Red, bumpy, patchy, dry spots next to corners of mouth/chin. Also on outside corners of nose and eyelid. It’s burns. What is this?

Inflammation of the corners (angles) of the lips is termed angular stomatitis or angular cheilitis. In children a frequent cause is repeated lip-licking, and in adults it may be a sign of underlying iron deficiency anemia, or vitamin B deficiencies (e.g., B₂–riboflavin, B₉–folate, or B₁₂–cobalamin, which in turn may be evidence of poor diets or malnutrition such as celiac disease).

Also, angular cheilitis can be caused by a patient’s jaws at rest being ‘overclosed’ due to edentulousness or tooth wear, causing the jaws to come to rest closer together than if the complete/unaffected dentition were present. This causes skin folds around the angle of the mouth which are kept moist by saliva, which in turn favours infection; mostly by Candida albicans or similar species. Treatment usually involves the administration of topical nystatin or similar antifungal agents. Another treatment can be to correct the jaw relationship with dental treatment (e.g., dentures or occlusal adjustment).