The field of medical pathology uses the term angular cheilitis. I’m looking for a common word or phrase to use in place of this highly specialized technical term that I fear is likely to be known only by specialists.
It has several synonyms that are still too fancy for what I’m looking to use this for, including perlèche and rhagades. Is there any common term for this condition in English? My searches on Google were fruitless!
According to the the OED, cheilitis means:
Pathology. Inflammation of the lip.
It’s composed of two scientific forms: the combining form cheil‑, cheilo‑ from Greek χειλο- meaning lip, plus the suffix ‑itis meaning inflammation.
The Free Dictionary provides more details about this scientific term:
a disorder of the lips marked by scaling and fissures at the corners of the mouth; caused by a deficiency of riboflavin
What do regular people call this in English?