Peeling Lips & Other Pregnancy Wonders
Dear Amalah,
Seems as though there is a baby boom amongst my friends at the moment and, of course, we share our woes and joys of pregnancy and being a mama. I have not found ONE SINGLE pregnant person with the same problem I’m experiencing. It’s not in any of my many pregnancy books either. This is my second pregnancy (I have a two year old little boy) and this didn’t happen with my first.
So here’s my problem… my lips are peeling, every day. I’ve tried Carmex, Blistex, Avon lip stuff, Burt’s Bees, Origins lip gloss and lipstick… and on and on. I’ve tried wearing nothing at all in case I’m allergic to something in one of the aforementioned products. My lips are not especially dry and the outside of my lips are just fine. But, they just peel where my lips come together — every… single… day. This didn’t happen until I got pregnant. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s just extremely annoying and unattractive.
Have you every heard of this being a symptom of pregnancy? Oh, the glorious hormones of pregnancy!
Any help for peeling lips? Is there any hope that this will go away after childbirth?
I seem to get the weirdest symptoms during pregnancy. In my first trimester I was REALLY nauseous and constantly had a metal taste in my mouth. My friends told me I was just weird, which is probably true, but do you have any advice for me?
Thanks,
J
Hey! Guess what! You need to call your dermatologist for this one. It sounds like you’ve got cheilitis (an inflammation/irritation of the lips). Congratulations!
What is Cheilitis?
According to various reputable sources (coughGooglecough), cheilitis can be brought on by a mild yeast infection, allergies, various medications (Accutane seems to be a common culprit), or other skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis. I didn’t find any articles specifically linking cheilitis to pregnancy, but considering that women are highly susceptible to yeast infections in the second trimester (and not to mention all the other weird wonky skin things we experience), it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was brought on by your pregnancy.
But nobody can diagnose you other than a doctor for sure. Your obstetrician would be the first person to ask, but since this definitely isn’t a run-of-the-mill pregnancy symptom, don’t be discouraged if he or she has no idea what to do about it. A dermatologist will definitely be able to recognize your condition and recommend any creams to deal with it. (Or give you an idea of whether it will clear up on its own postpartum, as some of the more bizarre pregnancy symptoms are wont to do…but I wouldn’t count on that with this one, honestly. It’s always better to get these things checked out.)
In the meantime, stop with the drugstore lip balms and treatments — there seems to be some anecdotal evidence that constant moisturizing peeling lips just aggravates the condition, particularly if it is from a yeast/candida infection.
I never had any lip problems when I was pregnant, but I did have to see a dermatologist after I developed these weird little red marks all over my hands and legs — they looked like tiny raised red freckles, almost. No bigger than the head of a pin. They didn’t itch or hurt or anything, but they just appeared overnight and seemed to spread like wildfire. Up my arms, across my back, etc. They were so weird and Google wouldn’t tell me ANYTHING about them, but my doctor took one look at them and assured me that they were completely hormonal and normal and they’d vanish after I gave birth. And sure enough, they were gone by the time I came home from the hospital.
So yeah. Pregnancy is bizarre. But call your doctor anyway. The End.
