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Actinic cheilitis - Oral Mucosal Lesion
Other Resources UpToDate PubMed

Actinic cheilitis - Oral Mucosal Lesion

Contributors: Vivian Wong MD, PhD, Carl Allen DDS, MSD, Sook-Bin Woo MS, DMD, MMSc, Susan Burgin MD
Other Resources UpToDate PubMed

Synopsis

Actinic cheilitis (also known as farmer's lip or sailor's lip) represents confluent actinic keratoses on the lips, most often the lower lip. Like discrete actinic keratoses, actinic cheilitis is also a premalignant condition related to cumulative lifetime sun exposure. It is significantly more common in men, elderly patients, and patients with light skin phototypes.

Individuals with actinic cheilitis often present with complaints of persistent dryness and cracking of the lips. They will frequently exhibit other cutaneous manifestations of sun damage (eg, actinic keratoses, poikiloderma of Civatte, actinic comedones).

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) develops in 10%-30% of cases of actinic cheilitis.

Codes

ICD10CM:
K13.0 – Diseases of lips

SNOMEDCT:
46795000 – Actinic cheilitis

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Last Reviewed:11/02/2020
Last Updated:11/02/2020
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Patient Information for Actinic cheilitis - Oral Mucosal Lesion
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Actinic cheilitis - Oral Mucosal Lesion
A medical illustration showing key findings of Actinic cheilitis : Lip scaling, Dry lips
Clinical image of Actinic cheilitis - imageId=2929233. Click to open in gallery.  caption: 'Scaly, white, and erythematous plaques on the lower lip.'
Scaly, white, and erythematous plaques on the lower lip.
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