There is no association between angular cheilitis and herpes.
Cheilitis is caused by either fungi or bacteria while herpes is a viral infection. These two skin problems are not related.
Herpes causes a lesion that is similar to cheilitis but the difference is obvious especially when both signs are diagnosed by a medical professional.
Angular cheilitis
It is manifested by wet, red, crusting and breakdown of the skin at the corners of the mouth caused by the fungus Candida albicans or thrush traced to deficiencies in nutrition in the person affected. The nutrition deficiencies may be the lack of riboflavin or vitamin B2 and iron which may lead to iron deficiency anemia.
It may also be a symptom of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa due to malnutrition and is also considered a side effect of continuous vomiting.
It is different from herpes because it is not a sexually transmitted disease.
It also occurs often in the older population who experience loss of vertical dimension due to the reduction of teeth which allows for the over closing of the mouth.
It may also be a part of a group of symptoms that is a result of Plummer-Vinson syndrome also known as Paterson-Brown-Kelly syndrome.
It can also be caused by medications which tend to dry our skin including isotretinon, an analog of vitamin A.
Sometimes chelitis may also be connected to primary hypervitaminosis that occurs upon consumption of liver or excessive intake of preformed vitamin A or vitamin A supplements.
Herpes
As a viral infection, it manifests visible symptoms such as cold sores or fever blisters which are indicative of infections of the face or the mouth.
It can easily be transmitted through direct contact with body fluids of an infected individual and with a lesion; this makes it easy to detect upon the appearance of the visible sores or ulcers.
Antibiotic treatment for Cheilitis
Angular cheilitis is treated through the application of a topical antibiotic in the affected areas or in the inflammation at the corner of the mouth. Treatment is done for many days until the lesion heals.
Minor cases of the fungal infection can be cured through over the counter anti fungal creams such as clotrimazole.
Antiviral treatment for herpes
There are still no known methods for curing herpes virus from the body but antiviral medicines can reduce the severity, duration and frequency of the outbreaks.
A number of topical antiviral are effective for herpes labialis including acyclovir, docosanol and penciclovir.
Analgesics such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen are known to reduce pain and fever caused by herpes.