a perfect storm

  If it was a perfect storm that brought me this condition (or testing by the gods, if that's your belief) then it's going to  require a perfect storm to bring me out of it (or grace of the gods). I think I'm on my own out here.
 

I've had chronic, peeling lips for almost 6 years. As I've said in the past, there are so many variables it's almost impossible for me to pinpoint the cause, and all I have to go on are the times when things got worse, through periods of stress, binge drinking, or frequent obsessive removal of the peeling layer. Perhaps they only affected the severity because of their overall effect on the immune system and the body's innate ability to heal. Maybe it just started off innocently enough as chapped lips and through biting and picking I gave myself secondary infections and overtaxed my immune system.

Anyway, I've listed those causal variables on the wiki, and tried to eliminate things one by one, trying treatments on their own and doing so for weeks or months so as not to confuse any progress or lack thereof. I went on the Candida diet for 6 months and beat Candida parapsilosis back. I tried not applying anything and just eating healthily for about a year. And now here goes my all-out attack plan for the next few months:

1) Keep stress down through exercise, herbal supplements, staying busy but not working at my old stressful job
2) Continue strictly avoiding allergens and chemicals
3) Get rid of toxic metals in body though DMSA chelation
4) Take supplements and eat whole foods that support healthy skin, collagen production, immune system and gastrointestinal system (I'll list them on the wiki later)
5) Stay hydrated at all times
6) Apply natural microbicidal topicals as needed: perhaps concoct my own lip balm of cocoa butter, calendula oil, shea butter, emu oil, hyaluronic acid, avocado oil and Vitamin B12 (the latter two are to treat potential psoriasis)
7) Limit exposure to lips by the sun except when using shea butter
8) Go through detox after immune system is built up, doing oil-pulling, maybe even doing a coffee enema!

I hesitate to say whether I will manually remove flakes or not, or if I will continue to avoid touching them with water and saliva. I think it will become clear to me the day that I ought not remove the flakes, because they will not come off readily and will not be pushed away by a new layer, and the day that I can touch with water, because it will not turn mushy and white or become drier.

If I show no progress by Christmas, I'll go back to Brasil and try to get some more tests done or maybe consider the laser surgery treatment if it's available to foreigners. And down the road, I would definitely consider going to Australia in July and being part of some stem cell research. I'll trade my keratinocytes in for new ones in a heartbeat.

Peace,
C.S.