my lips are constantly chapped, dry, and peeling page 2

[wendyland]

I've used the eos stuff and didn't care for it much. I used to get dry lips and hands before i upped my oil intake. I take coconut oil and cod liver oil daily. Externally, I like neutrogena Norwegian formula. You can use it on your skin or lips. I applied it every night before bed and then in morning. I don't know how natural it is but it worked great.

[Issabeau]

Okay, this might sound weird but I suffered from the same thing my entire life...that was until I had my bite fixed.
The bone that the front teeth sit under might not be genetically where it's supposed to be (malocclusion type II) and will shove the lips (both upper and lower) into a position that they weren't genetically meant to be. I know this sounds far fetched....but ever since my bite has been fixed, my lips are in a different position (and so is my tongue and lower jaw) and I no longer suffer from puffy, dried up, peeling, followed by a day of raw lips. If your bite isnt in its correct place, you move your lower jaw constantly, and so do the lips. You end up constantly, all day long moving your lips around without noticing, even wetting your lips which makes matters worse...even if you're not a mouth breather, but it's much worse for them.

I have upped my fat intake through the primal diet and that's helped a LOT...but for the most part, the position of the bite and lips stopped this insane cycle.

[Marnee]

"I have tried Vaseline, Chapstick, Burt Bees, and Blistex to no avail"

Well here is your problem. The less you use it the less you'll need it. I'm serious.

If you really have to do something, try jojoba oil. It's a little smoother on the lips than coconut oil.

[Ande]

I notice that my lips remain chapped if use lip balm, but whenever I stop, my lips get used to being lip balm free in a matter of a couple of days.

I know your problem is probably worse than a Chapstick addiction but just thought I'd throw that out there.

[Northrun]

Hey man, sounds like exfoliative cheilitis. I had that for about 7 years, drove me crazy. They would peal on a 3-5 day cycle, get all mushy and white when drinking water, crack, peel, be nice for half a day then start all over....yikes, forgot how bad that is. There are whole forums dedicated just to curing it, but not many people have success.

I'd say moisturize with coconut oil, or olive oil, it will soothe them, but not cure it. You want as little touching them as possible, so keep it simple and don't use lip chap, definately don't lick them, and no you're not dehydrated. It's an internal problem. Anyone I saw on forums cured it through reduced stress, exercise, good diet(which is a debatable topic). For me it took a year of not eating gluten, eggs, dairy, and some other food intolerances before it went away. Have you been primal long? It would probably help, or something close to it.

2 more things to try: try acupuncture, your body is probably out of balance, your lips are an external sign of this. Second, have you heard of niacin (aka vitamin B3)? It's a vitamin which when taken at higher doses has all sorts of miracle healing effects. I found taking that helped a lot. About 400-800mg a day. Look up niacin flush before you try it so you know what to expect. It will turn your skin red for a bit, depending how big the dose is. They have tried people on thousands of grams a day and they were fine, so 4-800 is safe. I found it immediately reduced my anxiety and lip condition. Problem is, when your not taking it the stuff often comes back again, which is why i'd say acupuncture, exercise, diet, reduced stress are most important. Niacin is quite amazing though, schizophrenia was also greatly reduced with it. I think it essentially opens up capilaries so that blood can circulate and flush, and nourish places in your body it wouldn't normally be bale to in certain peoples conditions, and in TCM terms I think it helps qi flow through the body. And no gluten is important!

Good luck. I know it's hard to deal with, I though I might never heal, but lips are fine now, and this was back when I was only eating meat 1-4 time s a month, mostly vegetarian and grain/veg based diet. So I think a PB like diet and all the above should help lots.

[j3nn]

Dry air in the form of AC or heat is an environmental factor to consider, but it could also be fluid retention, hence the firm puffiness. As your skin swells, it pushes moisture outward, resulting in dry skin where swelling is occurring. You might be having an inflammatory reaction to something you are ingesting, or something in the environment, or it could be sodium-related.

[dkd2001]

You have a couple of really interesting suggestions above. Worth looking into. The bite idea is really fascinating -- I just finished reading a book by Ramiel Nagel -- Cure Tooth Decay -- and he talks a lot about bite problems. It could certainly make a difference.

I find when my lips get really chapped, a couple of applications of NeoSporin helps clear it up. Yeah, I know it's not at all primal, but it does seem to work. I don't have to do it very often, though -- maybe once or twice a year.

[Jovana]

I've also suffered from a constant cycle of dry, chapped, peeling lips and the worst thing is that when the skin really starts to dry, it seperates from the actual lip and I always end up having to peel the dry skin off, which leaves them raw and tender. This has been happenning my whole life.
I know that I do sleep with my mouth open and can't really change that.

Issabeau, mentioned fixing the alignment of your lips... how does that work? I know when I had braces my bite was 'fixed' but that definitely didn't make any difference to my lips.

The only solution I found is constantly applying lip balm, which isn't a very helpful solution

[hazyjane]

Really? I remember reading somewhere that lanolin is the ingredient in lip balm that causes the lips to eventually dry out and require numerous re-applications.

I think you're thinking of petrolatum, which dries out the skin and can create lip balm addiction. Lanolin is very healing.

[dirk41]

Hey man, sounds like exfoliative cheilitis. I had that for about 7 years, drove me crazy. They would peal on a 3-5 day cycle, get all mushy and white when drinking water, crack, peel, be nice for half a day then start all over....yikes, forgot how bad that is. There are whole forums dedicated just to curing it, but not many people have success.

Well I just did a quick search, and I do think that's what I have. At least now I know the medical term for it. I have not been primal for long, and indeed now I'm probably 50% primal at best. I'm not aware of any food intolerances I may have. Will have to look into trying niacin.