The individual ulcers (aphthae) recur periodically and heal completely, although in the more severe forms, new ulcers may appear in other parts of the mouth before the old ones have finished healing. Aphthous stomatitis is one of the most common diseases of the oral mucosa, and is thought to affect about 20% of the general population to some degree. The symptoms range from a minor nuisance to being disabling in their impact on eating, swallowing, and talking, and the severe forms can cause people to lose weight. There is no cure for aphthous stomatitis, and therapies are aimed at alleviating the pain, reducing the inflammation and promoting healing of the ulcers, but there is little evidence of efficacy for any treatment that has been used. Angular stomatitis
Inflammation of the corners (angles) of the lips is termed angular stomatitis or angular cheilitis. In children a frequent cause is repeated lip-licking, and in adults it may be a sign of underlying iron deficiency anemia, or vitamin B deficiencies (e.g., B2-riboflavin, B9-folate, or B12-cobalamin, which in turn may be evidence of poor diets or malnutrition such as celiac disease). Also, angular cheilitis can be caused by a patients jaws at rest being overclosed due to edentulousness or tooth wear, causing the jaws to come to rest closer together than if the complete/unaffected dentition were present. This causes skin folds around the angle of the mouth which are kept moist by saliva, which in turn favours infection; mostly by Candida albicans or similar species.
If the internal carotid artery ruptures within the cavernous sinus, an arteriovenous fistula is created (more specifically, a carotid-cavernous fistula). Lesions affecting the cavernous sinus may affect isolated nerves or all the nerves traversing through it. The pituitary gland lies between the two paired cavernous sinuses. An abnormally growing pituitary adenoma, sitting on the bony sella turcica, will expand in the direction of least resistance and eventually invade the cavernous sinus. Cavernous sinus syndrome may result from mass effect of these tumors and cause ophthalmoplegia (from compression of the oculomotor nerve, trochlear nerve, and abducens nerve), ophthalmic sensory loss (from compression of the ophthalmic nerve), and maxillary sensory loss (from compression of the maxillary nerve). A complete lesion of the cavernous sinus disrupts CN III, IV, and VI, causing total ophthalmoplegia, usually accompanied by a fixed, dilated pupil. Involvement of CN V (V1 and variable involvement of V2) causes sensory loss in these divisions of the trigeminal nerve. Horners syndrome can also occur due to involvement of the carotid ocular sympathetics, but may be difficult to appreciate in the setting of a complete third nerve injury.Because of its connections with the facial vein via the superior ophthalmic vein, it is possible to get infections in the cavernous sinus from an external facial injury within the danger area of the face. In patients with thrombophlebitis of the facial vein, pieces of the clot may break off and enter the cavernous sinus, forming a cavernous sinus thrombosis. From there the infection may spread to the dural venous sinuses.