Swollen itchy eyes and lip rash/sores

[Danni0099]

For the past 10 years I have had really sensitive lips and have only been able to use one type of lip balm. As anything else - lip sticks of glosses give me little sores on my lips and cause them to puff up and get little scabs and peel contantly - i also get dry patches under my eyes and eye lids. When I visited a doctor they told me I may have an allergy to nail polish and an ingrediant in lip glosses/balms its also happens when I were nail polish. After removing it it usually clears up within a week.

Recently I havent even be able to use my usual lip balm as my lips react to that as well and my eyes are puffing up and getting extremly itchy and stinging. I was heading overseas for 3 weeks and the doctor have me some tablets to take to clear up my lips as she said they looked like they had a staff infection. Whilst I was OS all my symptoms cleared up completely and within 2 days of returing home everything started up again!

A week after I had been back,I woke up in the monring and my eyes were completely closed over and extremly swollen. I visited a doctor and they said I might have hives or some type of allergy. I was put on antihistmines and a course of panafcortelone, which helped with the eye swelling and the lips alittle. but now i have reduced the amount of panafcortelone I take daily as I am at the end of my course, as have been told it isnt something I can take long term and my eyes are becoming more irrated and puffy and my lips sore are getting worse.
I havent changed any make up lately or products like toothpaste, washing powder.

Does anyone have any sugguestions what it might be, as its dirvinbg me crazy!!!!

[em11215]

Thank you for your very informative post. I have been on a gluten-free, dairy-free, no eggs, no peanuts diet for the last two months and have seen great improvement on my usually swollen itchy flaky eyelids and upper lips.
Yesterday was my son's 2 year old birthday and I ate cupcakes and drank white wine. Woke up with a big fat lip and itchy everywhere.
Time to go back on the diet, and I'll check out the products you(DeeDeeBee) mention in your post.
I'm working with a homeopathic doctor in NYC who's approach is mainly dietary. Anyone have anyone else in NYC they recommend, allergists, dermatologists, etc? I would love to be able to narrow in on and identify specific triggers.
So frustrated and at the end of my rope with this condition. Thanks.

[starlightblue]

I'm glad that I found this forum and can relate to most of you and your symptoms.  I have the super itchy, dry, peeling lips. My eyes itch terribly (especially on the eyelid of my right eye).  I also get the red and dry patches of skin above and below my lips.  I didn't go see any doctors so far hoping that these symptoms were seasonal and will go away, but they haven't! (it's been almost two months now, not that long compared to some of you guys).  Anyways, my aunt noticed the skin around my lips and she made me try a steroid cream called Mometasone Furoate.  Her daughter had dry itchy patches of skin all around her body (apparently an allergy to dust mites).  The cream healed all of her skin.  For me, I tried it around my lips for two days and seemed to have improved A LOT.  I'm skeptical to try it on my lips and around my eyes as these are sensitive areas.  
Like many of you I wonder what really is or are the causes of these symptoms?  Is it environmental?  Or can it be internal, hormonal, health, stress related?  Does it vary from person to person?  
I live in NYC, but when I went to Vermont for 4 days, I noticed that my skin improved dramatically...lips and eyes were not crazy itching or peeling, and all around skin was ok too.  I took the steroid cream with me just in case and I didn't even have to use it!  A day or two I come back to NY and immediately started to feel the difference, especially on my lips!  They were starting to crack, itch, etc, etc.  Over in Vermont I was using the same lip balm and make up and nothing happened.  It is frustrating to not know what causes these problems, but I will try some of the things that you guys mentioned above.  Thanks for sharing and take care everyone!  

[jzipfel]

I use protopic and locoid for my lips and eye lids and it helps a lot.  Yesterday I went to another dermatologist ( I have been through 3 allergy testing including patch test of my make up and products) and she told me nail polish and gold! She also gave me a shot of prenisone.  No one has even said anything about this.  It has been a frustration as no one can figure anything out!  I will see if this helps!

[jtee_]

Dove soap has fragrance (parfum) as an ingredient. I strongly recommend you discontinue use and stick to cetaphil wash, especially with your reactions!

INGREDIENTS IN DOVE SOAP ARE: Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Slearic Acid, Sodium Palmitate, Aqua Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Parfum, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, zinc Oxide, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Alumina, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Alcohol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citronellol, Coumarin, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool.....

[08of10]

Medicine that works!
I have had the same problems as others: itchy,peeling, crusty lips and eyelids.  I tried using my eczema meds on my eyelids  which made things worse!  Prescription eczema creams designed for legs/hands are way too strong to use on eyelids and the lip area.  After a week on a strong antibiotic prescribed by my Dr (who said I would need to be on it for 2 months!), nothing improved and I went to a dermatologist.  He prescribed meds which helped immediately: Protopic (tacrolimus ointment).  I also try to avoid certain foods (pineapple) that seems to cause the itchy lips. If my lips/eyelids start feeling itchy, I apply just a little Protopic and it clears things up right away.  I wear very little make-up now to avoid flare-ups but can get away with wearing Almay products.  The dermatologist suggested Vanicream Moisterizing Skin Cream for my face (Vanicream makes a sunscreen as well) and Dove soap.  I  also avoid all things that have added fragrance, including laundry detergent.  Every so often I have to switch to Free and Clear Hair products because my scalp will get itchy bumps/scabs from regular hair products. Hope this info helps.  

[clare1982]

Hi everyone - I'm so glad I found this thread.

My problems started literally overnight back at the beginning of December - severely swollen red eyes and unbearable itchiness, and extremely sore, dry, cracked skin all around my eyes  (the dry top lip has only started within the last couple of weeks).  I went to the docs who prescribed antibiotics for conjunctivitis.  Naturally these didn't help at all and the problem steadily got worse until one eye was swollen to such an extent that it was shut tight.  

I'm lucky that I work close to Moorfields Eye hospital so after a couple more unsuccessful visits to my doctor I took a trip to the Eye hospital A&E - they immediately diagnosed the problem as allergic rather than bacterial and prescribed steroid and antihistamine drops as well as diprobase cream and hydrocortisone cream to help with the skin irritation around my eyes.  This did help slightly but by no means solved the problem completely.

It's now been three months and the steroids are becoming less and less effective and I'm miserable!  I have an appointment with an allergy doctor on Thursday next week - I had to be a bit aggressive with my GP to get her to refer me but eventually she agreed, and I've had to wait eight weeks to get my appointment.  I've been told to come off all my medication for a week prior to the appointment so they can get a good picture of the effects so I'm off the steroids now and am struggling to cope with the pain and discomfort - I'm just gonna have to grit my teeth and bear it until Thursday.

Also, when I went into work today I burst into tears infront of my boss because it all got a bit too much for me (that's the first time anyone at work has seen me cry and I think it surprised me just as much as it surprised everyone else!) -  I think my boss now realises just how badly this is affecting me mentally in addition to the obvious physical effects - so he did the most amazing thing:  He's paid for me to go on the firm's private medical insurance policy so now I have an appointment with one of the UK's leading allergy specialists next Friday afternoon!  I still can't believe how lucky I am to have such an amazing boss!

So anyway - now I have two appointments with allergy doctors, one on Thursday and one on Friday (I'm not going to cancel the NHS appointment - some people might think that's selfish of me but I'm so desperate to find a solution to this, I want to see as many doctor's as possible!).  I promise I'll come back and let you all know what happens - all your posts have been so helpful to me, I really hope I can come back here with some encouraging news.

I've been taking notes as I've been reading all the posts so I'll be going to the docs armed with all sorts of ideas for possible causes/treatments!

Take care everyone - here's hoping we all get our problems sorted out soon!