Using Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Evoo) as a Therapy in Angular Cheilitis: Current Scientific Evidence is Rediscovering Our Grandparents’ Ancient Tradition

Abstract

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is an essential food in the Mediterranean diet. Since the last century, it was customary for people in southern Italy to use it to treat various diseases: burns, trauma, cheilitis and inflammatory processes of various kinds. Over time, this practice, the result of ancient knowledge handed down from generation by generation, gradually disappeared and was almost forgotten. In Southern Italy, precisely all through the countryside of the north of Bari in Apulia, is produced a particular type of EVOO from “Coratina” cultivar characterized by the presence of a high content of polyphenols and other biocoumponds, the highest compared to other cultivars. Although numerous studies on EVOO have shown its remarkable effectiveness in wound healing, no scientific studies have been proposed for the treatment of Angular Cheilitis(AC). In this case report, we propose the use of EVOO as a therapeutic aid in the treatment of AC not responsive to ointments of various kinds: cortisone, antibacterials or antifungals.