Wednesday, September 26, 2007

"My lips hurt real bad."
















Remember when I talked about having chapped lips on my other blog?

Well, I did the math, and I've had chapped lips since the DAY after I got pregnant. I'm not kidding. Every night my lips are sore and dry before I go to bed. I slather on chapstick, and then in the morning they are burning and peeling. I spend all day putting on chapstick and the cycle continues.

Here is a list of products I have tried:

  • Neutrogena (three kinds)
  • Vaseline Lip Theraphy (two kinds)
  • Chapstick brand (three "flavors")
  • Blistex (three kinds)
  • SoftLips
  • Aveeno
  • Carmex
  • Mary Kay (bad, bad, bad)
  • Melaleuca (worse)
  • Wet N Wild (I was feeling optimistic)
  • Aveda
  • Clinique
  • Burt's Bees
  • Bath & Body Works (worse than anything)
  • Neosporin Lip Treatment
  • Victoria's Secret lip gloss (bad)
  • Ulta
  • Regular body lotion (Vaseline brand, Mary Kay, Jergens)
  • Plain Vaseline

It has been 16 weeks of pure lip hell. The only relief I can get is from plain old original chapstick. Even this doesn't help for long. I have changed my toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, everything. As you can see, I have spent a fortune on lip "treatments." Most of them are still at the bottom of my purse. I'd like my money back.

Also, I definitely took the above photo by myself.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

well the one that i think works the best for me is clinique, but the only one that is not on your list that i really like is natural ice, and they have it in different flavors, as far as finding it goes, walgreens or drugstore.com.
also how long did you give each chapstick, like did you use it for a day or for a week. currently i am using the chapstick brand in the vanilla mint flavor (walmart only).
love
sasha

Katie R. said...

So, are you having fun yet? Sorry. I hope the pregnancy quirks work themselves out soon. I bet you'll be feeling that little person squirming around soon and that will help with all the other not-so-fun stuff.

Sarah said...

Hmmm, comt to think of it, my lips have been unusually dry lately for the last few months as well. Wierd!! Let me know if you find anything that works. Oh, cute picture!!

theswamphare said...

Any time that you moisturize a sub-dermal layer of tissue, it's going to swell and split the surface layer.

The trick is to find something that does not permeate the skin but comforts and protects...oddly enough, bacon grease; eat some bacon and don't scrub your lips, then try more vitamin E.

Carla said...

How much water are you drinking?

erin said...

Drinking TONS of water.
Gotta run--the bacon is ready.

Anonymous said...

Olive oil...try olive oil.

angie said...

i've never been pregnant, but i'm pretty sure the problem is from too much making out with your man.

Mandi said...

You forgot the Aquafina stuff you gave to me :)

kristi noser said...

Hey...Angie could be on to something there.
Are you sure you took that picture? Looks professional.

theswamphare said...

how's them lips?

Anonymous said...

Erin, I've had some success using hydrocortizone cream.

Cara said...

I honestly had no clue they made this many lip treatments..... I have a friend who swears by Aquaphor (sp?) Have you tried that one?

Anonymous said...

Erin, I have had to get a prescription for my lips. Will you email me so I can give you some more information? I'd love to help if I can. Email me at KHallblade at msn dot com.

Anonymous said...

My lips (mostly bottom one) started drying, cracking, on July 23rd.I thought is was dehydration/sun. Used everything under the sun also, and then the bottom lip split and looked infected--went to emergency rm--doctor gave me iodine wash, and told me to use hydrocortizone. That worked temporarily. It is now Nov. and I just had the worst bout of lip peeling and burning yet! I was in the south for a few days and in the sun.Stuff I read said sun is really bad for the lips.Going to buy some bacon tomorrow!

Anonymous said...

nan again! Honey did it!! (with lip balm in between, but the honey was amazing!) Just read about the curing power of honey, and I had instinctively used it yesterday. My lips are still quite dry and tender, and I make sure I have an spf 15 or above on them when I'm in sun--but the improvement is incredible! Try it!

erin said...

Nan, I just bought fresh honey for a recipe YESTERDAY.
I'm going home to try it now!!
Thanks for the update!

Anonymous said...

Erin, I hope you read this. This is Nan again. I thought over my "healing " and remembered that I first put Blessed Holy Olive Oil with rose petals on my lips in the morning--followed by honey all day. My lips have completely stopped peeling after four months of constant peeling, burning and soreness. I use a holistic balm that does not burn by Boirin. Medicinal balms burn. My tender lips are in the process of completely healing. Good luck to you.

Anonymous said...

I have been having the same problem with my lips for months now. I don't even know what triggered it.. just that I am about to go insane!

I've tried almost every single thing Erin has tried on her lips and nothing has worked. Sigh.

The last post I read refers to something called a Holy Olive Oil with rose petals. I don't know what that is.. can someone help? Nor what the holistic balm by Boirin is or where to find.

I am so deperate for relief!
Hannah

Anonymous said...

Hello, I know this comment is coming quite a while after you wrote this post, but did you manage to find anything that helped you significantly with the burning lips? (I googled and your post came up)

My sister is in her second trimester and she's in so much pain from her dry lips that she's crying a lot. I suggested that she try most of what your commenters suggested, particularly the honey, so I'm waiting to hear back from her but thought I would ask you in the mean time.

Many thanks in advance!

Jamie said...

Yeah, I know, this post is uber old in blogland, but I get what you're talking about! I can't seem to get my lips to stop peeling... this is ridiculous. How long did it last for you?

Anonymous said...

Do you use Splenda? I've read on other blogs that this could be the cause. I'm hoping it is because I've had this problem for several months now and can get no relief. I'm stopping Splenda today to see if it makes a difference.