Recurring Lip Infection, not just chapped but worse

Hi! I've been very active in this post as a guest but since it's still happeneing I signed up and rec'v emails when there's a new reply. So I went to a dr for a toe nail that turned out to be a fungal infection. They put me on antifungal pills. I'm curious to see if the outbreak (for lack of a better term) will happen again. The Nystatin ointment that gets rid of it for me is an antifungal. I'm thinking this IS a fungal infection and I will report back to see how 3 months of antifungals have helped. It happens every 4 months for me so will check back in then. Also, periods of intense sun exposure seems to trigger it but regardless it seems to come on at the 4 month mark anyway. I would suggest you print this thread out and take it w/ you to your next dr appt so they can see the different diagnosis of those that have one.

Thankful to find your post. I too have the same thing and is quite irritating. Seeiing a Dr. next wk, don't know if it will help. A bit of a relief knowing I am not the only one and so sorry you have to go through this too. I wish you the best of luck in your venture of healing.
Sincerely, Bebeangle

I know this is old, but I would like to add in something. I have had the same problem. It started when I was only 10, after I went to Kings Island, and I think it was some sort of infection I caught up from there. 

im sorry to say but it could be herpies

I have been experiencing the same issues as what I have been reading here! I noticed it first after using a tanning bed. I assumed that I had burnt my lips by staying in too long. Well, I haven't used a tanning bed for almost 3 weeks and am still having this issue. It seems to almost clear up and then areas surrounding my lips, become red and it hurts! Been using every lip therapy sold in stores to no avail. The thing that has made it feel better is amlactin, given to me by a Pharmacist. (But it does burn a little after application) It seems to flare up only after being outdoors more. Maybe the sun? Maybe the wind? (My husband and I have a boat and are on it as often as we are able to) This is making me CRAZY! Tired of walking around with what looks like a "Bozo" mouth. :'(

Im glad I found this website.  I started having this problem about 6 weeks ago.  It sounds exactly what all of you are describing.  My lips will get sore, look and feel chapped and in a day or two it looks like I have sores right below my lip line. But I dont think it is sores because  After a few days (2 or 3) all this dead skin starts peeling off and there is no sign that I had any sores only very very dry chapped lips that finally peeled off.   And  then its gets better for just a few days, then it starts all over again.  This time (I think this is the 4th time in 6 weeks) its the top and bottom lip.  My lips are so sore!  When I eat they burn like crazy!  I started trying this and that and I did try an antifungual cream and thought they were getting better but it came back again and so I havent used it again.  I think Im going to try using nothing but the antifungal cream for a while and see if that helps.  But after reading all these posts Im starting to think that this isnt going to get better until I see a dermatologist.  ****  Ok one thing that I thought could have caused this is ...pineapple.  I read tonight  in another forum someone said they had a problem like this and it was pineapple.  I do eat pineapple quite a bit but I also smoke pineapple flavored electronic cigarettes.  About the time that this problem started I opened a new pineapple flavored electronic cigarette cartridge and when I took the first puff a lot of the liquid came out and got on my lips.  This has only happened that one time.  I threw that cartridge away but until tonight I was still mostly smoking pineapple flavored cartridges.  I just placed an order for several different flavors and I will stop smoking the pineapple flavor just in case.  Has anyone thought that it could be pineapple or a citrus causing this?  Or has anyone other than me smoking flavored electronic cigarettes?  If I find out what is causing this I will certainly come back here and post it.  Some of you have had it quite a while and I have only had it for six weeks and this time it is worse.  I actually thought a couple of days ago it was gone for good but tonight it is right at that worst stage where the lips burn so bad before the dead skin starts to peel off. 

It wasn't pineapple for me. It started for me when I tried a new lip gloss and foundation but then it just kept recurring. I quit smoking long before my troubles started so it can't be that either for me. But yes, your situation sounds just like ours. Something triggers it and then we deal with it for what feels like forever. I have went a month before with the symptoms before I figured out the Nystatin thing. Now it'll only last a few days as long as I get that on there at the first sign of symptoms. I've been on the antifungal pill and cream for the toe nail infection and I'm sort of wondering if those meds will also help keep the lip thing in check. No issues so far but it's only been a couple months since my last issue and it usually happens every3-4 months so I'm sort of waiting to see if it happens again and then I'm going to see me Dr. I'm printing this out too so they can see it's real and not just some one freaking out about regular ol chapped lips.

I've had lip issue for 5 mo, and and now on the candida diet. The 1St 3 days got better, now worse and still on diet. I understand may be die-off symptoms. So, did it work for you? Please let me know, I have lost 10 lbs on diet and cannot afford to loose much more.

I have this problem for many years and still do but I have to say this is what I do .. I keep my lips moist every day with a lip ointment called CARMAX and I moisture my lips at least every hour. I use this ointment as a preventive once my lips start itching I start putting on the ointment every time I feel an itch I put more on when I feel it's about to act up. I could put on at least 4x in an hour . Once the itching stops which takes a day or two I then put it on every 2 or 3 hrs. If u do get a break out use abreva And don't follow the instructions apply it liberally is much as u can every hour I'm assuming it's part of herpes simplex 2 good luck I haven't had a breakout in a year since using the ointment

Do any of you smoke marijuana regularly?

chaznbec wrote:

milne91 wrote:

Right guys and girls.

iv had it for like 5 years, comes and goes like evey month or so. been to the doctors loads and iv had like 15 creams over the years, moisturizing ones, fungal ones, cold sore ones, and most recently steroid creams.... steroid creams thined my lips out so no chance am i taking them again. 

mine are cracked and sore at the corners and swollen looking, always sore as f**k and uncomfortable feeling. they look swollen and red, its a f*****g joke they dont understand how serious it is. i have periods where i cant even kiss cos its so bad! im going back soon to say that the steroid cream made them worse and im frikkin tellin them i need this sh*t gone. creams arent working. i got told to take iron tablets but they do f**k all, also vitamin C.. does f**k all. they thot it was a fungal infection but creams for that do nothing..

every time i go they give me a new cream and say "this should keep it at bay :) "

NO it wont 

and NO i dont want it kept at bay i want it f*****g gone!!

its not my diet cos i eat mega healthy. always clean my teeth so i have a healthy mouth. iv had no swabs taken cos they jst give me creams, i promise i'll find out wtf it is and wtf can get it dead. even right now im sittin with blistex all over my lips cos it helps the pain go away for a while. im on antibiotics cos im ill but they finish today and have done nothin for my lips or me being ill.

im sick of dishing out cash for creams to keep it at bay since the docs creams are useless

I WILL FIND OUT WTF WE CAN DO AND I WILL TELL YOU COS NOBODY SHOULD GO THROUGH WHAT WE ARE

ALSO

i have bleedy lips that they think is a fungal infection

the steroid cream i got says   "do not use where there is a bacterial, viral or fungal infection"

"do not use on open wounds, ulcers or broken skin"

WATCH WHAT THEY GIVE YOU

I have been experiencing the same issues as what I have been reading here! I noticed it first after using a tanning bed. I assumed that I had burnt my lips by staying in too long. Well, I haven't used a tanning bed for almost 3 weeks and am still having this issue. It seems to almost clear up and then areas surrounding my lips, become red and it hurts! Been using every lip therapy sold in stores to no avail. The thing that has made it feel better is amlactin, given to me by a Pharmacist. (But it does burn a little after application) It seems to flare up only after being outdoors more. Maybe the sun? Maybe the wind? (My husband and I have a boat and are on it as often as we are able to) This is making me CRAZY! Tired of walking around with what looks like a "Bozo" mouth. :'(

I actually went to see a Dermatologist who told me that he thought was having an allergic reaction to the lip therapy, made by Neosporin, that I had been using CONSTANTLY. He said that up to 30% of the population is allergic to Neosporin (mainly the neomiacin in it) and don't even know it. He instructed to to use NOTHING on my lips or surrounding area, except the Hydrocortisone 2.5% ointment that he prescribed. I followed Dr's orders, and within 1-2 weeks, my lips seem to have healed!

chaznbec wrote:

chaznbec wrote:

milne91 wrote:

Right guys and girls.

iv had it for like 5 years, comes and goes like evey month or so. been to the doctors loads and iv had like 15 creams over the years, moisturizing ones, fungal ones, cold sore ones, and most recently steroid creams.... steroid creams thined my lips out so no chance am i taking them again. 

mine are cracked and sore at the corners and swollen looking, always sore as f**k and uncomfortable feeling. they look swollen and red, its a f*****g joke they dont understand how serious it is. i have periods where i cant even kiss cos its so bad! im going back soon to say that the steroid cream made them worse and im frikkin tellin them i need this sh*t gone. creams arent working. i got told to take iron tablets but they do f**k all, also vitamin C.. does f**k all. they thot it was a fungal infection but creams for that do nothing..

every time i go they give me a new cream and say "this should keep it at bay :) "

NO it wont 

and NO i dont want it kept at bay i want it f*****g gone!!

its not my diet cos i eat mega healthy. always clean my teeth so i have a healthy mouth. iv had no swabs taken cos they jst give me creams, i promise i'll find out wtf it is and wtf can get it dead. even right now im sittin with blistex all over my lips cos it helps the pain go away for a while. im on antibiotics cos im ill but they finish today and have done nothin for my lips or me being ill.

im sick of dishing out cash for creams to keep it at bay since the docs creams are useless

I WILL FIND OUT WTF WE CAN DO AND I WILL TELL YOU COS NOBODY SHOULD GO THROUGH WHAT WE ARE

ALSO

i have bleedy lips that they think is a fungal infection

the steroid cream i got says   "do not use where there is a bacterial, viral or fungal infection"

"do not use on open wounds, ulcers or broken skin"

WATCH WHAT THEY GIVE YOU

I have been experiencing the same issues as what I have been reading here! I noticed it first after using a tanning bed. I assumed that I had burnt my lips by staying in too long. Well, I haven't used a tanning bed for almost 3 weeks and am still having this issue. It seems to almost clear up and then areas surrounding my lips, become red and it hurts! Been using every lip therapy sold in stores to no avail. The thing that has made it feel better is amlactin, given to me by a Pharmacist. (But it does burn a little after application) It seems to flare up only after being outdoors more. Maybe the sun? Maybe the wind? (My husband and I have a boat and are on it as often as we are able to) This is making me CRAZY! Tired of walking around with what looks like a "Bozo" mouth. :'(

I actually went to see a Dermatologist who told me that he thought was having an allergic reaction to the lip therapy, made by Neosporin, that I had been using CONSTANTLY. He said that up to 30% of the population is allergic to Neosporin (mainly the neomiacin in it) and don't even know it. He instructed to to use NOTHING on my lips or surrounding area, except the Hydrocortisone 2.5% ointment that he prescribed. I followed Dr's orders, and within 1-2 weeks, my lips seem to have healed!

It has now been five months and still fighting these chapped lips. The Dr. seems to have no idea what it is. The skin Dr. says the same. Does this mean I have to live like this the rest of my life. O M G how embarassing when people look at me and say what is wrong with your lips? I am hoping someone will be able to find the answer in these posts that will fure it for once and all. I have tried every medicine on the market and even prescriptions. About to give up. HELP

i don't but why the question?

It's a staph infection, my DR prescribed Bactrim first then Doxycycline cuz I was allergic to Bactrim. He also prescribed Muprocin ointment which stings but works!

I posted here last week thinking that perhaps the pineapple flavored electronic cigarette cartridges caused this problem with my lips.  Some of your suggested using Aquaphor.  So I have been using it for over a week.  The only way it has helped me is that it seems to speed up the process.  My lips are now peeling off large pieces of skin twice per week.  And I have reread all the posts here again and I need to add that my lips have never itched.  Even in the beginning there was never itching.  Just the constant chapping and peeling, and during the process they do sometimes feel wet. No blisters.  Im wondering if the last post by guest is correct that this is a staph infection.  So I looked around the house and found a medication to try.  It is not bactrim but very similar.  Im going to carefully try this for a few days.  I applied it last night.  Today my lips are at the stage where they are about to peel so today Im using Aquaphor to help this.  I should be able to try the other medication by tomorrow night after all this dead skin has peeled off.   Is this process happening this fast to anyone else?  If this medication doesnt help some within a week I know I'll need to see a doctor.  Im loosing a lot of skin twice per week on my lips!   No Ive never smoked marijuana.  How long did you use Doxycycline before you noticed improvement?