7 weeks progress of doing leave alone method
So, I started to peel my lips constantly like every week since January this year until mid of June. It's kind of weird that they never bled or hurt lol. During those times, they looked completely normal, in a way that I still don't have to hide behind a mask, I still have a social life, and I still get to post myself on socmed. I thought this was just normal and my lips wad just peeling, so I didn't really took it seriously. I'd just apply a vaseline lip balm aggressively and smudge them off with my finger whenever they get white after I take a bath. So June was the start of my summer break and I get two months off from uni. And I really hated it when the universe played with me, bcs the moment I started to decide that I would take everything seriously, the condition of my lips also decided to become serious too. Like come on. So it was mid of June when I noticed that a small portion of my lips looked yellowish. I left it for a week and see if it woulf just go away. It didn't . It slowly spread after a week. And that's when I decided to see a doctor. He prescribed me a mupirocin ointment and an anti bacterial medicine. I also switched to vaseline that is on the tub, bcs I figured that lip balm sort of contributed to the spread of bacteria. And when I got home, I peeled my lips AGAIN. I said to myself that that will be the last time. And it was my biggest mistake. Because everything went downhill after that. I only did thag bcs I read somewhere that the medicine have to be directly on my lips and not on the crust. If only I had known that they weren't crust and they were just puffy. But the good news is, the yellow stuff was gone after a week. The bad new is, my lipd became progressively thick. The first pic is my first week of leave alone method. And it was only at week 3 where the first (big portion) of scab came off naturally. What I observed so far in my case is everytime a scab falls off, the newly grown skin is a bit thinner than the previous one.
I'm not really that knowledgeable abt EC since I only knew abt its existence two months ago, but I'd like to share the things that I have been doing.
- I eat on small portions with a fork, then I switched to a disposable spoon as I figured that it's easier to eat with that
- I avoid the water to the touch my lips. I don't drink directly to a cup or a glass, and neither with a straw (i personally don't like straw as they touches my lips). So how do I drink water? Just look up for the people who poses for the merlion in Singapore. I also somehow managed to brush my teeth and take a bath without the water touching my lips. I'm lazy to explain how
- I don't peel or pick my lips off, they'd shed on their own if they are ready. I treat my lips as a wound that needs a tender and extra care
- I take vitamins and eat healthy, I drink plenty of water, and I also exercise and carry weights whenever I have time
- I stand outside in the sun for a minute or two, you could go longer, I just do a minute or two bcs I don't really wanna get tan
- I sleep on my back and just lay flat and still, I avoid to sleep on my side so I would not drool and for my lips to not make contact with the pillow
- I apply vaseline on a tub with my newly washed fingers, I never used aquaphor, tacrolimus, shea butter, and anything else that you could see on this sub. I rlly can't afford them so I stick with my vaseline (on a tub)
- It's a hobby of mine, but I think listening to music also helped me (I'll take this opportunity to reco some artists that has went platinum on my phone recently lol: Oasis, OR, Malcolm Todd, Audrey Hobert, Jeff Buckley, The Cure, When in Rome, & Frank Ocean)
- and I also tend to avoid watching unapologetically funny reels
My sophomore year in college just started last week, and I just wear a 3d mask at all times. People don't really ask why I'm now wearing a mask and why I never take them off. Whenever I have to eat lunch at school, I just find a spot where there's usually no people or if the other people are on the other side of that place. My spot is in the school gymnasium, and I would sit at the top of one of the benches on the far end. And only there I could feel the air on my face. I also showed these pictures and shared what I'm going through with some of my closest friends in uni, and that somehow lifted off some weight on my back. I also lost some friends along the way bcs they cared more about the fact that I can't show up for them when I was literally fighting for my life. I don't really mind lol. I miss the feeling of the air freely touching my face outside, and I miss eating street foods and in restaurants and being able to eat without worrying that they would touch my lips, and I miss taking selfies (and thirst traps ; ) ).
It's just too much to think how I was completely living normally just before June started, and now this is my new norm. I'm doing great so far and I feel okay. Well, I don't rlly have a choice but to accept it and be okay with it. I'm already going through smth bad, and thinking negatively would just add salt to the wound. I rlly think how you think really matters bcs it affects how you go through with your life. You know, just fake it til you make it.
I would share my progress again in another next 2 months, and I've been dying to post on this sub where I'm finally free from whatever the hell these are.
P.S. I would really appreciate it if the pictures that I shared on this post would only stay here.