Don’t let this condition get you to a place that dark. It’s a skin condition. Yeah, it sucks, but with care you can minimize the appearance of the plaques while you work toward getting the condition to improve. Stress isn’t your friend in any situation, but it certainly isn’t helpful in regard to a skin condition. Try the various improvement methods posted on this site (and others), and in the meantime, learn to groom your lips so you can feel comfortable out in public. I became an expert at it. It’s not easy being a teenage girl with this condition; but I survived it, and then I surviv ...
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I haven’t tried the Tacrolimus ointment (but I’m going to look it up), but I have been using Lubridrem’s Intense Skin Repair ointment for the past 2 months and it’s really helped my condition. I’ve had this a long, long time, so it’s great to have normal-feeling lips again. I’m also eating really well and drinking lots and lots of water; so I can’t attribute this success to any one thing in particular. But I suggest anyone give the Lubriderm ointment a try, since it’s really been helping me. The thing that has amazed me is the return of the elasticity of the transitional lip skin. Be ...
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I’ve had this for years. I tried many things: leaving the lips alone, taking care of them, all kinds of gentle, soothing balms, etc. Nothing worked. There seemed to be an innate cycle the skin was going through that wasn’t affected by anything I did. Granted, I never left the lips entirely alone for a year (meaning, I never refrained from so much as just touching them for an entire year). But I did go through long periods of time where I didn’t tug, pull, peel, or otherwise bother the skin, and certainly at least no more than other people who occasionally lick their lips when eating or bru ...
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Question about not applying/doing anything to the lips: Does this mean those who have taken this approach allow the plaques to grow on their lips and do nothing to remove them, even if they’re ready to be detached (sometimes I notice the plaques detach naturally, almost like scabs)? Not even gently trimming the already-detached excess skin? I’ve done this for periods of time as a teenager (for weeks at a time); I just never continued with it, as it didn’t seem to be helping any more than using a gentle moisturizer occasionally and trimming.   [End]
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I know how frustrating it is to have doctors prescribing you new creams that do no good. Is there anywhere online where we can get information about this surgery? This is the first time I’ve heard about surgery as an option. What does the surgery involve, do you know? Thanks.   [End]
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I think I used to experience sensations of burning more when I first got this condition, since I was fiddling with my lips a lot more then. Nowadays I try to leave them alone for the most part; but I do use moisturizer on my lips sometimes to relieve the sense of dryness that occurs when the skin is hard. But I do try to keep my mind off my lips more now than I used to. No, I’ve never tried to go six months or more without any topicals. I wasn’t even aware that it might be a good idea, since this is the first time I’ve ever encountered information about this condition. Have you tr ...
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I can’t tell you how liberating it is for me to see this forum, where people have the same lip problem I do. I’ve been suffering with this for over 30 years; and I’d given up hope of ever knowing what the problem was. I’ve never been officially diagnosed with EC, but from the descriptions and photographs, this is most likely what I have. I’m 47 and first started having issues with EC when I was 12. I used to lick my lips a lot as a nervous habit, and they (upper middle section and lower lip transitional areas) began manifesting the growth/peeling cycle that’s so common to all of us. My ...
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