As my username suggests

[theflaminglips]

My lips are a complete mess, as you can see.

I have always suffered from dry, chapped lips, hacks and cold sores.

But I can't shift this .

I've been using blistex and it seems to calm down for a little, then flare up a little while later.

I have a few social events coming up and I'm so embarrassed. Actually glad to be able to wear a mask at work, etc. Plus they are just plain sore!

Any advice?

Looks like cheilitis, you might have to ask the pharmacist for something, though I have heard good things about lansinoh nipple cream being very effective for this.

Origins lip remedy really does the trick.

Oh, it has a name! Thank you @statetrooperstacey

I will pop in to the pharmacy tomorrow.

Thank you @AnnaDelvorkina will get some of that as back up too.

Not a doctor, and it's difficult to tell, but it looks a bit like angular cheilitis to me (have a look at images on Google).

If so, it's most commonly caused by iron deficiency. So I'd book a gp appointment to get it checked (I e. get some blood tests done), they can also give you a cream to relieve it.

If you have to wait for an appointment/test results in the mean time, wash the area with soap, dry it well and immediately coat with vaseline (and keep it covered with vaseline as much as possible) and, whilst I wouldn't recommend starting iron supplements until you've had blood tests done, focussing on eating an iron rich diet is unlikely to do you any harm and may well help (unless you have a diagnosis of haemachromatosis).

Do you know if you've got any triggers? I get very sore lips with certain toothpastes and some face creams.
The only thing that seems to help mine (at the moment) is Burts Bees honey lip balm - the other flavours don't work. I sympathise - it's horrible. I hope you find something that works for you.

Oh and find out what your actual iron/ ferritin level is if the gp tells you your levels are normal. The reference range they use is often too low, so if you're low-normal it may well still be caused by too little iron (that's what happened to me).

Thank you @ANUsernam

I don't eat meat for a start, so you could be right.

@Frumpypigskin no, no triggers that I'm aware of. Will need to try and figure that out!

I've had that before due to low iron.
Nipple cream helped a bit. Anything with lanolin in it. Normal balms or vaseline seemed to make it worse and fragrance/flavours made it sting.

It only happened once, I've had lower iron since and it hasn't returned, but I do always use a lanolin balm on my lips. I have rhino like skin everywhere else so it felt weird to be so sensitive for a while