Re: exfoliative cheilitis and sjogrens syndrome

Hello all. I'm so sorry for taking so long to respond but the medicine they put me on, Plaquenil takes several months to start working. In my case it started working after about 4 months. 3 months into treatment my exfoliative cheilitis improved TREMENDOUSLY. I'm talking about an 80% reduction in symptoms. Before treatment my lip peeling and bleeding was so bad I kept getting comments from people that I need chapstick.

I should add that I now keep a medical journal of how I feel and I should also add that I have Lupus too. The plaquenil has helped with those symptoms along with Mobic and an occasional burst of Prednisone. When I have a flare my lips get worse. Things that trigger my flares are getting sick and allergies. I had always wondered why when I got sick my lips always seemed to get worse.

In short my problems are directly related to Sjogren's Syndrome. In fact, the way to accurately diagnose Sjogren's is through lip biopsy. Dry chapped lips are common in Sjogren's and I also suffer from dry mouth and dry eyes. The plaquenil doesn't really help with eye dryness so I take Xiidra for that. Additionally it has helped with my dry mouth. But I still get occasional dry mouth.