We analyze the role of the confinement potential symmetry on the optical properties of quantum wires in the high-density regime. Within the Hartree-Fock approximation we go beyond a global group-theoretical analysis and analyse the structural details of the symmetrized set of microscopic polarization equations including band-mixing. We show that neglecting conduction band mixing leads to further degeneracies of the quantum wire excitonic fine structure. We also find that the decoupling of the symmetrized polarization equations is persistent in the quasi-equilibrium high-density regime.