Sore lips, no lip balm allowed in class - arbitrary rule?

Lip balm won’t help. Get her to the pharmacist after school. If she ends up with hydrocortisone well that’s not lip balm is it, so no problem using at school right?

I would just tell her to put it on at the beginning and end of breaks.

Perhaps give one to the office too for if she needs it during class.

On the face of it it’s ridiculous but schools can be a safeguarding nightmare when you’ve got 30 kids in a class and different allergies and SEN etc.
Its just easier for the school for anything like that to be held on to at the office.

Speak to any dermatologist and they will tell you that it is underuse not over use of steroids that is the biggest problem due to uneccesary steroid fear caused by age old studies years back and from quacks online peddling their “natural products.”

We actually use dactacourt on the face including on the eyelids for my son as prescribed by one of the number one dermatologists in the country. It is hydrocortizone and anti fungal.

I suggested to the op as a temporary measure until she gets to the drs. A couple of days of steroid use will do no harm. The area getting worse will do more harm.
Just don’t say anything about the face to the chemist. They are quite possibly the most useless profession ever.

I'm allergic to many lip balms, alongside having a salicylate intolerance. Not something you can cure, but you can avoid products and cosmetics are an issue for me. Also some toothpastes causes me an issue too. Worth considering, as many GPs are not aware and mine came up due to an issue of lip and face swelling and a referral to a specialist in allergies.

Elizabeth arden 8 hour day cream - once in morning, once when she comes home and once in eve before bed -amazing stuff and doesn't need to be reapplied constantly once lips start to improve

Try getting some vitamin e capsules. Break one open and apply the oil as often as possible. It is great for healing skin.

Our school is like this - I just stick one in her bag/coat/cardigan pocket. She just puts it on as and when she can. Nobody has taken it off her - yet!

Also - could you maybe pop a bit of hydrocortisone cream on it before she goes to school? Might just give it a little nudge to heal it quicker

I had this and it didn’t go away with time, I ended up with a painful infection. This is exactly what GPs are for.

This is often a combination of a bacterial and fungal infection. I would not recommend hydrocortisone (and you wouldn’t get it if you told the pharmacy it’s for a child’s face). I would recommend a strong, hot salt water clean on it at least twice a day along with perhaps brushing a child’s teeth for them. At this age, she might have loose/erupting teeth that are harder to clean.

For people with dentures who get this, it’s almost always hygiene related. It can be related to vitamin B and I would often recommend a couple of days of hit marmite broth!

Very occasionally it would need a prescription of something.

If you use a sunscreen one they generally last longer, as they’re meant for swimming etc.

Blistex is brilliant for sore, cracked lips. It comes in a tiny tube so doesn't look like lip balm. One application lasts several hours. Perhaps something like this would be more effective and also cause less of a problem?

People that don’t have debilitating skin conditions don’t get how much it affects your life. It’s the reason I now have to pay for half of my sons eczema treatment prescribed by his dermatologist due to stupid headlines like NHS pays for skin creams and people being up in arms about it.
Ignore the posters OP.

God and we wonder why people can't get appointments for actual illnesses. 🙄

If it's an actual split or crack then lip balm will just trap bacteria/dirt and she risks getting impetigo.

Have you ever seen primary school kids with lip balm? My DD is addicted to it, she collects them, carts them around in a little bag, shows her friends, gives them away, and spends a lot of time flipping them open/taking the lid on and off/applying and reapplying - honestly, it’s annoying in my own home so 15 girls all doing that in a classroom would just be infuriating.

However as a teacher I’m not searching pockets so one plain lipbalm tucked in a pocket or bag and applied discreetly at breaktime would not be an issue.

I will say any time children have “permission” to do something (apply lip balm, have a cough sweet, have a different drink etc) they invariably flaunt that by making the maximum amount of noise and nuisance of themselves while doing said “allowed” thing while saying loudly “I’m ALLOWED, my mum wrote a NOTE”.

As others said: between classes, during breaks etc. should probably be enough.

Would she be allowed to bring a cream instead of lip balm?

I would go to our family GP and get a doctor´s note for cream or lip balm, if it causes her a lof of pain (more than "just" sore lips)

Most sore/cracked lips are due to a combination of environmental temperature changes (i.e. going in and out of artificially heated environments), poor hydration and licking of lips. Lots of lip balms only exacerbate the situation. Make sure she is drinking enough water.

Best thing for sore/chapped lips is lansinoh the stuff you use on your nipples when breastfeeding, it's in a purple tube. DS got into a habit of repeatedly licking his lips and no amount of lip balm worked. Putting that on before bed was really effective

Re getting to the office, teachers literally hand over their entire ID card with the fob on to get through doors to children who needed to leave the classroom, or at least they did in the school I was volunteering in.

Agree to do it discretely in the cubicle of the toilets at break and lunch, so in her pocket but she doesn't touch it in class. As she is year 6 this should be easier than if she were year 3.

This can be a sign of iron deficiency.

I agree with others to just give her one tomorrow and tell her to be discreet with it.

Nip to the chemist and get some hydrocortisone cream or ointment. You don’t need a prescription for that.
Always use in my son as he is not vigilant enough to reapply lip balm and he suffers quite badly. It clears it up a treat. You can also get a lip balm called cortibalm ( have to get from specialialty at shops online) and only need to use that once or twice a day. I use on myself to as someone who suffers with eczema/ chapped lips.

What @Funderthighs said. If it's subtle and occasional use then fine. BUT they hold them in their hands the whole time, show them to their friends when they're meant to be listening, someone else will take a shine to it and take it and then there's a whole drama about investigating and it always ends up being the teacher's fault and complaints to the Head.
Parents who think the school is being unreasonable to 'ban' them aren't looking at the whole picture.

Some people think it's OK to book a doctor's appointment for sore lips? The doc will (rightly) suggest "therapeutic use of time", ie just wait for it to get better of its own accord.

She puts in on before school and during breaks. No biggie.

She'll have to comply fully this time, because she's already been busted.

And if ever needed again in future, if she can refrain from doing whatever it was that led to staff spotting it in the first place, then she'll be able to avoid trips to office