What could be going on with my skin?

[Shinygoldbauble]

In the past couple of months I've started getting sore spots, mainly around my nose and mouth. Nothing like a teenage pimple or hormonal breakout. These are tiny, sore and occasionally weepy and sometimes flaky (sorry for that unpleasant description). The ones near my mouth are almost cold sore like.
I have a very simple skin care routine and have recently added hylaronic acid to help with dry skin.
I looked at the description of rosacea but that mentions broken veins which I don't have.
I'm 45, overweight but otherwise in good health.
Any ideas?

Could it be impetigo? Look at some pictures online

I had a look. It's nothing like that thankfully- that looks painful!
At the moment I have 5 of these spots 2 on my nose, one on the skin between nose and mouth and one above my top lip and below my bottom lip just off of centre. The ones near my lips are flaky and sore.

Sounds like cystic acne.

Have you changed your toothpaste lately?

No change in toothpaste.

I'm attaching a picture.
They don't look too bad in this photo but I always had quite good skin before this.

Hormonal most likely. Ask to speak to a GP with an interest in dermatology. See if you can get some bloods done and check your thyroid.

Maybe a sort of dermatitis? See your GP.

Have you had antibiotics recently? The last two time I've been on antibiotics I developed these gross crusty sore (not cold sores though) things around my mouth.

Thanks everyone. No antibiotics for years.
I'll think about GP visit, especially if it gets worse. I'm not in the UK and it's €55 for GP where I am.

It sounds like perioral dermatitis. I've just managed to clear a breakout with Canesten cream - avoid any with steroid in though, which makes it worse. I'm immunosuppressed, and it's related to that somehow, but I'll confess to being ignorant of exactly how 😕

I developed a late in life fluoride allergy. I didn’t change toothpaste, but I became allergic to the toothpaste I was using. It looked a lot like your photos. My dermatologist suggested I try a fluoride free version and it cleared right up.

I've had exactly this recently so following!

It looks like the milder photos of perioral dermatitis. That's very helpful. Thanks
I'm going to read up about that.

Yes Perioral Dermatitis.

I get it now and again - it's cold sore like but doesn't clear on its own.

The only cure for mine is a 3 month course of Lymecycline.

I mentioned the toothpaste (and thank you, Purpleartichoke, for mentioning that allergies can come on suddenly) because a friend of mine developed exactly the same thing, and switching to a different one improved her skin immediately. I'll ask her to be sure it was the fluoride and not a different allergen in it.

Nope- it was sodium lauryl sulphate for her. It's in most toothpastes, but she found a Sensodyne type that doesn't have it.

This is a useful cheat sheet too.

Hormonal reasons are the most common triggers - according the my dermatologist.

I was pregnant when I first had it - I'm going back 20+ years and it wasn't so well known. My GP just kept giving me steroid creams (which of course made it clear initially but then worse). It took me a while to find the successful treatment. I seemed to get it at least annually for some time. Touch wood it's now been about 5 years since I last had a patch of pd. I still keep a stock of Lymecyline just in case.

Perioral dermatitis, definitely. And it might be the addition of the new moisturizing serum that brought it on (mine flairs up when I change moisturizer or serum, even to things that others find suitable for sensitive skin). A course of antibiotics cleared mine. I now use a very simple regime, nothing too aggressive or too heavy.

Could be from sun cream

agree, perioral dermatitis. You need either oral ABs or an antibiotic cream. I got a cream called rozex. I had to see 4 different GPs before I got the right dx. all others send me off with steroid/cortisone cream which must not be used with perioral dermatitis. it won't clear probably with OTC stuff/selfcare

Thanks for all the replies.
I saw a few people online recommending a weleda cream for it so I bought it today. I can see a slight improvement already. I'll give that a try for the week and see how it goes. If it doesn't clear then I'll book an appointment.