Angular Cheilitis? Cold Sores?

[Tarwenamin]

At least once a year I thought I got chronic cold sores until I realised recently that there were no blisters and that it seemed a lot more like Angular Cheilitis... It cracks at the corners of my mouth and spreads down right round my lower lip and then parts from my lip before eventually disappating... It tends to happen like so...

Day 1 - Tingling in the lips
Day 2 - Tingling in the lips, slight burning, maybe first cracks start to appear
Day 3 - Cracks form, when I move my lips it cracks the hardened skin around the area
Day 4 - Around the same
Day 5 - Flakes quite badly under the lip, very red and inflammed around the entire area
Day 6 - More flaking, big hard layers of skin lower under my lip, starting to feel smooth skin around my lip
Day 7 - Under lip is almost normal skin colour and the corners of mouth tend to have minimal flaking but underneath lip (not even touching) is a big angry semi-circle of horrible itchy, painful, swollen skin that makes it unable to move

I'm at that stage again currently and I have alot of difficulty moving my lip and this time I fear it is travelling to my upper lip. There must be some way to prevent it or even to know if it is Angular Cheilitis! It does seem to be stress/weather triggered. I don't want to have to go to my doctor again as I've been to many of them alot recently for many other reasons and none of them have proved the slightest bit helpful at all! I've had this since I was a child and I'm now 18 and hoping that someone can give me a simple answer...

Thank you

i have the exact same thing, for about 2-3 years. it cracks and kind of looks like crows feet with cuts in the middle. I've been prescribed bactroban, antibiotics and cold sore (herpe) medication and it just keeps coming back.

[rad-skw]

My doc gave me something anti-fungal. Try some Moni-stat on it.
Although the disease has an unknown etiology, the sores of angular cheilitis may become infected by the fungus Candida albicans (thrush), or other pathogens. Studies have linked the initial onset with nutritional deficiencies, namely vitamin B (Riboflavin B2[1] and Cyanocobalamin B12[2]) and iron deficiency anemia[2], which in turn may be evidence of poor diets or malnutrition (e.g. celiac disease).
Cheilosis may also be part of a group of symptoms (upper esophageal web, iron deficiency anemia, glossitis, and cheilosis) defining the condition.

Watch your diet, take your vitamins, get some Diflucan if it gets really bad, talk to the pharmacist about other anti-fungals.

[Monsterlove]

Sounds like herpes but not the cracks. You can always get a blood test to find out.