What causes angular cheilitis in children?
Usually, it appears after an obvious preceding trigger (such as herpes on the lips), and other times it just happens to occur without any special reason.
Some people say that certain nutritional deficiencies may cause cheilitis. Indeed, sometimes iron deficiency is related to the appearance of this lesion. However, in most cases this is just a temporary or transient lesion, that does not require any workup and has no complications. Read more of iron deficiency anemia in children here.
Let me remind you that our saliva contains special enzymes and their job is to break up our food. When a child licks an area around his lips with his tongue, the saliva remaining on his tongue irritates this area and this can lead to local inflammation. A similar condition which causes dryness and rash around the mouth can be found here.
What is the treatment for angular cheilitis?
Sometimes it is a condition that is quite difficult to treat as children tend to continuously make it worse by repeatedly exposing it to saliva from their tongue. When the child licks the lesion, it gets wet and then dries up again, making it very difficult to get rid of it.
The best solution for cheilitis is the rubbing of a cream or ointment (such as Vaseline, or a even simple moisturizer) to prevent the child from licking it.
With a little bit of patience, it usually resolves on its own.
Good luck!
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