DS (12), always has chapped lips. He puts chapstick on his lips constantly, even in the summer. For the past couple months, he started going "out of the lines" and onto the skin area around his lips. After about a week of this, the skin around his lips started getting red, and looked bad. This went on for a while, then he started complaining about it, while constantly lathering his lips and surrounding skin in various lip balms.
I kept telling him that he shouldn't be putting the chapstick around his lips, but, being 12, he knew better. Well, this week, he started getting little bumps, in addition to the redness. He literally looked like a clown.
I explained to him that there are two types of skin- regular skin that is flesh colored and skin that is called mucous membrane, like the inner eyelids, lips, glans (he's intact). I said that mucous membranes are meant to be moist at all times, regular skin is not. The reason for the irritation around his lips is because he's keeping the skin covered and moist all the time and it isn't meant to be aren't meant to be.
He must have been desperate, because he decided to listen to me and stop applying chapstick to the skin around his lips. It's been two days, and the skin is healing, but it's sloughing off this white stuff. So much better than two days ago.
I guess I thought this sort of related to what would happen to a circumcised restoring man once he started covering the glans with the foreskin- the skin would slough off and it would become mucous membrane. (ok- maybe this doesn't relate all that much, but it did remind me of the whole keritenized penis thing)
I kept telling him that he shouldn't be putting the chapstick around his lips, but, being 12, he knew better. Well, this week, he started getting little bumps, in addition to the redness. He literally looked like a clown.
I explained to him that there are two types of skin- regular skin that is flesh colored and skin that is called mucous membrane, like the inner eyelids, lips, glans (he's intact). I said that mucous membranes are meant to be moist at all times, regular skin is not. The reason for the irritation around his lips is because he's keeping the skin covered and moist all the time and it isn't meant to be aren't meant to be.
He must have been desperate, because he decided to listen to me and stop applying chapstick to the skin around his lips. It's been two days, and the skin is healing, but it's sloughing off this white stuff. So much better than two days ago.
I guess I thought this sort of related to what would happen to a circumcised restoring man once he started covering the glans with the foreskin- the skin would slough off and it would become mucous membrane. (ok- maybe this doesn't relate all that much, but it did remind me of the whole keritenized penis thing)
