What is the Difference Between Cold Sore and Angular Cheilitis

The key difference between cold sore and angular cheilitis is that cold sore is a type of mouth sore typically caused by the infection of herpes simplex virus, while angular cheilitis is a type of mouth sore typically caused by the infection of Candida albicans.

A mouth sore can appear on any of the soft tissues of the mouth, including lips, inside of the cheeks, gums, tongue, and floor or roof of the mouth. Cold sore and angular cheilitis are two types of mouth sores. Cold sore is caused by a virus, while angular cheilitis can be caused by a number of different infectious, including fungal infections.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Cold Sore
3. What is Angular Cheilitis
4. Similarities – Cold Sore and Angular Cheilitis
5. Cold Sore vs Angular Cheilitis in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Cold Sore vs Angular Cheilitis

What is Cold Sore?

A cold sore is a type of mouth sore caused by the infection of the herpes simplex virus. It is also known as fever blisters. Cold sores are tiny fluid-filled blisters around the lips. These cold sores are normally grouped together in patches. Cold sores typically spread from person to person by close contacts, such as kissing. Moreover, they are usually caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection. Less commonly, they can also be caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Both of these viruses can affect the mouth as well as genitals and can be spread by oral sex.

Figure 01: Cold Sore and Herpes

The symptoms of core sores include small fluid-filled blisters, fever, painful gums, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes. The diagnosis can be made through physical examination and takings a blister sample for testing viral infection in the laboratory. Cold sores clear up without treatments in two to four weeks’ time. However, prescriptions of antiviral medications may speed up healing procedures. Some antiviral medicines include acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir, and penciclovir. Some of the above antiviral medications are packaged as pills to be swallowed, and others are creams to be applied to the sores several times a day.

What is Angular Cheilitis?

Angular cheilitis is a type of mouth sore caused by the infection of Candida albicans. It causes red, swollen patches in the corners of the mouth where the lips meet and make an angle. The common symptoms are irritation and soreness in the corners of the mouth, bleeding, blistered, cracked crusty, itchiness, painful, scaly and swollen mouth corners, oral yeast infection, eczema type rash on the lower face, redness on the palate of the mouth, saliva at the corners of the mouth, and deep cracks. The main cause of angular cheilitis is a fungal infection. In addition, riboflavin (vitamin B2) deficiency can also cause angular cheilitis. Certain bacterial strains may also cause angular cheilitis. In some instances, angular cheilitis may be idiopathic.

Figure 02: Angular Cheilitis

Moreover, this condition can be diagnosed through physical examinations and taking swabs from corners of the mouth and nose, and sending it to the laboratory for testing for fungal or bacterial infection. Furthermore, the treatments for angular cheilitis include antifungal cream for fungal infection (nystatin, ketoconazole, clotrimazole, miconazole), antibacterial medications (mupirocin, fusidic acid), and petroleum jelly to apply on the inflamed area.

What are the Similarities Between Cold Sore and Angular Cheilitis?

• Cold sore and angular cheilitis are two types of mouth sores.
• In both conditions, corners of the mouth are affected.
• Both conditions may show a similar diagnosis scheme.
• They are treatable through the administration of pills and topical creams.

What is the Difference Between Cold Sore and Angular Cheilitis?

Cold sore is a type of mouth sore typically caused by the infection of the herpes simplex virus, while angular cheilitis is a type of mouth sore typically caused by the infection of Candida albicans. Thus, this is the key difference between cold sore and angular cheilitis. Furthermore, cold sores are caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). On the other hand, angular cheilitis is caused by Candida albicans, riboflavin (vitamin B2) deficiency, and some bacterial strains.

The below infographic presents the differences between cold sore and angular cheilitis in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Cold Sore vs Angular Cheilitis

Cold sore and angular cheilitis are two types of mouth sores. Cold sore is typically caused by the infection of the herpes simplex virus, while angular cheilitis is typically caused by the infection of Candida albicans. So, this is the key difference between cold sore and angular cheilitis.

Reference:

1. “Cold Sore.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.
2. Ellis, Rachel Reiff. “Angular Cheilitis: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and More.” WebMD.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Herpes Infection” By BruceBlaus – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Angular cheilitis cared” By Angularcheilitis – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia

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