How to cure the extreme dryness and tightness around lips and mouth? Tried millions of lip balms, petroleum, mineral oil, prefume, lanolin all of these are NOT helping at all.
Thanks Leesville! I'll keep an eye on my toothpaste ingredients from now on. Did try La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume on lips but seems doesn't work.
This is likely angular cheilitis.
Where I live, it's caused by dry, cold air mainly - you may want to address that with humidifiers, scarves/buffs.
Also avoid skin irritants like harsh toothpastes, mouthwashes and spicy foods.
With lip treatments, avoid fragranced products - regular lip balm is enough for maintenance, but if the cracks get infected you may need a topical antibiotic.
Thanks Gijim! Yes it looks like angular cheilitis, but I'm on the humid and hot side of Asia, so weather probably not the reason. Or its about on and off sudden change of weather I don't know.
this happened to me and it was because i was brushing my teeth in the shower and the foam would run down the sides of my mouth! so if you brush your teeth in the shower definitely do not continue. i managed to heal it up with heavily moisturizing the area with the cerave moisturizing cream and then sealing it in with the cerave healing ointment. if the skin was peeling, red and burning i would put some neosporin instead of the healing ointment and it cleared the issue for me.
Thanks idullic for reminding me!! Brushing in shower, that's exactly what I did! I'm gonna cut this habit from now on!
I've been dealing with the same problem for about 2-3 weeks now and live in a dry, desert climate that is almost entirely devoid of any moisture during the winter months. I've tried TONS of creams, lotions, and oils but none of them have helped at all. I even tried applied honey straight out of the bottle and left it on for 3 hours, followed by a generous application of pure Aura Cacia Cocoa Butter that I left on overnight. That brought some minor relief, but the peeling, tightness, redness, and irritation returned as soon as I washed my face the next morning. However, I think I FINALLY landed on my perfect combination, since the following routine has helped immensely... I'm now using Cetaphil Restoraderm Soothing Wash AM & PM, followed by an application of Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream for Very Dry to Dry, Sensitive Skin immediately after washing and patting my face dry. I apply the Cetaphil Cream throughout the day if I feel like it needs it. Or, if I'm still feeling some tightness and discomfort around my mouth after the first application, I apply Vanicream Moisturizing Cream on top. I'm still using my usual lip balms (Morgan's Lysine Lip Balm+Herpecin). So far, the Cetaphil products and Vanicream have been working really, really well. After weeks of dealing with this miserable problem, just two days on the above regiment has FINALLY topped the bad peeling around my mouth, cleared up ~98% of the redness, and started healing my skin barrier. Good luck!
Glad that you've finally found the right combination for your skin. I live in an extremely humid, hot but sometimes cold Asia region. Not sure if drastic temperature change is the reason. Thanks for sharing your experience JBL.
Hello! If this is a problem that keps persisting even though you tried numerous different things, it is either an irritation to something, like toothpaste, either something medical. Someone mentioned angular cheilitis and I agree with it. Often though, angular cheilitis isn't only caused by weather but also by vitamin deficiency, specfically the B ones. Maybe try some vitamin B supplements and some lip balms without perfume. Hope that will help!
Thanks for reminding me about vitamin B Raluca. I'll try switching toothpaste, taking vitamin B complex and keep lips moisture with mild lip balm!
You guys are superb!!! Thanks for the suggestions and reminders, I'll try them all!
Much love
Jend
Glad you’re getting so much great advice, Jend. The ingredient in toothpaste to avoid is SLS – sodium lauryl sulfate. Try to find a good toothpaste that doesn’t contain that ingredient. Best of luck.
Couple of things to eliminate:
Some Toothpastes have an ingredient that can irritate the lips specially if you’re using actives in your skincare. Sensodyne is good to use though.
If you happen to be taking a nasal steroid for congestion or sinus, that can irritate the lips and cause peeling.
Recommend La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume. It’s super unctuous and moisturising. Non-irritating, no perfume. It’s a fantastic soothing & healing cream.
Best of luck.