though the condition is not life threatening it can leave you in pain for many days. In fact there are cases of real life people whose condition continued for months together and in one case that I read, the person had it for almost five years. So this means that the condition can cause trouble to you for a good time if you don’t start the angular cheilitis treatment early.

Various causes for the formation of angular chelitis

The reasons behind this condition have not been found exactly till now. But some proposed reasons according to studies are iron deficiency, candidiasis, malnutrition, Glucagonoma etc. People who have diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism are also at the risk of developing angular chelitis. Some other causes include

1) accumulation of saliva at the corners of mouth which help fungus and yeast to grow

2) licking of the corners of mouth

3) fixing the dentures in a wrong manner

Symptoms of angular chelitis

If you have angular chelitis you can observe some of the symptoms like

1)cracks at the corners of the mouth which will hurt depending upon severity

2)splitting due to wide opened mouth which may result in bleeding

3)bumps are also observed sometimes

4)the skin gives a dry and flaky appearance

Angular chelitis is not harmful but it may give you sleepless nights, embarrassment in public because of the way they look at you and may continue for a long time. Many times people give you names which hurt you but do not take those things seriously. This may result in stress and tension which will affect your health.

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