subject: Sores In The Corner Of The Lips - It's Probably Angular Cheilitis [print this page] One thing is for sure, if you have sores in the corner of the lips, you will be in great pain. These tiny splits and groups of sores can cause excruciating pain when carrying out everyday activities such as eating, drinking or speaking and what's worse, they never seem to heal up!
If you have had this condition for more than a day or two, it is highly likely that you have the common condition known as angular cheilitis. This is the result of a bacterial or fungal infection taking hold on the skin around the mouth, which is the perfect place for this due to the dampness and moisture which can be there.
Many believe that the condition is caused by having a cold or flu or even by very hot or very cold weather. Now whilst there is no doubt that these factors can aggravate the sores in the corner of the lips, they are not the root cause.
The origins of angular cheilitis are not always clear. However, common causes include nutritional deficiencies (mainly of the B group of vitamins, zinc and iron) or constant dampening of the mouth edges which could be caused by ill-fitting dentures, facial muscle drooping, fingernail biting or pen chewing. Whilst dealing with, and eliminating the reasons why you might have angular cheilitis is possible, the pressing issue is to heal the existing outbreak which will be causing constant pain.
The way to heal sores in the corner of the lips is to starve the affected area of both oxygen and moisture. Once the area is dry, then neither fungus nor bacteria can thrive and healing happens amazingly quickly-often within hours.
