People who suffer from Angular Cheilitis (or Perleche) are usually pretty embarrassed. It is just natural that they are looking for ways to get rid of it as quickly as possible. The patient who does not know what causes the condition might think about other, similar conditions of the skin. Lesions and cracks are otherwise pretty common, so why should this be any different?
Some make the mistake and see the marks or blemishes and think that Angular Cheilitis would need the same treatments as other, similar appearing skin conditions. Some mistakenly treat the cheilitis the same way as they would do with common cold sores. But this would only cause the skin to become more sore and the lesions and blemishes to become deeper and more apparent.
Why should you not use such creams and ointments if you have Angular Cheilitis?
Cold sore treatments usually come in the form of lotions or creams. The problem now is that Cheilitis is caused by fungus or bacteria which needs moisture so survive. The bacteria like and live in the moist environment. Without moisture they cannot survive.
Those common skin treatments like cold sore ointments now simply add even more moisture to the affected areas, while the right way to treat it would actually to dry out the infected areas.
Without moisture the bacteria cannot survive and the angular cheilitis would usually reside after some time. This is the reason why the better angular cheilitis treatments always use some way to dry out skin and not to moisturize it.
The problem is, that at first glance it would make sense to apply ointments since this is what you would usually use when you have cracks and lesions on your skin. This certainly works for some other causes of skin irritations, but not for Cheilitis.
It is therefore important to understand the reason what causes Cheilitis (fungus or bacteria) and not put this condition into the same category as cold sores, some skin rash or maybe cracks caused by cold weather.
Once you have a proper diagnosis by a doctor you can start with the right treatment.
You should also know that for Cheilitis there are certain preventive ways to avoid it. One main reason for its appearance could be a bad nutrition which is missing certain vitamins, mainly B vitamins and iron.
You see, Angular Cheilitis needs a much deeper approach of treatment and simply applying creams or ointments would not help and actually worsen the condition.
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