What are the symptoms of solar cheilitis?
Solar cheilitis most commonly results in the following features: • Dry lips • Thinned skin of the lips • Scaly patches Less common features of solar cheilitis include: • Swelling of the lip • Redness and soreness • Ulceration and crusting • Loss of demarcation between the vermilion border of the lip and its adjacent skin • Prominent folds and lip lines • White thickened patches (leukokeratosis) • Discoloured skin with pale or yellow areas Well-defined scaly areas on the lips in solar cheilitis may be solar keratoses or Bowen disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ). Invasive squamous cell carcinoma should be suspected if a persistent ulcer or lump develops.
