In my experience this has nothing to do with the toothpaste I was using. My EC came about when I was taking loads of supplements to help with laser surgery I didn't have for Acne scarring. Basically I was on Roaccutane to treat Acne and I think it sent me mental for a time. I became obsessed with scars that no-one else could see. The list of supplements is in the top post of this page:

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/67916-nutritional-support-fo...


I believe that these supplements caused my skin to go mental also. I remember there was someone else on here who took a similar list. The first time I ever peeled there were Fordyce's Spots behind the affected skin and I believe that the supplements I took have caused the sebum in the sebaceous glands to harden and block the flow of natural sebum to the outer layer of the skin.

My bottom lip, which very rarely peels, has no Fordyce's Spots; I don't believe this can be a coincidence.

I've accepted this now as something which I am unlikely to cure in my lifetime. I am so good at managing the lips, using Batrafen and peeling when possible that no-one ever notices my lips. I work as a teacher and you can be sure that if the children could see a problem with my lips they would take great pleasure of informing me of it!

Anyhow, good luck to you all in trying to cure / deal with this condition. Do not, under any circumstances, let this take over your life. I nearly did and I look back now as a happy 29 year old and realise how stupid I was.

I have a decent job, a nice girlfriend, who didn't notice my lips apart from how, "They are sometimes dry in the morning." (A comment she made when I brought them up after 6 months and I am genuinely quite content.

This condition will only take over you life if you let it.

Keep the unity in the peeling lip community.

Regards,

Juno.

Hi all,

I think it is a good idea to track and study success stories. I'd like to add several pieces of insight.

First, there may be many more cases of healing than what have been posted on the fourm. Some may find themselves healed and never return to the forum to share their great news. So, let's not get in the mindset that only a very few will ever be fully healed. I think we all can if we stick to our efforts to find the causes and cures.

Second, it takes along time to heal naturally. This is very important to be mindful of. I think that EC is a slow developing condition that takes years to show itself. Using certain toothpastes, biting lips during stressful periods of time, excessive intake of supplements, etc. are likely triggers rather than root causes. Of course, we have to remove the triggers. However, we also need to explore the root causes and eliminate these as well. This is why exercise, diet, and stress reduction are so important to any cure. In terms of time to heal, the principle rule in Traditional Chinese medicine is that it can take 1-2 months (or more) of a particular treatment per year of the onset of a condition to begin to truly heal. So, let's say you started to have EC symptoms two years ago - it is likely that the root cause started a year or two (or even more) prior to you noticing if you accept that the underlying cause is internal - you should not expect to begin to see/experience true healing for at least 6 months into a particular treatment. It took 2 years for the person mentioned in number 4 to fully heal himself through exercise, leaving his lips alone other than trimming the edges (NO topicals, ointments, balms, etc.), and diet. He had EC for six years prior to his treatment approach.

We try many things in rapid fire, which is understandable. However, I think we need to commit to a strategy that s reasonable for each of us individually and see it through for an extended period of time. EC does not occur overnight and therefore will not go away overnight.

As an FYI, I am 3 months into my approach, which includes applying nothing AT ALL to my lips, trimming the edges (needing to do less and less of this as my one week peeling cycle goes along), diet (whole foods, severely limit perservatives and processed foods, no wheat, sugar, or dairy), moderate exercise (don't over do it), and stress reduction through daily meditation (see a counselor who does guided imagery for this - this has helped me "learn" to meditate). I also am receiving acupuncture treatment every other week and taking Chinese herbs (as prescribed by my acupuncturist) to treat latent heat in my stomach due to a bout of scarlet fever nearly twenty years ago. Interestingly enough, I started having GI issues (similar to irritable bowel syndrome) shortly after having the fever and am now feeling much, much better in terms of digestion.

I hope this is helpful and best wishes to all going into 2012! Here is to a healing year ahead!