Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Perleche - Signs, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

By Bart Icles

Do you notice cracks developing along the corners of your mouth? Are they painful each time you open or close your mouth? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might well be suffering from perleche. This skin disease affects the corners of your mouth and might be caused by several factors. The most common of which include iron deficiency, malnutrition, oral candidiasis, and glucagonoma. This strange skin disease usually affects older adults, especially those who already have lots of folds around their mouth.

Perleche is characterized by sore or tender cracks or fissures along the corners of the mouth or between skin folds around the mouth. At other times, they might appear as moist white or red eruptions between the skin folds. A few years back, people thought this skin disease is much like cold sores and can only develop in cold weather. However, it has been found that this type of skin disease can occur at any time of the year. Symptoms related to this skin disease include fever, mouth ulcers, oral infection, and angular stomatitis.

Many people wonder if this skin disease is contagious. If you are one of these people, then you are in for some good news. This kin disease is not contagious. However, bacteria and yeast overgrowth can infect people who are susceptible to this disease, especially those who have no teeth or those who have poorly fitting dentures. People with sagging skin, especially the elderly, can also be easily infected.

And you do not have to worry about perleche spreading to the other parts of the body. This type of skin disease stays localized to the corners of the mouth. However, there are cases when they spread to other areas along the mouth where the skin folds.

Like many other skin diseases, it is important that the provoking factors for perleche should be eliminated to complete treat this medical condition. Unless these provoking factors are completely eliminated, the indications and symptoms of this skin disease will continue to occur repeatedly over time. The most widely prescribed medication for the treatment of this skin disease is 1% hydrocortisone. This medication is available under different brand names and your doctor might prescribe this to you should he or she find that you are suffering from such a skin disease. Depending on the cause of this skin disease, doctors might also prescribe antifungal solutions, as well as antibiotics and vitamins to help speed up the healing process. - 14130

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