r/exfoliativecheilitis

Environmental Factors

Dry or cold air: Low humidity and wind strip natural moisture fast.

Sun exposure: Ultraviolet (UV) rays damage skin proteins and can lead to actinic changes.

Indoor heating or AC: Artificial climates reduce air moisture and dry out the skin.

Habits and Behaviors

Lip licking: Saliva contains digestive enzymes that break down the skin barrier as it evaporates.

Mouth breathing: Continuous airflow from breathing through the mouth dehydrates the surface.

Over-exfoliating: Using harsh physical scrubs removes healthy skin cells and damages new layers.

Products and Irritants

Contact allergens: Fragrances, dyes, and flavorings in lip balms, toothpaste, or lipsticks trigger irritation.

Harsh chemicals: Strong mint or foaming agents (like sodium lauryl sulfate) in dental products dry out the tissue.

Medical and Internal Causes

Medications: Retinoids (like isotretinoin), antihistamines, and diuretics commonly cause severe dryness.

Nutritional deficiencies: Lacking B vitamins (especially B2, B6, B12) or iron causes cracking and inflammation.

Infections or skin conditions: Eczema, fungal growth, or cold sores compromise the tissue.

So even after removing the trigger it takes about 4-8 weeks for the lip surface to stabilize and by that time fungus takes hold of the damaged surface and stalls the healing process, there are absolutely no other scientific conclusions which might keep the cycle going even after you use absolutely nothing and keep bare and trigger free. And that's why people often require a long term anti fungal plan.

Also I've noticed that fungal peeling has a pattern. It starts peeling where two lips meet. From that zone it starts lifting.

Also there's absolutely no reason the peeling will go on even without triggers until you are autoimmune which is an extremely rare case.

The fact that we keep on slathering new products, new remedies every other day is what I think is we keep re-triggering it.

Also avoiding daily water contact will only make it worse. I'm not telling you to drown your lips in water but minimal water contact and cleansing is also necessary. And protecting the damaged skin to make it stay stuck to the skin longer will only cause necrosis and secondary complications. That's why more people get relief from the Brazilian method rather than the leave alone method.

I’ve dealt with this horrible condition my whole life: chronic dry lips, unsightly peeling, the whole 9 yards. Tried every product under the sun. Some would help for a little bit, but inevitably everything got added to my lip balm graveyard. I don’t even want to think about how much money I wasted on these products.

Anyway, at the beginning of this year I went to an ENT for a completely separate issue. I had a 90% deviated septum that was restricting my airflow through my nose. This was causing me not to get enough oxygen while I slept, resulting in multiple wake ups throughout the night. I had surgery back in March to correct this.

Low and behold, one of the most valuable side effects of this surgery is that it’s (mostly) cured my chronic, dry peeling lips! I’m about 5 months post op and the difference is night and day. It took me a while to put the pieces together, but at a recent follow up visit I asked the ENT about this. He said the lack of oxygen from my deviated septum was forcing me to be a mouth breather, and mouth breathing is a huge culprit when it comes to dry lips! I was floored and didn’t expect that my nose could be betraying me in so many ways. I wish I had gotten the surgery sooner and wanted to share this with everyone here in case this helps anyone else.

TL;DR: Chronic mouth breathing can cause chronic dry lips. Go see an ENT to have yourself evaluated.

So when I brush my teeth or rinse my mouth basically wetting my lips properly I tend to see some white build up mainly and majorly on the lower lip that too inside part and bit on outside it's very thin and all but as soon as my lips dry like i need to gently press a soft cotton cloth to absorb that water and wait for like 2,3 mins and the. I just dab lil vaseline on it or I use my primecrolius there is no white build up at all like it disappears and lips feel totally normal functional like i can talk smile go on with just a dab of vaseline for like 3,4 hrs ( it I talk a lot a need to apply in like 2 to 3 hrs but ya )i only dab again if i wet my lips or something so idk if I am healing or not I need some responses , btw it's been 4 days since my lips peeled last time and i has that raw skin Edit : just rinsed my mouth it feels like almost as if there is a very very thin sheet of white layer on my lower lip now like i literally have normal vertical lines on my lips the part which peels also have some lines but it's less than the part which doesn't peel but I am afraid it's gonna peel from here too it's very thin but ya i believe it's gonna peel in 1 or 2 days 🥀🥀 although rn my lips look normal af I will share more after couple of days

Ever since I started the treatment my peeling cycle went from peeling twice everyday to peeling every 5-6 days also it takes longer exposures to turn white. Also the affected lip surface sometimes doesn't turn white...it's a thin film extending to inner mucosa that turns white. And that specific area makes the lips peel again on day 5-6. Is it a coincidence or real progress?

How many of you in this sub actually done swab test for exfoliative chelitis , and what were the results and did fixing what was wrong improved the chelitis ?

we have a broken lip barrier, you are not supposed to expose even regular skin with broken barrier to sunshine. and regular skin has 3 times more layers than the lips.

and then we use stuff like steroid creams or Tacrolimus which have medical warnings against sun exposure.

how do people that go against this logic and expose their lips to sun without sun protection not end up with lip skin cancer or other permanent damage?

Am I the only one barely hanging on for my parents and waking up with this condition along with the burden of the daily life in general , how do u cope with everything and live on bcz nothings been going on my way for years now . I just wanna get better but there’s no cure but still have somewhat of hope that it might get better . Sorry I know it’s not what this sub is about .

any of u experienced any injury in which the skin is scrapped or removed specially knees , after its removed like in couple of days a dark usually dark brown colored hard crust is formed over it which takes sometime to fall off and if we remove it forcefully the healing starts from scratch again , idk but i think ec is kinda similar like yk when we remove the dead skin the underneath lip skin is left raw which is the main problem as it definitely delays the healing , share ur own thoughts too

This was the post that i read https://www.reddit.com/r/exfoliativecheilitis/comments/1u5fl8t/cured_after_10_years_with_ec/ . I haven't attempted to cure EC in around 20 years but reading this post i thought i'd give it a go. I've been using it so far (around 1-2 weeks) it has been amazing. I've had Exfoliative Cheilitis for 30 years, grew up with this condition and i've tried dozens of products.

What i've been using for the last 10 years is Burt's beeswax lip balm vitamin e & peppermint, which i think was the best product. Burt's beeswax peppermint(this specifically) allowed me to peel off the skin very easily and the skin underneath wasn't raw/red/bleeding.

So i've had a 2 day peeling cycle for around the last 10 years, which was very manageable compared to my childhood and teen years, which was a bloody, painful and soul crushing. Before Burt's beeswax i used Carmex, which also was good but 2nd place for me when managing EC.

Now i've been trying Aveeno Dermexa Daily Emollient Cream and followed the steps in the post that was referenced, it is amazing. I use it twice a day, morning i wet my lips and gently rub away any dead skin(minimal skin) and then rub on the product and do the same at night. I can now go all day outside without even using lip balm. For me, this is a new sensation. The natural color of my lips are returning and there hasn't been any real shedding of skin in around 2 weeks. I normally peel off "sheets" of skin every 2 days, the whole lips, top and bottom. Ever since using this product, haven't had to peel. The ridges of my lips are returning, and they feel more full, the skin feels connected rather than just "attached".

Something specific in this product is healing the lips or the combination of the ingredients. Either way i'll be using from now on. If you have time to try, please do. After dealing with something so long(30 Years), this product in 2 weeks has been a gamechanger. Thanks to u/Vegetable-Market-389 their post was basically a birthday present for me

It has been 2 days since post peel...the layer that formed now is less smudgable and loose and turns less white to water...is this a progress? I'm so confused

I did blood work last week for
Vitamin B1 Test
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Test
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Test
Vitamin B5 Test
Vitamin B12 & Folic Acid Test

My b12 and folic acid results results were the only ones that said abnormal. When I clicked on results it said b12 was deficient and folate borderline. Did anyone else experience this and if so how long did it take to see improvement? I been taking b12 dissolve supplements 1000 Mcg for the past week now, still have to find folate supplement.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19Nq6DW6PZ/?

Click the above link to see why i am posting this address

Important update.

I found the Ayurvedic Doctor’s address. He is very famous in the city. He is a Government doctor with plenty of experience in the field. Unfortunately he is paralysed and retiring in 2 years. So hurry up. It’s completely free of cost. Just visit for main guy not for Jr. doctors. My brother went yesterday & enquired about whether anyone use to Visit this doctor for EC. They said plenty of people use to come here with this condition and it’s gonna cure. I don’t know how far we can believe this but i wanna try my bet on this.

Note: Do your own research too. I know some people don’t trust. So it’s completely upto you to visit him and give a try or leave it. But don’t blame me if you don’t get cured after using it. Even I don’t know whether it’s gonna work or not.

This is the address link

https://maps.app.goo.gl/jD2toCMFZzPXf24i9?g\_st=ic

Hi everyone,

I’ve been dealing with exfoliative cheilitis (EC) and recently had a swab done on my lips.

I also saw a dermatologist at the hospital, and he basically confirmed that, yes, it looks like EC. However, he said that there needs to be a cause/root cause behind it and that apparently everyone has some underlying reason why they develop it.

After the swab, my GP told me that Candida parapsilosis was found on my lips. However, she also said that this can be commonly found on the lips and that, for now, nothing needs to be done about it.

Honestly, I’m a bit confused because I don’t really know what Candida parapsilosis is, whether it can actually contribute to EC, or whether finding it on a swab is basically meaningless because it can just be part of the normal flora.

Has anyone with EC had a similar swab result?

Any of u noticed the skin becoming a bit sticky after the white layer is removed ?

Hello, I feel like I finally found a reason for my EC! I tested positive for Sjögren’s recently and my derm put me on antibiotics while I apply mupirocin since I have a staph infection. My lips aren’t healed, but they are definitely feeling less inflamed and I will be going to a rheumatologist to treat the underlying cause.

I highly recommend seeing a derm who specializes in inflammatory diseases to get blood work done or a rheumatologist because some of us (not saying all cases) truly have underlying health problems that is causing chronic EC.

Has anyone had this where the lips tend to peel from one specific side only? Like my lips are peeling and lifting from the side where two lips meet (the wetline). Like it always initiates from here whereas the drier edge is always attached firmly to dry healthy skin...fungal pattern? Currently under anti fungal