Re: Crusted Swollen Lip

Thank you for welcoming me JayeJaye & lipshitz. :-)

I tell you lipshitz, we should all consider ourselves as allies against this horrible condition. Like I said before, I wouldn't wish this thing on my worst enemy (if I had one).

I'm from New York. I tried the ionized nano silver treatment for only a few months before stopping it. I really hate products that have petrolatum in them because I can truly see that it makes my condition worse. Petrolatum makes the skin on my lips turn a slimy white and then I can detect a strange odor under my nose.

I am just using a mixture of Calendula extract (liquid form) & Jojoba oil as an ointment for my lips right now. This mixture I came up with actually eliminates the inflammation of the crusty skin on my lips. Lots of water does come in contact with them after I brush my teeth or shower so, they get white, soggy & swell up. After I let them air dry for a few minutes the crusty skin still looks swollen.

I then apply my ointment mixture with a dropper and smear it all over my lips with the dropper. I can tell you that almost within seconds, the inflammation of the skin of my lips is eliminated and the crusty skin looks "in-line" with the skin around it. The ointment is somehow absorbed by my lips because the glossy-ness of it goes away within a few minutes. The ointment actually leaves my lips looking somewhat close to normal from a distance, but you'd be able to see a definite problem up close.

I noticed some white spots appearing on my upper lip after I put on my ointment. They kind of resemble Fordyce's spots but are much smaller. Could these be those enlarged minor salivary glands that longterm wrote about? Maybe my ointment is triggering them? Maybe they need something to trigger them so that they can detoxify themselves?

The Hyland's Calendula ointment felt good on my lips but I feel that the petrolatum ingredient in it practically kills any kind of benefit I might have been getting from the Calendula in it. The whole crusty part of skin on my lower lip peeled completely within about 4 - 5 days after using it. I was in the shower and I felt the crusty skin get puffy, soggy and then just slide off with the water running down my face. This was after about a good 15 - 20 minutes in the shower. The skin underneath after the peel was very raw.

Calendula is noted more for its anti-inflammatory properties than anything else so, it makes sense that a pure liquid form of it eliminates the inflammation of my lips.

I tell you though, I wish I would have been able to have access to this Hyland's Calendula ointment before I developed EC because I have to admit that it feels fantastic on my lips. I would have much rather used it than Blistex or anything else. I just wish that Hyland would remove the petrolatum ingredient & maybe even the lanolin from it. I wish they'd mix it in some type of bees wax, shea butter or solidified jojoba oil just to keep it 100% all natural. If it were me, I'd even throw in a touch of tea tree oil as well for its antiseptic and antifungal activity. In its current form, the Hyland's ointment spreads a lot. A little bit goes a damn long way on my lips so, I had to apply just a touch of it with a Q-tip.

For those of you that want an "ingredient breakdown" of the mix I'm experimenting with it is: (Liquid Calendula) - from a company called Nature's Answer, contains - Calendula flower extract (1:1) 2,000 mg, purified water, vegetable glycerin, 12-15% certified organic alcohol. Company claims that this mix is "bio-chelated" with a cold extraction process. I then mix that with liquid jojoba oil from the Vitamin Shoppe. Tweet