Cheilitis knowledge

Cheilitis is a mucosal disease whose main clinical manifestations are dryness, chapped lips, and scaling. According to the course of the disease, it can be divided into acute and chronic cheilitis. Symptoms include dry, flaky, and chapped lips. Severe symptoms include lip swelling and erosion, inflammatory exudates, blood scabs, and pus scabs, with obvious pain and burning sensation. In severe cases, symptoms such as high fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, and cough may occur. There will also be erythematous blisters all over the body. After the blisters rupture, large areas of skin will fall off, which is called "toxic epidermal necrolysis." Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it is mostly related to spleen and stomach dysfunction, excessive heat in the spleen and stomach, spleen deficiency and phlegm-dampness, etc., plus external adverse effects. Caused by irritation. Or caused by not taking good care of your lips. This disease is easy to recur. First of all, you must correct your bad habits and avoid licking your tongue and biting your lips. Secondly, you must reduce the irritation of tobacco, alcohol, and spicy and greasy food. Clinically, the development of cheilitis goes through three stages. The first stage is dryness and peeling, which is the early to middle stage. The second stage is the appearance of lip edema and eczema blisters, and the third stage is the most serious condition. In the early stage, erosion, pus, and bleeding will appear. Repeated cheilitis will easily cause the lips to become thicker

and the color will become darker, which will affect the appearance. If it is not treated properly, cracks and purulence will occur in the later stage.

situation. It directly affects eating and speaking. The current treatment effect of traditional Chinese medicine is good, and the problem of cheilitis patients can be treated by dialectical treatment.

Cheilitis is generally treated conservatively (because the doctor doesn’t know what caused it, sigh~), and the lips are moisturized with non-allergic moisturizing oils (such as Vaseline, non-irritating lip balm, etc.). Balance nutrition (deficiency of vitamin B12 may cause skin problems) and wait for self-healing...

If there is a regular recurrence and there is no progress in modern medical (Western medicine) treatment, you can try Chinese medicine treatment (Chinese medicine believes that it may be due to poor spleen and stomach) problems).

These are the most annoying illnesses that are inexplicable (there are cases of cheilitis caused by tooth extraction...), unknown causes, unknown recovery periods, and also affect the mood!

Especially because the reason is unknown, I couldn’t hold back my curiosity to explore~~ crossed it out!

It was out of concern for my friend J that I learned something about cheilitis after several searches. < /p>

The summary is as follows, I hope it will be helpful

info source: Wikipedia;Lilac Garden

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The outermost layer of the lip is a layer of mucous membrane, which is similar to the oral epithelial cells and covers the lip muscles. It is characterized by its thinness, which is only 1/3 of that of ordinary skin.

Because of its thinness, the lip mucosa produces keratin. The layer is also very thin (submucosal water is easily lost), and there are very few sebaceous glands (less oil is secreted and it is easy to dry out);

Because it is thin, it is easy to dry out, and because it is thin, it is sensitive.

Therefore. Can licking the lip mucosa often relieve dryness? Not only is it not possible, but it will aggravate the dryness.

Licking does temporarily moisten the lip mucosa, so why does it aggravate the dryness?

< p> Because licking removes the thin moisturizing oil on the surface of the mucous membrane, the more you lick, the drier it becomes...

Don’t lick, don’t lick, don’t lick~

Cheilitis symptoms are classified according to their triggers There are many - infectious, photosensitive, drug sensitive, desquamative, glandular, granulomatous, plasma cell, etc. However, most of the causes are unknown, howeverrver_and_egg

Let’s not worry about those complicated ones. The classification term, from the root point of view, summarizes the causes of cheilitis into three categories - external factors, internal causes and comprehensive causes.

External factors include: external allergens and environmental changes.

External sensitizers may include lipstick, lipstick, foundation and other cosmetic items (there are a large number of cases of drug-sensitive cheilitis on Weibo and Zhihu), infectious eczema, etc.;

Environmental changes, which may include changes in temperature and humidity and other climatic factors (changes in cities, changes in seasons, photosensitivity, desquamation, etc.);

Internal causes - endocrine imbalance (glandular Cheilitis), personal licking habits (desquamation), etc.

Going back to the case of my friend J, she experienced an urban transfer. Although hk and sh both have subtropical monsoon climates, considering the factors of last winter, the influence of temperature and humidity changes cannot be ruled out; at the same time, due to work The final change in mentality is likely to be caused by irregular work and rest, high work pressure, etc. in the early stage of adapting to life, coupled with possible mood swings, considering the endocrine changes caused by the imbalance of body rhythm, and then cheilitis caused by the winter climate. , is also a reasonable speculation.

From a macro perspective, we use the Baidu Index to observe the change in the incidence of cheilitis (number of searches) over time.

▲ Time distribution of Baidu search volume for cheilitis

Comparing the time distribution of cold search volume that is strongly correlated with season, there is no obvious annual correlation in the search volume for cheilitis in general, and it only vaguely shows There is a trend of "low in the middle and high on both sides", that is, low incidence in summer.

The search volume for cheilitis showed an increase from 2011 to the end of 2014, and basically remained stable from 2015 to the first half of 2016.

However, the incidence has been high since October 2016. Apart from the annual increase in awareness of the word "cheilitis", it can be considered to be caused by macro-climatic factors.

▲ Temporal distribution of Baidu search volume for colds

However, considering that the average temperature in the second half of last year was on the high side, and it was even the warmest winter in decades in some areas, only the precipitation was on the high side. The increase in searches for group cheilitis may be due to the influence of air humidity.

Returning to the case of friend J, considering that the hydrological conditions of hk and sh are not much different, and the temperature and humidity have not changed much, it is speculated that personal body rhythm is the dominant factor in the onset of the disease.

Here is a suggestion: go to bed early and get up early, eat whatever is delicious, take two more steps when nothing happens, walk often, laugh more, and cheilitis will gradually heal.

Modern medicine calls it cheilitis, while traditional Chinese medicine calls it lip wind

Prescription: Albus bark 15, Cnidium monnieri 10, Hibiscus chuanensis 10

Kochia 30 Sophora flavescens 30

Instructions: White fresh bark clears away heat and detoxifies, Cnidium bark removes wind and dampness, Hibiscus chuanensis bark clears away heat and kills insects, Kochia bark clears heat, removes wind and relieves itching, Sophora flavescens kills insects and relieves pain

How to use: Apply the medicine and boil it for 10 minutes, remove the residue, and soak the affected lips in the liquid. In addition, soak the sterilized cotton mask in the liquid and bring it with you. Use it multiple times. Generally, it will be cured within ten days.

Modern medicine mostly believes that it is related to cold and dry weather, irritation from tobacco and alcohol, habitual lip biting, and playing wind instruments.

Traditional Chinese medicine mentioned in "Surgical Discussion": "When lip wind and Yangming stomach fire attack, the lower lip will be itchy, swollen, cracked and drained for a long time, and it will be difficult to heal without pain." "Jian": "Lip wind mostly occurs in the lower lip, and the Yangming stomach meridian is attacked by wind and fire." It is generally believed that stomach fire is related. The author deeply feels that it is difficult for ordinary drugs to reach the lesion, but the soaking method can directly reach the affected area, and the effect is better

< p> I ate hot pot last Sunday and smashed a lot of melon seeds the next day. I found that my lips were extremely dry, slightly swollen, and showing signs of cracking. I didn’t look in the mirror carefully at that time, so I put on some lip balm, thinking it was just normal. My lips were dry, so that night I reluctantly put on some lipstick to look good in the photo. This time, after applying the lipstick, I started to suffer from cheilitis.

There are many types of clinical cheilitis. Today we will talk about the two most common ones, exfoliative cheilitis and contact cheilitis. I hope that after reading this article, you will have a deeper understanding of cheilitis. At the same time, Also knows how to take care of her delicate lips.

1. Exfoliative cheilitis

Cause: Unknown. It is generally believed that it may be related to the cold and dry environment, sunlight exposure, topical drugs, local contact with special material stimulation (such as lipstick, spicy food, etc.), bad habits (lip licking, lip peeling), etc.

Characteristics of skin lesions: It is more common on the lower lip and generally does not affect the perioral skin. At first, the mucous membrane is red, swollen and dry, and then becomes chapped with scabs or scales. After the scabs fall off, the wound surface becomes bright red and shiny, and scales appear after a few days. They do not heal for a long time and recur repeatedly.

I often feel pain and burning, the disease course is long, and it is easy to relapse.

2. Contact cheilitis

Cause: Type IV allergic inflammation caused by contact with allergenic substances (such as lipstick, toothpaste, etc.), which is characterized by the Reduced or calf, can recur when exposed again.

Characteristics of skin lesions: Can affect perioral skin. The onset of symptoms occurs hours or days after exposure to the allergen, and the skin lesions manifest as mucosal swelling, blisters, erosion, and scabs. Those who have been ill for a long time may see mucosal hypertrophy, dryness, cracking, and desquamation, and even the formation of mucosal white spots and verrucous nodules.

It is often accompanied by varying degrees of burning, stinging, and itching. Generally, symptoms will be relieved or subsided after getting rid of the allergen, but may relapse if exposed again.

The above two types of cheilitis are the most common in life. Although they are not serious diseases, they have a significant impact on the quality of life (eating and drinking have a greater impact), and they also have a great impact on appearance. Therefore, we must know how to avoid the occurrence of cheilitis in life.

Inappropriate nursing methods in daily life, bad eating habits, excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation, harsh climate and environment, certain drugs, viral infections, etc. may cause changes in the structure, function and shape of the lips. Abnormalities, resulting in various lip diseases. Babies who are prone to cheilitis should eat a light diet. They can eat more foods rich in VB2, such as egg yolks and carrots, and eat less spicy, spicy, hot and fried foods. At the same time, avoid bad habits such as lip licking, lip biting, and lip tearing, try to avoid irritation from tobacco and alcohol, and maintain oral hygiene. Another very important point is to try to avoid contact with allergens and wind exposure. The mucous membrane of the lips is delicate and cannot withstand long-term wind exposure.

Regarding the treatment of cheilitis, it is still recommended to seek medical treatment in time, because if there is local erosion and exudation on the lips, the doctor will recommend wet compress treatment, such as commonly used nitrofurazone solution or boric acid lotion, and will also Combined with some oral and topical drugs, some antihistamine drugs, such as VC and VB are most commonly used for oral administration. For external use, glucocorticoid ointment/anti-inflammatory ointment or oil, etc. are used depending on the specific situation.

Advice to all my friends, when you find that your lips have become dry and red due to certain triggers (stimulating diet, lipstick, toothpaste), you should be careful to see if it is cheilitis. Already found you. Don’t be like me and be careless and wait until you look carefully in the mirror to notice leakage.

Reference: Chen Lijuan. "Beauty and Skin Science". People's Medical Publishing House, 2014