Persistently sore "shredded", peeling lips?

[HipHopanonymous]

I have no idea what's going on with my lips. I have quite dry skin generally and I've always had to be diligent about applying lip balm, but a few years ago I discovered that you can buy Lucas Paw Paw ointment in a lip balm, and never ever had a problem with dry lips again.

Until now! It started about 3 months ago - the outer edge of my bottom lip felt shredded and sore, and the peeling skin looked sort of whitish. I put it down to a new face wash I'd started using which had salycilic acid, stopped using it. The soreness and peeling persisted, then when I was using a travel toothpaste while away, the inside of my lips started peeling too (I have reacted to an ingredient in sensitive toothpastes before). Stopped using that.

Still they split and peel. I'm using fluoride and sulphate free toothpaste, a Simple unfragranced face wash, Aveeno sensitive face cream. I've tried applying an eye cream to the sore area with vaseline over the top. I've tried numerous lip balms and half of them make it worse. If I eat anything remotely salty they burn like a bastard, and even swell for a little while.

I can't face going to the GP with something as lame as "sore lips", has anyone any experience of something similar? What was it and what fixed it!?

Underactive thyroid

Mine have been like this since the menopause. Drinking more water helps.

Also l use Balneum cream which l get on precrip for eczema on them. You can buy little tubes. That works the best. I’m allergic to most of the fancy lip balms.

I found 8 hour cream helped

A friend has this, she was never without lip balm and ultimately developed an allergy to some common ingredients. Had to stop using everything and it cleared up within a few weeks.

I get a similar reaction when I drink from (some, not all) plastic bottles.

I had this at the outer edges they would swell and crack every time I opened my mouth, I found germoline at bed time helped. Moo goo lip balm which is mainly almond oil with a bit of Spf. A lot of lip balms made it worse. Inner mouth sensitivity I’m still working on, anything spicy or vinegar and my tongue/ inner lips hurt.

Im 44 so perhaps peri menopausal like Pp suggested.

I have BOTH an underactive thyroid and in the throes of the menopause (go me!) and dry lips are a real issue. I also get cracking in the corners of my mouth.

What works for me - when it's really really bad I use hydrocortisone cream very sparingly. One of my worst bouts was actually a fungal thing, and canesten cream sorted it out quickly. Take a daily vitamin B tablet (just the cheap ones from the supermarket). If you need a lip balm then the best are the very basic ones with no fancy claims. I have to avoid the Carmex, Blistex, anything with plumping, acid, that sort of thing. The best ones are the Nivea plain in the blue tube, Lypsyl and the O'Keeffe's lip repair.

Get your thyroid levels checked too.3

Chapped lips can be a symptom of coeliac disease so it might be worth getting that checked

It sounds fungal, maybe thrush something like that. I do think you need to see a Dr.

Also, lip balm can often dry lips out. I find baseline or chapstick terrible for mine.

Can be connected with autoimmune issues. How is your general health and energy?

Could be vitamin B3, iron or zinc deficiency. What’s your diet like?

I got this for the first time this year, and it came on at the same time as I had sudden sun exposure.

And I think it's left them sensitive to both sun and wind. So I got a damned good lip block (Aussie friends sent me one - clear zinc oxide formulation) and use it frequently and it seems to have settled a lot.

What helped when sore/blistered was 8 Hour Cream/vaseline and switching to Sensodyne toothpaste (if too sore to brush, just rinse frequently with mouthwash)

The condition is called cheilitis. Angular cheilitis is caused by deficiencies, but generally across the lips is not necessarily that.

I would go to the doctors as that sounds quite a harsh reaction. Don't worry about wasting their time 😀

This happens to me when I use whitening toothpaste. Hope you find the cause soon OP, it can be miserable!

Overuse of lip balm does this to me. Norwegian Formula was the only thing to cure it, took months though! I still have to be really careful to only apply once or twice a day max to avoid my lips becoming dry and dependent on it.

Wow, thanks everyone - really interesting.

I do react to quite a few things - sensitive toothpaste (stannous fluoride I think), certain ingredients in shampoos, creams and washes and dimethicone in make-up etc, so it isn't implausible that I've suddenly developed an allergy to a common ingredient I've been using for years. I was shocked to see the ingredients in Carmex and Blistex, wouldn't put that anywhere near at the moment!

Thanks for the tip about Balneum cream, I'll get a tube.

I'm 51 and taking HRT for full blown menopause, so maybe there's a link. General health and diet - I take vitamin B and omega 3 supplements, my diet is fine in the sense of fresh fruit and veg, good fats and lean meats - sadly I have binge eating disorder and can have regular binges on sugar so I'm overweight. I have dogs so I walk a minimum of 2 miles a day, often more. In the past I have had very low folate but very high iron, all of which settled again.

Glucose levels all normal, can't remember when last had thyroid levels checked. My brother has recently been diagnosed with coeliac disease and so has his son, so he urged me to get tested - I checked with the surgery and I was negative for coeliac in 2016.

I have a lot of joint pain which has been linked to hypermobility by a physio I saw for tennis elbow, and hypermobile sacroiliac joints which is super painful - but as most GPs will, I put my body pain down to my weight.

Lanolin (nipple cream) works for me. I'm sensitive to ingredients in toothpaste that create foam, so I can't use anything with any SLS type ingredient.

This. I had cracked and bleeding lips due to medication. This stuff fixed my lips and prevented them recracking. It's thick and gloopy and tastes odd but it's a miracle in a tube imho

Is this Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream?

Never heard of it but willing to try everything!

Do you have dry mouth and/or eyes at all? Persistently, I don’t mean hay-fever seasonal type of stuff or allergies that come and go.

Progesterone in HRT can cause dry and irritated mouth.

Yes www.elizabetharden.co.uk/products/eight-hour-cream-skin-protectant

Ooh. Yes, very dry mouth at night (I guzzle lots of water) and dry eyes in the morning and evening, not too bad during the day. Started progesterone about 3 months ago - which is about when it started!

Could it make them dry enough to split and burn constantly, I wonder why don't creams and balms seem to help?

<rushes to google>

THIS is why I post vague medical questions on MN, not because I'm expecting a differential or true medical diagnosis but because others may have experienced similar. And then one can help oneself!

7 years ago MN persuaded me to see a GP about a persistent abdominal pain as many people had the same and it was gallstones. What was my diagnosis after a scan? Giant gallstone.

Could it be the weather? My lips are like this when I go either from
hot to cold climate or vice versa. And the weather has been really changeable this summer.
the only thing that helps is blistex cream (the one for cold sores). Lip balms don’t help fix this although I dare say may help prevent it.

You can 'develop' Coeliac Disease at any age. So although you were negative in 2016 you could still get it. Just something to bear in mind.