The Symptoms of Peri-Oral Dermatitis

When treating the symptoms of facial skin conditions, you may encounter a rosacea-like eruption around the mouth area. Known as perioral dermatitis, perioral refers to the facial area around the mouth while dermatitis pertains to inflammation, redness, or irritation of the skin. This inflammation generally consists of small red bumps or even pus bumps and mild peeling as the skin is extremely aggravated.

Perioral dermatitis is often aggravated by fluoridated or tartar-control toothpaste, chapstick, the ingredients in lipstick, and mouthwash. It is also believed that cinnamon, cosmetics, moisturizers, topical steroids, and even residue from asthma inhalers containing steroids contribute to perioral dermatitis. Hormones, sunlight, and stress can cause perioral dermatitis to be more severe. Perioral dermatitis is a common skin problem that mostly affects young women, however, occasionally men and children are affected by it.

Perioral dermatitis symptoms characteristically involve the mouth area, but do not affect the lips themselves. There may also be some flaking of the skin at the site of occurrence. Many times if the flaking is isolated to the lip area it may be mistaken for chapped lips.

Often the skin around the nose is affected too, and sometimes it can affect the area under and around the eyes. When perioral dermatitis expands to include the eye area, it should more correctly be termed "periocular", or even, "periorificial" dermatitis. Periocular dermatitis consists of similar flaking and redness around the eyes and eyelids with or without the appearance of small papules or pustules.