Exfoliate Cheilitis Help Page from Long Time Sufferer

Hello everyone,

Brief intro:
26 year old long time 6 year sufferer of EC here. Been on this website pretty much since the beginning but always as a lurker just waiting for that miracle cure. Sadly with EC there is no one treatment that resolved everything. During my battle with EC I have discovered a number of treatments that help and improve the condition which I am going to share here. My EC is now at a manageable stage and I only get a thin layer of skin in the middle of my top lip that peels off every morning. Some white residue after sleeping/exercise and some dry mouth issues. That being said, I no longer have crusts or bleeding or discoloured lips. I feel i'm steady at around 80% cured and am much much happier now than I was a few year ago.

My guess at E.C cause:
Similar to some of the posts i've read recently, I am pretty certain the E.C is caused by imbalances in the body (Stomach) and revolves around Gut Flora, Candida, Bacteria in stomach, bacteria in saliva/mouth. It seems like this is the underlying cause of the lip peeling problem which can then be seriously exacerbated with the lips getting infected causing crusts and all kinda of other horrible problems. The fist couple of stages are horrible to get through and cause extreme anxiety, self conciseness, depression, paranoia. My heart goes out to anyone dealing with this condition. Like I said there is no 100% cure but i've got a bunch of things which definitely helped me which I want to share.


Fermented drinks/foods:
Kombucha
Kimchi
Probiotics (Take a complex with Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Streptococcus Thermophilus, Lactobacillus Rhamnpsus, Lactobacillus Salivarious, Bifidobacterium Bifidum)
Probiotic yogurt
Apple cider vinegar (take on full stomach!!)

Vitamin - B12
Vitamin D - Sunshine Helps a lot! (for mind and body no jokes)
l-lysine (Improves gut health/calcium absorption)
Almond milk everyday (or normal if you can stomach it) (calcium helps with Vitamin D absorption.

Lots of fresh fruit
Lots of mixed vegetables.

No artificial sugar. No sweets, fizzy drinks, chocolate. (This lets the body work a lot more naturally with having the constant insulin dumps) (sugar also feeds bacteria)
Honey,Stevia is good and Sugar in fruit is fine.

Lips scrub every morning - Sugar, Sweet almond, Olive oil, Vit E, Sunflower oil, Jojoba oil, Coconut oil. This is less abrasive to the lips that peeling with fingers/nails.

Gloves in a bottle - every morning 2 layers + whenever i'm home and get a chance (Helps seal lips and definitely improves health and relieves soreness after swimming/exercise.

Just Aquaphor all day probably every hour I apply a small layer. (on this front just find which ever natural lip solve works best for you but make sure its organic and not full of drying substances.

I use Xylimelts to helps with the dry mouth issues and have a pack of these in my pocket almost constantly. This allows me to sit in meeting for hours+ and not have to worry about water or my mouth drying as I talk with people. Also really helps with the white reside on lips both if used in the day or overnight.

Finally exercise. This is super important and after a few years of gathering momentum I am now doing 90 mins of mixed weights and cardio 6 days a week. This would have seemed like a lot to me a few years ago but the benefits are amazing both in controlling E.C and with confidence and self body image. Exercise is a tough one because E.C makes you want to sit inside and hide from the world but you have to not let it. It sucks but it gets better. This forum is great minus a few idiots.

I have seen a number of western medicine doctors and dermatologist as well as some other more natural heath professionals. None had a clue about this disease and I often found myself informing them about it. Don't waste too much money going down that route and i would never recommend surgery for this type of illness.

Hope this helps,

G



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