Re: Ec or Not-Ec

There is a significant amount of medical literature referring to exfoliative cheilitis. However, this is clearly a symptom with unknown/ variable etiology. I think the presence of inflammation is a key, however, we've seen people with peeling lips get biopsy results that show no inflammation -- therefore, either we need to accept that the same symptom can be expressed without inflammation and our nomenclature is faulty, or we need to present a new name -- i.e., labial hyperkeratinization.

What I find frustrating is the perennial bickering over whether people with success on this forum actually have EC or not. This is a forum for Peeling Lips -- whether you have inflammation, white line, white lips in contact with water, is irrelevant to your presence here. If you want to replicate someone's success and avoid doing the wrong treatment, then you need to pay attention to their description of their syndrome, for example if they say they have clown lips but never say their lips peel, maybe you shouldn't rush to put Triclosan all over your lips.

I appreciate posters like longterm and Healing2021 who investigate other causes for the condition and describe their condition and treatment in detail, while cautioning others not to assume one-cure-fits-all. Let's keep that spirit up as they transition out of discussions here.

Peace,
C.S. Tweet