to start off, i just typed a massive formal message on this forum, explaining what works, what doesn't work, and why. when i was about to submit it, the webpage froze. so, i apologize about the crap punctuation and quality of this message, but i'm sure you'll all forgive me if this method works for you (which it should, so long as it is INDUCED and NOT congenital, although who knows, maybe it could do something for that as well). i'm a medical student right now, and i realize there is little to no help for conditions that don't show much ability to generate profits. exfoliative cheilitis is one of many, and i know someone who had it, emphasis on HAD, so i started working with him to find a solution. thanks to all the crazy ideas i see on these forums and websites alike, here's what doesn't work to start you guys out. i know this, because either the patient has tried them for extended periods of time, or they're obviously stupid ideas:

-corticosteroid creams. this is what you will get these days if you go to a family practitioner or a dermatologist. oh, and we are going to charge you a few hundred bucks for our ten minutes. it's by no means a dumb idea in trying one of these creams, but for exfoliative cheilitis it's not going to cut it.

-lip balm. i don't care if it has beeeswax and retains moisture. as i've seen, moisture causes the skin to become white and slough off. so retaining moisture doesn't seem like much of a cure now does it.

-diet. you want to sit around and eat bananas all day? we diverged from monkeys a long time ago. let's not regress, next thing you know people will say climbing trees is also a solution.

-exercise. go ahead and run until your knees break it will only increase the rate your scar builds up and falls off.

-ear drops. okay so i saw someone had posted on this forum they cured their exfoliative cheilitis with "otex ear drops", whereby the main ingredients are urea and hydrogen peroxide. these are two ingredients you probably shouldn't be putting in your mouth, and when you put something on your lips, it's going to most probably drip into your mouth. urea is the compound we use to get rid of nitrogen compounds in our urine. just an fyi.

-salt water. use this if you want your lips to bleed and crack rather than heal.

what has shown to work:

what we need to do is induce an actual scar in place of the pseudo-scar, which acts like it's healing but really just peels off every day. the way the patient did this was with a tooth brush - instead of applying heat we applied friction! heat is well known in the medical community to help with scar healing, but the details aren't important here. basically what i'm saying, is grab a new tooth brush, and keep it in a sanitary environment (don't leave it in the open, put it in a cupboard). next we need a lubricant/lotion/agnet/whatever that can provide a clean environment for the wound, also, it needs to be something that doesn't dry out the skin too much. i chose tea tree oil for this, because it's an antiseptic/antifungal/antiviral (etc. etc.) agent. it's also not very hard on the skin. i wanted to use this because who knows why this wound isn't healing, obviously the medical community doesn't because we're still prescribing corticosteroid cream to those who suffer from it. also, i cannot know if other agents actually work, because i only know one person with this problem, and he no longer has it. just go pick up some tea tree oil.

i scheduled out a routine that matches what we should do as a minimum for brushing our teeth: twice a day, once in the morning, once at night. cover the tooth brush and lip area with tea tree oil, scrub wound area with tooth brush in horizontal, vertical, and circular motion. don't bother being gentle, remember, you're inducing a scar that is no longer going to peel away. because this inevitably caused minor dry skin, the patient used burt's beeswax in areas around the wound. it has been two months now, the patient's skin has not sloughed off a single time, but he continues the tea tree oil/brushing regiment. the skin also does not turn white when wet, so it's definitely a different scar-type that is "conducive to living life rather than having a constant mental burden." Remember in this process you may find yourself scrubbing your lip several times a day for a solid month before it's done, and may want to continue the process after that. i hope this helps all of you, i apologize i can't dedicate a website to this remedy (hopefully it works for everyone) as i'm an angry pretentious student who lacks the time and knowledge to do so. good luck to all of you. i will try to post replies.

Note*** IF YOU PICK AT THE WOUND OR PEEL SKIN OFF DURING SCRUBBING, THE HEALING PROCESS CAN TAKE MUCH LONGER. DO NOT PICK, JUST SCRUB WITH A BRUSH AND ADD MORE TEA TREE OIL.