There are numerous different names for angular cheilitis, like cheilosis, perleche, or angular stomatitis. Prominent symptoms are cracks and splits in the mouth’s corner. These cracks are not too painful, but unfortunately this status is chronic for the majority of patients and last for days, sometimes up to a couple of months. Extreme cases show bleeding of those cracks, caused by the movement of the lips whilst talking or eating.
Angular cheilitis is marked by an inflammation deriving from a fungal transmission, Candida albicans infection. But other pathogens can also be the cause of the disease. Understanding the process of inflammation, we need to study its pathophysiology.
Inflammation comes from the Latin word inflammare, which means: to set on fire. It is a complex biological response of vascular tissues to unphysiologic events, such as pathogenic microorganisms, like viruses and bacteria, damaged cells, or toxins. With the initiation of an inflammatory procedure the body attempts to polish off the stimulating cause for the inflammation, as well as initiate repair mechanisms for the therapeutic process for the tissue. Inflammation should not be obscured with infection. Inflammation is very frequently caused by an infection, but the two are not synonymous: the cause of infection is an exogenic pathogen, but inflammation is one of the responses of the organism to the transmission.
Wounds and infections would never cure without an infection, and progressive tissue damage, ultimately organ damage, leading to organ failure and death would be the inescapable consequence. If the inflammation turns into a chronic status, a ground for new problems is given, leading to diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis etc. or in this case cheilitis. Therefore our body controls and governs an inflammatory process closely, so overdrive and overkill are banned and incremental damage is out of the way.
Inflammation is categorized as either acute or chronic. Acute inflammation is the first reaction of the organism to harmful stimulants. By this time, increased movement of plasma and leukocytes from the blood into the injured area occurs, accompanied by a series of biochemical reactions, which boost and enhance the inflammatory response. In these events, the local vascular system, the immune system etc. play an important role in the defense against invading pathogens.
Long-term inflammatory processes are called chronic inflammation, which lead to an inclining shift in the class of cells at the inflammatory site of the affected tissue. This process is characterized by simultaneous healing and destruction of cells and tissue by the inflammation.
Angular cheilitis is a typical example for a mostly chronic inflammation. Inflammatory bouts keep on occurring, inviting the settlement of damaging pathogens, which in return aggravates the inflammation, one more perfect example for a biological vicious circle.
George F Battlefield is an expert on angular cheilitis cure