Take a step back, try not to take it too seriously, and just learn to live with it for a while. You're not going to cure anything when you're stressing that much.

I've got to the stage where I just maintain my peeling lips as best as I can by constantly applying aquaphor, and ensuring I control the peeling cycle. If there's a time when significant build up occurs, I slather on lots of epaderm overnight and in the morning the skin slides right off.

This routine has allowed me to live a normal, happy life for years. My EC does not control my life.

This attitude has allowed me to think clearly and strategically plan times when I can dedicate more uninterrupted time to trying to heal my lips, such as on longer holidays, where I can use other skin shields such as 'Gloves In A Bottle' and/or 'Liquid Skin', in conjunction with aquaphor.

Hello Forever21 !

I have been looking at this forum for a long time and this is my first post. I am going to try to help you.

Firstly I can tell you that a lot of people got this condition because of ACCUTANE. It kills the skin of the lips and the face and when people are on this condition they try to peel off the skin of the lips. This is the last thing to do !
If you peel your lips you MUST stop doing it. My tip is to put a strong lip balm (cortibalm) throughout the day and when I don't need to apply it I leave my lips alone. If you have skin that is ready to come off you can slighly cut it with a nails clipper or a small cisors.

I have done this method for 2 months and they are already so much better even if I am not cure.

If you don't peel your lips, it can be a completely different cause and you have to find it by yourself such as (allergy, thyroid ect...)

Hey, sorry to hear you're going through this. I know it's tough, especially getting this at such a young age. To be honest, I'm not sure there's a permanent solution since this is an extremely rare condition. That is why there is barely any scientific research or knowledge on exfoliative cheilitis, and it is also why dermatologists or medicine barely help since this condition is largely unknown. However, if you read through the forum, some people claim to be cured through steroids, probiotics etc.

As for myself, I don't have the time or money to spend on dermatologists (since they don't know what to do anyway) so I just manage this by manually peeling every other day. People say it's bad but t's better that going out with with nasty yellow crusty lips. There is no guarantee that leaving them alone will cure them. Besides, I think my lips look normal when I peel. At least this way I can live a little.

If it's any consolation, I'm 21 years old as well and my EC began when I was 16-17, just like you, so just know that you're not alone. If you need some advice or someone to talk to, you can always shoot me a PM

Hi,

I'm also a 20 year old female that has had this condition since I was like 15. Honestly, nothing has really helped me and I've tried everything. Steroids, sun, all sorts of medicated creams, lip balms, dermatologists. I even went to mayo clinic to see if they had an answer but they didn't, they wanted to do a biopsy on me but the thing is I've already had like 2 biopsies done with no results. Honestly I think my mental health has suffered a lot, if not the most. I was never really conventionally attractive, but now I feel disgusting. The fact that this condition is so rare, no one knows what it is, people just think I don't take care of myself or moisturize my lips but it's not that.

I just have this dumb-ass condition that I don't even know how it started. THE ONLY THING, that MAYBE, helped me, was dietary changes. I went to an eastern medicine doctor in which she prescribed a lot of dietary changes such as no diary, no seafood, no wheat, no gluten, no sugar, no fried foods. Basically just the healthiest diet imaginable. EVEN WITH THIS DIET, I saw minimal, if any improvement. And I followed it strictly for 3 months, and loosely for 3 months as well.


It should be mentioned that I also have eczema.I started getting EC after I peeled my lips when they started getting chapped one Winter. It was because I was self-conscious but honestly, I wish I had never started peeling them in the first place. I THINK the only way for me personally to get healed, is to let my body do it itself. NO LIP BALMS, LEAVE ALONE, HEALTHY DIET, EXERCISE, NO FORCIBLE PEELING. This is the only thing that I think will work, but even so I'm not exactly sure. I'm scared. I'm scared of being judged. But I'm more scared of living the rest of my life like this. It's my youth, and I have felt it slipping away from my fingers as the days pass by.

I'm so scared of never healing. I'm scared that I will make no friends. I'm scared that I will never be able to smile naturally again. I don't know where to go from here and I honestly feel very close to giving up. DM me if anyone else just needs someone to chat to about these things. I don't know where to go from here :(