Weekly occuring dry, cracked lips

K

kayleigh e

New member
Hi,

for the past several weeks, as regular as clockwork, my lips will become very dry, eventually "breaking up" in to pieces of tissue which look unattractive and make the lips go red. This is slightly painful when eating or drinking.

I do suffer quite badly in the winter but I am at a loss as to why this is happening in the summer. I live in a generally warm climate, I am not a stressful person so I cannot imagine why this keeps happening.

The lip will crack up, almost shed (I know this sounds unpleasant), and then return to "normal" with in 7 days. This process then repeats.

I am at a loss as to why. I do not drink a huge amount of water but frequently drink juice/coffee/tea. I do not smoke nor abuse alcohol or drugs.

has anyone heard of anything like this before? I am yet to visit my doctor. I have tried using various lip-salves but this does not really help that much.

Thank you for any information.
 
This happens to me a lot as well and the only thing I have found that helps is a lip balm called Carmex. I don't know if it is available in the UK but here in the states it is very very cheap (like $1) and it works great. You can probably buy it online if you can't find it locally.

Mine is usually more on the sides of my mouth though. I have scars there when it's healed b/c it cracks open and bleeds and gets huge nasty scabs.
 
I don't know if you have a condition or not, but I can tell you that years ago my husband suffered from severe chaps lips. Even though we live in a relatively mild climatic, summer and winter his lips got bad. He would use lip balm for a while, but I would have to constantly remind him. It wasn't until (I demanded) he used it at night before bed, every night that the problem remedied itself. It is rare that he has to use it during the day now. We have an evening ritual of passing the balm. I'm sure we've been doing this over 5 years now. If it happens to fall off the nightstand, under the bed, it MUST be fished out! That's how religious we are about it!

We use Chapstick brand strawberry balm. We happen to like the smell, it is soft and goes on easily. You'll have to consider that you might be sensitive to an ingredient and just any balm may not work for you. I've heard Carmex works very well, though I've never used it. I know some doctors recommend it.

Interested in your Dr.'s opionion.

Evie
 
My son is a professional trumpet player and he uses DCT instead of carmex. Carmex has campor in it and that will break down lip tissue so he doesn't like it for that reason. DCT, or Burt's Bees lip balm or any of the pure natural lip treatments are the best. In addition to the lip balms, you need to be drinking at lesast 64 oz of water a day in addition to the daily fluids that you normally drink. Keeping you fluid intake up so you stay hydrated on the inside is what helps keep your lips soft and smooth on the outside. And if you lick your lips, try to stop. It's a habit that you will need to break.

Good lick---or I mean luck!;)
 
Sometimes chapped lips are an allergic reaction to something that is put on the lips (lipstick...which I'm assuming wouldn't apply to you because of your male gender) or in the mouth, like mouthwash, toothpaste, or breath fresheners.

You say your condtion happens almost like clockwork....but heals again in about 7 days. Is there something you "don't" do during the seven days that it returns to normal? What did you do before an outbreak? You might have to do some detective work to determine what is causing the problem...but what you are describing, is not typical chapped lips.

Bethsheba
 
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