Sudden Perioral Dermatitis – What’s Causing It (and What to Do)?

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Dr Sonia Khorana is a GP with a special interest in dermatology and Live That Glow’s own skincare agony aunt. She is passionate about helping people feel confident in their own skin.  Here, she advises on why we can suddenly experience perioral dermatitis and what causes it.

I’ve recently got perioral dermatitis but I don’t know what’s causing it or the best way to treat it.  What do you suggest?

Dr Sonia says:

Perioral dermatitis can be frequently mistaken for acne. It usually shows up as small, inflammatory, red papules and/or pustules around the mouth, chin, nose, or eyes – the skin next to the border of the lip is commonly clear. You might even notice burning or itching, but it’s most often asymptomatic.

There are lots of reasons why perioral dermatitis could occur – steroid cream use is one – if you’re using steroid cream somewhere on your body and touching your face, this could be doing it. Oral contraceptive use/hormonal contraceptive use, fluorinated toothpaste, and fluorinated steroid sprays (such as asthma inhalers) can also cause perioral dermatitis so it might be worthwhile checking if any of these apply to you.

Sometimes we may struggle to find a cause and there is nothing we can do to prevent it – I would recommend seeing your doctor/dermatologist to get this assessed as it usually requires treatment and discontinuing/pausing whatever has caused it.