Recurring Lip Infection, not just chapped but worse

I be smokin

This is exactly what I have. The others seem similar but you described it perfectly to my situation. It came a few months ago and I was freaking out but then it went away on its own and I was so relieved but it started coming back again this week. It's so annoying. If you find out anything, let me know.

I know this is an old thread but in case this can still help anyone ... I had the same symptoms- itchy, burny lips that had a few small bumps that turned into super swollen lips that were 'weeping' or had the fluid coming out of them- it went away and then came back 2 weeks later even worse. Finally went to the doc- said I had 'impetigo'- bacterial infection of the lips. I had badly chapped lips that cracked initially, so some fo of bacteria must have gotten into the cracks somehow. Gave me an ontibiotic topical ointment- mupirocin. They said it will take a day or 2 to start working, I just took the second dose, so hopefully it kicks in soon...

I have the same thing for 2 months. Did u ever find out what it is? Last night was the first time it started oozing sticky liquid. Hope u found out something. Can u help me? Thanks Kim

OMG!! I'm SO glad I found this. I have the exact same condition! My.lips burn and are red and itchy on the outer rim. Then the corners of my mouth get red and have cracks. Some times it even gets red a little further off my mouth as well (chin area). I've had this before and it's so freaking annoying. It makes me frustrated and cry because I want to wear makeup, eat normal food (spicy food irritates it) and kiss my boyfriend.

This is about the 8th or 9th time it's come back within a year!! I've tried Neosporin. PLEASE some one tell me 1) what causes it 2) How to prevent it 3) what you put on it to make it go away. Neosporin hasn't helped much and I have tried aquaphor before and that helps a little.

Thank you!!

Have you had any luck with the results?

I had fis same problem. Dr gave me nystatin & Triamcinolone Acetonide. This cleared it up temporarily, but it would continually come back. A new Dermatologist told me to simply put Vaseline on the corners do my mouth each night (said saliva puddles up in the corners of your mouth causing yeast to grow)...did this and it has not come back - I do this every night and have not had another episode since and it’s been two years!

Can you please tell us the name of the book?

hi flipside: did you have any success locating an effective antibiotic? thanks, jeff

I had pretty much the exact same experience. It started with a chapped area in the corner of my mouth. It slowly got worse but I didn't think it was anything unusual. Then one morning I woke up and my lips were tingling/itching like crazy and I had what looked like a blister forming on the vermillion boarder of my upper lip. I went online and concluded that it was herpes (which I've never had). Later that day a red area emerged on the other side of my upper lip, both areas were itchy and sensitive. I got Abreva and began applying it, the condition worsened and the corners of my mouth became all cracked and gnarly, with what looked like tiny paper cut slits. I couldn't open my mouth fully. Then it started to scab over with a conspicuous golden colored scab.

Actually, a couple days before the initial breakout on my lip, this itchy, red, bumpy rash appeared in the webbed area between two of my fingers. It looked and felt exactly like poison oak (which I got a lot as a kid). However I knew that I hadn't been anywhere near poison oak in months.

I finally went to the doc and they took a culture swab from my lip. The result came back as "staph aureus" a type of bacterial infection. Initially I was told to apply Neosporin twice daily, which I did, but it only subdued the symptoms. I also applied Neosporin to the area between my fingers and it pretty much worked there. I emailed my doctor and she gave me a prescription for Mupirocin, which is used for Impetigo/ staph infections. I have been applying it for about 2 weeks now and the infection seems to die down but just kind of lingers there, like it's stalking my damn lips. Never fully going away. All in all, it started about a month and a half ago.

Then, a few days ago a rash appeared on my upper eye lid! It's super itchy and driving me nuts, looks and feels more or less the same and I know impetigo can spread. I'm starting to feel defeated. Anyone else condition appear elsewhere or spread? Hopefully everyone here can find or has found solutions. Bless.

I am so glad I found this thread.
Hi everyone, 31 year old female RN here. So I had a couple cold sores as a kid but nothing major at all, totally outgrew them and never had more than 1 as an adult.
I was DX'd with HSV2- herpes type 2 (common cause for genital herpes, my situation) exactly a year ago. I had terrible outbreaks and suffered for about 8 months until I couldn't take it anymore and my MD put me on daily suppressive therapy- valacyclovir 500mg. I have not had one outbreak since and have no side effects.
However in the meantime, I was also DX'd with HPV on my most recent Pap smear. My MD said I could have gotten that basically anywhere at anytime and that even with the vaccines I received as a teen, I had contracted a different strain (there many many strains of HPV). I've never had any symptoms or genital warts with that whatsoever.
So here I am, HSV 2 positive and HPV positive. I began developing itchy, burning, weeping blisters on my lips back in the summer of 2017. I didn't think much of it, chalked it up to sunburn and it went away, but I remember it took weeks to heal. I really didn't see it again until about 2 months ago (Feb 2018). Well boy have I had trouble getting this to go away. I have not been to a derm yet or mentioned it to my PCP. I have tried Chapstick brand, Carmex, Bag Balm (old school salve), Vaseline. These help with the chapped feeling but nothing is really fixing it.
I assumed at first it's herpes related, but I take my antiviral religiously and feel that if it's keeping my genital outbreaks nonexistent, it should have the same effect on my lips. I was on Lysine at one point, and I think that was perhaps around the time my lips weren't bothering me, so I am going to try that.
I also found it interesting that this can be a result of fungal and bacterial infections.
My plan is to get back on the Lysine. I have some hydrocortisone cream I will try, and then my next step is an antifungal....I will actually be using some OTC Monistat (used for vaginal yeast infections). I do not do well with Neosporin, so if none of the other interventions work, I will have to assume it is bacterial in nature and will need an antibiotic from my MD.
I know that HSV can cause oral blisters as well.
I know I have both of these viruses for life, and especially with regards to the HSV2, I had to really pull myself together as I nearly spun into a deep depression because of the stigma surrounding it. It can be very isolating and you feel like you can't have sex or be loved again. I am single, fit, attractive, and sociable and this was very daunting for me. It has been extremely helpful knowing my daily meds are working so well. However, I feel like my lips are a giveaway...even if the condition of my lips isn't related to my viruses, I feel like I look sickly and ill, reflective of my conditions that exist internally.
Ugh, it's so uncomfortable and I hate looking like a kid who had too much cherry Kool-Aid. I will keep everyone posted.

Maybe y'all will find this helpful;
I have been able to pinpoint triggers:
-basically anything acidic or spicy..it stays in your saliva when you're done eating and the next time you lick your lips, boom: irritation
-salt
-sometimes while laying flat at night, it's as if I can feel the fluid collecting in my lips and they begin to very slightly throb and burn
-crunch or crispy food that may scrape my lips while I'm eating them (for example if I eat chips I break large ones in pieces)
I try not to use harsh chemicals on or around my mouth to further irritate. I am convinced this is not an allergy to anything as I do not have issues with almost anything (except Neopsorin).
Anyways, hopefully my methods help and I can share. Good luck everyone

Its mimi. My lips got cured but i keep getting it back from time to time. Its because simply my lips has just become sensitive to almost everything. I cant use toothpaste with flotide. I cant eat spicy. Whever i eat oranges i have to make sure i put it direct in the mouth without touching the lips. Am still irritated with my lips. Ive just tried to learn accept that my lips react to everything

To follow up... It turns out I was having a really bad eczema breakout. It's still unclear what caused the original breakout. I saw a different doctor and she said that testing positive for "staph aureus" can be misleading because the bacteria commonly lives on humans without causing harm. She also sent some pics I took to a dermatologist and he said my condition looked like eczema. The key indicator was that I was breaking out elsewhere on my body aside from my lips, which implied that I was having some sort of reaction as opposed to an infection.

I stopped using antibacterial ointments and switched to hydrocortisone, used it for two days and my condition has been clearing up really well. I would suggest to anyone who is using medication that doesn't seem to be working to stop use and see if the condition improves (sidetone: I am not a doctor). My mistake was that I continued using antibacterials for too long, and I may have developed an allergy to it thus creating a cycle of breaking out.

I’ve had all of these issues since Sept 2017. I was having angular chelitis pretty bad in the corners of my mouth along with hives on my collarbone. This morphed into full on hive type redness, swelling, itching, oozing, and scabbing of my Cupid’s bow, upper lip, under bottom lip, all the way to my chin area. Was in the dermas office every week, new lotions, new potions, new pills. Tried everything. Rx fungus creams, antibiotic creams, doxycycline, a lot of vitamins, lysine, b complex, skin test came back with nothing...lots and lots of oral steroids and steroid injections. Nothing has worked except for steroids. Prednisone fixes everything, literally everything while you are on them, until they start to make you feel like garbage. All, literally -all skin issues cleared up beautifully, unless I came off the steroids and all symptoms would come back. Every single time. I’ve been on and off prednisone since Sept 2017, which is horrible, but it’s the only thing that has cleared things up enough to put makeup on and leave the house. It has been very discouraging to be on the steroids so long, see it all clear up 100% while on the roids, then 2 days after I was done taking them, it would all come back. This has happened at least 15 times since Sept. I hadn’t left the house in over a month at one point. They treated me for cold cores, bacterial, viral, fungal, perioral dermatitis twice, and no relief other than the steroids. They tested me for a range of autoimmune diseases, a skin culture, a lot of allergy testing... nothing has came up that would explain anything (other than a cat allergy, had cats all my life). I switched toothpaste to an organic non-fluoride toothpaste, and had the derma inject filler into the corners of my mouth to rid of the chelitis (May 2017) I thought maybe I was having a reaction to the filler, so I had them dissolve the filler and I’m back to square one. I began to sleep on a steep incline (which seems to help the chelitis) Switched to gentle cleanser and lotion. They gave me Rx for excessive sweating/drooling...didn’t help. Gave me Zantac-thinking an ulcer would be causing me to have toxic spit. A bunch of antihistamines (to which I take more than I should to manage). Nothing has even temporarily fixed this other than prednisone. But then we do it all again. In a month’s span, it’ll flare up for 2 weeks, take a week and a half to crust over and peel away, and I have a few “better days” that I can leave the house, and then it starts all over again. I thought maybe it was a reaction from waxing or shaving? I quit all of that months ago. No improvement since. I was hopeful of the switching toothpastes but nothing much so far. All regular pcp docs and dermas are utterly lost on what to do next other then send me to out of state specialist. More skin allergy test to come to test for preservatives and additives in products. After that, if nothing comes up I’m lost where to go next other than pray it’s the cats and get injections twice a week(I don’t think it’s the cats). I always tell my docs that I felt it is an auto immune thing but all tests for lupus etc came back with nothing. My biggest area of concern is my upper lip/Cupid’s bow. I’m surprised to not see much chatter on here about steroids. Although it fixes all my issues, they all come right back. It feels like eczema to me, but eucrissa burns really bad and no effect from elidel. It’s been a nightmare!!! I’m just at the point to where I live on the prednisone to leave the house and that is not a good thing.

List of lotions I’ve tried:
Mupirocin
Aquafor
Diaper rash ointment (drying corners of mouth)
Elidel (eczema)
Eucrissa (eczema)
Alcortin A(antifungal)
Alevicyn
Zovirax (cold sores)
Altabax
Tetrix cream
Abreva
Cloderm
Cerave
Eucerin
Avene
Hydrcortisone

Pills: doxycycline antibiotic
Prednisone
Lysine
Omega 3
Zinc
Super b complex
Hydroxyzine antihistamine
Levicitrizone antihistamine
Ranitidine (Zantac)
Biotin
Multivitamin
Probiotics
Vitamin d3

..xolair injection for unexplained hives (didn’t fix the mouth issues)

Not sure if my post posted:

 

Ive had all of these issues since Sept 2017.  I was having angular chelitis pretty bad in the corners of my mouth along with hives on my collarbone.  This morphed into full on hive type redness, swelling, itching, oozing, and scabbing of my Cupid’s bow all the way to my chin area.  Was in the dermas office every week, new lotions, new potions, new pills.  Tried everything.  Rx fungus creams, antibiotic creams, doxycycline, a lot of vitamins, lysine, b complex, skin test came back with nothing...lots and lots of oral steroids and steroid injections.  Nothing has worked except for steroids.  Prednisone fixes everything, literally everything while you are on them, until they start to make you feel like garbage.  All, literally all skin issues cleared up beautifully, unless I came off the steroids and all symptoms would come back.  Every single time.  I’ve been on and off prednisone since Sept 2017, which is horrible, but it’s the only thing that has cleared things up enough to put makeup on and leave the house.  It has been very discouraging to be on the steroids so long, see it all clear up 100% while on the roids, then 2 days after I was done taking them, it would all come back.  This has happened at least 15 times since Sept.  I hadn’t left the house in over a month at one point.  They treated me for cold cores, bacterial, viral, fungal, perioral dermatitis twice, and no relief other than the steroids.  They tested me for a range of autoimmune diseases, a skin culture, a lot of allergy testing... nothing has came up that would explain anything (other than a cat allergy, had cats all my life).  I switched toothpaste to an organic non-fluoride toothpaste, and had the derma inject filler into the corners of my mouth to rid of the chelitis (May 2017) I thought maybe I was having a reaction to the filler, so I had them dissolve the filler and I’m back to square one.  Switched to gentle cleanser and lotion.  They gave me Rx for excessive sweating/drooling...didn’t help.  Gave me Zantac-thinking an ulcer would be causing me to have toxic spit.  A bunch of antihistamines (to which I take more than I should to manage).  Nothing has even temporarily fixed this other than prednisone.  But then we do t all again.  In a month’s span, it’ll flare up for 2 weeks, take a week and a half to crust over and peel away, and all I have a few “better days” that I can leave the house, and then it starts all over again.  I thought maybe it was a reaction from waxing or shaving?  I quit all of that months ago.  No improvement since.  I was hopeful of the switching toothpastes but noting much so far.  All regular pcp and dermas are utterly lost on what to do next other then send me to out of state specialist.  More skin allergy test to come to test for preservatives and additives in products.  After that if nothing comes up.  I’m lost where to go next other than pray it’s the cats and get injections twice a week(I don’t think it’s the cats).  I always tell my docs that I felt it is an auto immune thing but all tests for lupus etc came back with nothing.  My biggest area of concern is my upper lip/Cupid’s bow.  I’m surprised to not see much chatter on here about steroids.  Although it fixes all my issues, they all come right back.  It feels like eczema to me, but eucrissa burns really bad and no effect from elidel.  It’s been a nightmare!!!  I’m just at the point to where I live on the prednisone to leave the house and that is not a good thing.  

List of lotions I’ve tried: Mupirocin Aquafor Diaper rash ointment (drying corners of mouth) Elidel (eczema) Eucrissa (eczema) Alcortin A(antifungal) Alevicyn Zovirax (cold sores) Altabax Tetrix cream Abreva Cloderm Cerave Eucerin Avene Hydrcortisone

Pills:  doxycycline antibiotic  Prednisone Lysine Omega 3 Zinc Super b complex  Hydroxyzine antihistamine Levicitrizone antihistamine  Ranitidine (Zantac) Biotin Multivitamin Probiotics Vitamin d3

..xolair injection for unexplained hives (didn’t fix the mouth issues)