Treatments For Angular Cheilitis

Angular Cheilitis is a painful condition where the corners of the mouth crack and become inflamed. This inflammation normally leads to red sores in the cracked mouth corners and it can even be filled with pus. The cause is normally associated with a yeast infection, and as with all yeast infections, the medical profession normally treats it with either anti-biotics, or cortisone and steroidal type creams.

Let’s investigate the various forms of cheilitis treatments that are in vogue today.

1. Non-steriodal anti-inflammatory creams. These creams are meant to treat the inflammation. The inflammation is characterized by the red swelling, and in a lot of cases one wants to make the swelling go down and get rid of the redness. These creams work on the symptoms, in other words, they do not address the underlying cause. These types of creams are mostly used to treat pain, inflammation and fever.

2. Anti-biotics. This is obviously an ancient favourite of the medical profession and while the world can certainly not get by without it any more, care must be taken when applying this for various types of ailments. For example, it is thought that the bacterial infection that often accompanies angular cheilitis often appear after the cracks have formed and is rather an indication of an opportunistic bacterial attack. In other words, it is a secondary infection. Using ant-biotics against angular cheilitis, as is the case with other manifestations of yeast infections, is often not the right thing since it lowers the immune system and allows further outbreaks of the infection to take place in future.

3. Anti-inflammatory creams based on cortisone. This class of creams also treats the inflammation and the creams have cortisone in them. Cortisone is also certainly some type of miracle drug that is used to treat a wide variety of ailments from lung infections to heartburn, but the problem with cortisone is that it is absorbed through the whole body even though the cream is applied on the mouth area. It is, in fact due to the fact that it is applied to the mouth that causes the problem, since the cortisone cream comes in touch with food as it is eaten and from there on it is transported into the rest of the body. Cortisone has a number of side effects that can be seen as being terrible for the body in the long term. These include problems such as water retention and increase in weight.

4. Anti-fungal creams. Since angular cheilitis is caused by the candida yeast which is a fungus, it makes sense to treat angular cheilitis with an anti-fungal cream. These creams are often combined with a steroid such and in the form of hydrocortisone to treat both the underlying fungal infection as well as the inflammation.