Hello all,

I want to share my perspective on and experience with EC in response to some of the recent debates on the forum.

I have been leaving my lips alone since September 26, 2011. I do not have pictures of my lips at their worst as at the time I did not want to memorialize my condition. However, I'd like to think we can still have some faith and trust in the human spirit and assume that I am telling the truth. I'm not selling anything and have nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of trying to help others. Enough on that.

I have experienced very slow progress that often has involved a couple steps forward and a periodic step backward. Backward involves a spike in peeling every once in awhile. However, progress has remained mostly steady. My lips now peel on their own every couple days as smaller flakes that are far less noticeable than when at their worst. Talking rarely bothers me compared to when at my worst when I went so far as to apply lidocaine to my lips to numb them so that I could talk without being in pain (don't try this - it was a horrible idea). I think I am 100% better now, but I am not fully healed, which leads me to my next point.

It doesn't take 6 months to naturally heal. It takes years. Traditional Chinese medicine has been at the naturally healing process for 1000's of years. They have concluded chronic conditions develop over the course of years and take a similiar amount of time to go away. I become concerned when people post their hopes of healing in a couple months by leaving their
lips alone. It is going to take much, much longer - it just is. However, it will get steadily better along the way, so this is not as horrific of a process as it might sound. My opinion based on my experience is that so few have fully healed because people give up way too early based on unreasonable expectations.

I also think this is a condition rather than a disease. Auto-immune diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis , do not just spontaneously go away. I think EC is linked to the immune system. All health conditions are. So, eating healthy, exercising, adopting a healthy and postive outlook, etc all support the immune system and can only help the body resolve EC. In short, all we need to do is help the body do what it is naturally designed to do.

I believe my condition was caused by a bad reaction to chapstick based on excessive use (contact dermatitis if you will). What is cool right now is that I now have no urge to apply chapstick where typically I would. I live in the desert and right now it is very hot and very dry. My lips are handling this just fine. Last year I would have been applying layer after layer of Chapstick. This is great progress. Of course, I'm drinking water consistently throughout the day.

I hope this helps. I promise I have no other name or identity on the forum - I don't have time for such pointless games.