There is a recent article published in Journal of Dental Sciences. This research aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypersensitivity in exfoliative cheilitis patients. 30 EC patients were recruited. The researchers then did a series of allergy/ hypersensitivity tests including: serum total IgE, allergen-specific IgE, and food-specific IgG. These are markers in our blood that are usually much raised if you have a hypersensitive reaction.
To dive deep in the specific markers used, Specific IgE was tested for the respective allergens including: animal fur scraps (ex1), shrimp (f24), house dust mixed (hx2), mixed allergen of food (fx5), mold (mx2) and weed pollen (wx5). They also tested the BIOMERICA Allerquant IgG Food Allergy. IgG is another marker for hypersensitivity marker and usually it lasted in our body for a longer duration.
The results:
So the research team showed that total blood IgE levels are higher for EC patients compared to normal public. In particular, the specific IgE to FX5 is also higher in EC patients compared to controls. This FX5 is the marker for allergen of food. Furthermore, the positive rate of total food-specific IgG of exfoliative cheilitis group was significantly higher than that in control group (80.00% vs 43.33%, P = 0.028 < 0.05). The intolerance degree of eggs, milk, wheat, shrimp, chicken, corn, tomatoes, soy were higher in exfoliative cheilitis patients than normal control, significant difference was found in wheat.
So the bottom line is: sufferers of EC may have underlying hypersensitivity to certain substances. The food we consume may lead to a long term hypersensitive reaction or chronic inflammation. This finding may get us closer to the underlying cause of EC and leading to the possibility of better treatment.
May be it’s wise to keep detail food log of what we consume and the condition of our lips, so as to further delineate any particular food triggers we can detect and avoid consuming it. Anyone tried avoiding certain food like milk or wheat for a certain time and see much progress of their condition?
Reference:
Cai, L., Wei, J., Ma, D., Xu, H., Qing, M., Wang, Z., Shen, Y. and Zhou, Y., 2022. Predisposition of hypersensitivity in patients with exfoliative cheilitis. Journal of Dental Sciences, 17(1), pp.476-481.