✨healing my lip inflammation/cheilitis✨

Before I start, I want to preface that the photos are a bit rabak because I did have a really bad flare up of lip inflammation/cheilitis.

⚠️ this is not medical advice, I’m simply sharing my own experience with this. Do seek medical help if you are ill/unwell.

So how did I end up with lip inflammation. Over a year ago, I woke up one day with dry flakes on my lips and thought it would be a good idea to rub them off with a wet cloth. I ended up over-exfoliating my lips and damaging my own lip’s skin barrier. Ever since then, my lips never felt the same ever again - they would often scab over and peel and scab and peel. Everytime I press my lips together it would burn and honestly, it wasn’t a fun time 💀

I did try to seek medical help, but my doctor only prescribed a hydrocortisone cream which helped when I’m using it, but once I stopped, my lips were back to being two pieces of raw meat. 😭

And for a long time, I wasn’t able to use any lip products because they would legit burn my lips and It would cause my lips to become red and swell. Much like if I were to have an allergy reaction. Occasionally, small blisters would also form.

It also doesn’t help that I have a tendency to lick and bite my lips when I’m stressed. Our saliva contains a lot of enzymes which can result in the breakdown of the skin on our lips. 😔

In a frantic mood to quickly treat it, I’ve tried many many different lip balms, lip ointments, lip treatments, but to no avail. For real, you name it, I’ve probably tried it. The inflammation would go away for a while but always return as episodes of flare ups to varying degrees.

And recently, it decided to flare up again and I was honestly so done with this. So I decided okay, its time to find a way to soothe it once and for all.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have managed to heal it to a point where it doesn’t itch or hurt any more. But still a little flakey here and there. I used 2 key products: a good lip balm & a good lip ointment.

Personally I used the DHC lip cream as it is unscented and moisturising. It is less irritating than most other lip balms & it really does help to soften and soothe my lips. I also use this in the day as it is easier to handle as compared to the ointment and feels less greasy on my lips.

The lip ointment that I used is the Lucas’ Papaw ointment. Sure, I’ve heard that some people do not recommend this ointment for lips because they say that the papaw contains enzymes which will help exfoliate your lips. So far it’s been working wonders for me when I apply it before I sleep. It keeps my lips moisturised throughout the night and I feel that it helps with the healing process.

If you don’t have either of the two products, you can use vaseline as an emollient to keep your lips moist and to help speed it along with the healing process. But keep in mind that you can should use UNSCENTED & UNFLAVOURED vaseline.

I hope that this post can help empower those who are also suffering from this. Just be patient with your lips and be mindful of what you put on your lips. The skin on our lips are so thin, we should be more cautious with exfoliating them 🥲 I know it is difficult to skip your lippie when you have inflammation (I’m a very vain girl so it hurt me when I wasn’t able to wear my lippie 😭😭), but in the long run it will all be worth it.

Do you also suffer from this? Share with me your tips on managing this 🥲

#experiencesharing #cheilitiscrisis #inflammation #liproutine #lipbalmrecommendation