Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of proactive therapy followed with the application of 0.03% tacrolimus ointment in the treatment of children and adolescents with chronic cheilitis. Methods: The experiment was divided into two stages: treatment and proactive therapy stage. In the treatment stage, forty patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, 25 cases in treatment group and 15 cases in control group. The treatment group was given compound Cl firstly, then 0.03% tacrolimus ointment. While the control group was treated with compound Cl alone twice daily for 2 weeks. Cured and markedly effective patients entered the proactive therapy stage. Proactive therapy was applied in the treatment group. The control group applied the conventional remedies with protopic, only when lesion occurred they were treated. Results: During the treatment stage, statistically significant differences were observed between the treatment and control group (P<0.05). During the proactive therapy stage, the effective rate was 100% in the treatment group, while 91.7% in the control group. The first recurrence day were 95.5±9.2 in proactive therapy group and 26.6±10.0 in the control group respectively. The recurrence rate of proactive therapy group (58.3%) was lower than that of control group (16.7%) at the second step (P<0.05). Conclusion: Proactive therapy with 0.03% tacrolimus ointment could reduce the recurrence of chronic cheilitis. It was effective and safe for children and adolescents.

Key words: Chronic cheilitis, Proactive therapy, Tacrolimus ointment