Re: A question

The moisturizers all have different effects. It depends on what you want it for. I like using shea butter at night after I've exfoliated, it makes my lips nice and soft for the next day. However, it's not so good once the lips have started the peeling again, and it doesn't prevent them from peeling. Aquaphor (and petroleum products in general) keep the lips moist but do not help heal - they make the skin peel easier, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. Other things can make good temporary moisturizers, and might slow the peeling for a day or two, but then once the skin starts building up it can be difficult and painful to remove. I was prescribed Elidel three or four years ago for this, and it would keep the lips nice for 3 or 4 days, but once it started to harden it was difficult to deal with to the point where I didn't want to use it anymore. So you can see there are pros and cons to all of these.

I realize you're asking us for advice that will definitely help you stop this before it gets any worse, but if we had the ideal answer we wouldn't be here. We're all doing different stuff and many have different causes as well. I'm sorry yours is spreading; mine used to be limited to the middle of the top lip, but eventually it spread across the top and bottom lips, but only where they meet. My outer lips are not affected. I think mine was caused by stress, which caused me to bite them to the point where they can't heal on their own. Just make sure you're not biting or picking them, especially where it hasn't already spread.