Hi, you might be wondering whats wrong with my lips. I have a condition called exfoliate cheilitis and allergic contact cheilitis.

What is exfoliate & allergic contact cheilitis?

Exfoliate cheilitis is a condition where my lip peels in a ever lasting cycle. and allergic contact cheilitis is a condition where my lip has an allergic reaction after contact. In my case it happens after eating, brushing my teeth or anything else of that nature. The reaction is that my bottom lip swells a little and goes extreamly red, like ive just eaten 100 spicy hot wings. This has resulted in only eating by myself for the past 4 years of having this.

Back story

So the peeling started before this, about 10 years ago. I was ruthlessly bullied at school and I used to bite my lips to cope. I was a very anxious kid and that was my way of coping. Needless to say I wish I hadn't.

There is no official cure for exfoliative cheilitis but people have been cured by steriod creams, injections, diet changes, climate changes, supplments and pills. Ill go over what I have tried so far...

- Numerous steroid creams

- Antibiotics

- Eczema creams

- Protopic

- Allergy patch test (for allergic contact cheilitis)

- Candida creams

- Candida pills

- Liquid only diet

- Soy milk only diet

- Anti histamines

- Paleo diet

- Numerous supplments

- Leave it alone method

- Applying various things (pineapple juice/ apple cider vinegar)

As you can tell ive pretty much exhausted every possible cure except a few. Over the past few years Ive been in university, meaning I didnt have to go out much and could stay in my room alot. During this time I was on alot of nhs waiting lists to see dermatologists. In that time I saw about 6. None of which had ever even heard of the condition, I was telling them what to perscribe me.

Abit more info on the conditions. So for me, the peeling cycle will last around 2 days. At the end of the cycle I will have a build up of skin which I then try to go into the shower and let the steam soften the dead skin which I can then rub it off with a towel. This stage can come at any time during the day which I just have to deal with if im with my family or whereever. At the beginning of the cycle the skin is red and raw since a layer has just come off and most of the time It wont come off as 1 smooth layer. Alot of the time it will come off in bits so its very noticable.

Where im at now

Now its time where I have to get a job and be around people for 8 hours a day. Its extreamly embarassing, not to mention I dont know how im going to eat during my lunch break. Im going to have to eat in the toilets and wait until the reaction settles I think.

Last week I got a call from the dermatologist ive been refered to saying its not a dermatology job and has refered me to the hospital instead and they havnt got a date for me yet. I had been waiting for about 3 months for this and I cannot wait any longer, I need to go private.

I have called up a few private dermatologists asking about pricing and my condition and about 40% of them have heard and treated this condition before with successful results, mostly with steroid injections into the lips. An oral steroid will be prescribed before the injections as injecting is a last resort. The prices are below

£150 consultation

£250-350 for the 2/3 follow up appointments

£250 for the steroid injections (intralesional corticosteroid steroid injections into the lips)

£20 for the medication perscribed

Feel free to donate as little as you can afford. If I need to, I will go over my debit allowance if it means finding a cure but all help will be greatly appriciated.