Okay I didn't want to come out and say "I'm cured" then have the EC recur, so I'm being conservative with my statement. My Exfolative Cheilitis has not been an issue for the past 2 months, and finally have the confidence to share what I've been through in the process of overcoming this condition through in the main peeling free lips.

I have had Exfoliative Cheilitis in two separate and distinct occassions. The first time back in 2005 which lasted for approx 18 months, it went away after taking homeopathy and omega-3 capsules and stopping the cycle of steroids / lip balms / Antibiotics .

The most recent episode began in June 2010 again for no apparent reason. I have posted in here periodically as I went through the peeling cycles and frustrations.

On boxing day my lips were just as bad and was showing little to no progress. The turning point came after seeing the success of some others on this forum - warriorqueen & montreal, and taking snipets of their advice and applying it to my circumstances. I went on a macrobiotic - anticandida diet, that has been the basis of my eating since boxing day. My lips have gradually improved, very slowly at first - from having large peeling bits building up thickly to gradually thinner and thinner crusts to a point where now the vermilian build up is negligable.

Have uploaded some before and after photo's into the image-gallery.

From the onset of symptoms back in June10 I turned vegetarian, and converted my entire diet over eating approx 80% organic. I also focused my diet on whole foods. However have to say, there was negligable improvement after 6 months. I also tried homeopathy which worked for me in the past, this time it didn't seem to have an affect.

In November I went to a dermatologist - a specialist in the lips & mouth - who recomended I apply steroidal cream, as well as rinse with flouride. She diagnosed me with eczema of the lip (not 100% certain as don't get ezcema anywhere else, although I am atopic). Anyway in my past episode I had a bad experience with steroids so I had a difficult choice. She held a reputation as the leading expert of eczematic conditions of the mouth and lips in the country, so in not following her advice - I felt I was rejecting her vast medical expertise and as such she refused to see me. As I wasn't cured at the time I was deeply regretting my decision, and thought I may have ruined my opportunity for finding a cure. I didn't use any of the medicines she prescribed.

Anyhow I focused on the positive. In december I started seeing a harley street nutritionist. And also commenced the anti-candida diet. They performed a hair analysis for heavy metals. They found very low levels of arsenic (maybe from overeating rice), and aluminium. I also had a stool test, which found that my candida levels were slightly higher then expected although not alarming by any means, also was low in bifida.

So the program I followed:

Supplementation:
- Pro Greens shake once a day for six months
- Omega-3 capsules for 6 months
- Bifida supplement for 2 months
- Plant tannins for 2 months
- I also chewed raw garlic daily for a month

Lip balm:
- for 2 months I used organic coconut oil; but haven't used anything for the last 4 months

Stress:
- I have had major stress over the past 6 months, due to a second baby; moving house twice; redundancy etc. However this hasn't impacted on my lips.

Toothpaste:
- I switched to a natural toothpaste -Tandapasta Organic Fennel & Propolis

Eating / Drinking:
- No alcohol
- Made sure no food / water touched my lips

Diet:
- Anti-candida diet - so absolutely no sugar, wheat etc the diet program I followed was this website
http://www.thecandidadiet.com/

- My diet is also by luck rather then design more alkeleine then acid; but I don't specifically go out of my way to avoid acid foods; but rather stick to wholefoods / macrobiotic based diet high in wholegrains and veges.

- I also ate 90% organic; and especially no processed muck; Initially ate eggs + fish but no other meats, but later introduced organic chicken once a week;

- Ate a lot of seeds & nuts - sunflower, pumpkin, cashews, almonds, brazil (but no peanuts)

- Ate a variety of non glutinous whole grains - Brown rice (more sparingly due to arsenic content), millet, buckwheat, quinoa, and lately oatgroats.

- No vinegar and only Sea Salt

- No milk;

- No tea coffee (caffeine); drank only water

- No wheat, or products with wheat (such as pasta); also avoided glutonous grains (barley, cous-cous)

- No artificial sweeteners nor Sugar substitues (ie no maple syrup, agave etc); also no fruit or dried fruit - except very ocassionally berries.

- Cooking method - minimised pan frying - more steamed foods. When frying I avoid non-stick; and use either coconut oil or no oil. To be specific, when frying I use a small amount of water in place of oil.

Medicines:
I will stress that have taken absolutely no medical treatment for EC - no steroids, Antibiotics , gels, creams, vaseline. No chemicals. Nothing.

Have long held the view that all these medications serve to do is depress the immune system and inhibit your body's ability to heal itself.

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Below are two photo's, you can see in the EC-gallery. The first shows full on flaking and was taken August 2010 - my lips looked like this through to early 2011 and then gradually improved.

The second was taken this morning, and are pretty much how my lips are now. Although there is no EC there, and has been minimal peeling if any, I still have the feeling they could peel - so am extra careful about drinking / using toothpaste not to get anything onto my lips or lick them. Probably habit. Anyhow this was taken 5 days after a stag party - where I ate junk food, had a quorn burger, drank beer sangria, ate sugary snacks and drink - all the things I've been avoiding for so long. And my lips remained unchanged which felt really positive!