Healing2021: Yea, I knew that was a possibility when I started. Obviously my inflammation is exacerbated by trauma, so trying to keep it down by doing what I'm doing should be the right thing to do. But there might be other factors causing the inflammation, or other things might have an effect on the condition not getting better still (type of moisturizer, how often I apply it, climate, amount of lip movement during the day (talking etc.), steroid use while doing moist healing, general state of mind due to EC, ....). There are just so many factors that might play a role. I might have to try not letting water run over my lips but rather be even more gentle by just dipping them into water. I still have MikePylons advice in mind to wash off what can be in the mornings (I usually do it in the evenings though because I don't want to wait for my lips to dry in the morning before going to work), and just dipping something into water doesn't really wash anything off really.


jle1987: Yes, they were tested a number of times (I've had this for close to two years now). When bacteria/fungus was found, it was usually Candida (albicans). There was a bacterial infection once or twice and it was usually treated with Antibiotics . For the past 2-3 months, I've been using a mild antiseptic spray on my lips after brushing my teeth, so the last time there was neither Candida nor bacterial infections to be found.