I know it may be weird when you are at a social event and you feel that everyone is staring at your peeling lips. Trust me. I have been there. You may describe that as odd, embarrassing, or even intimidating. As humans, we long for social interactions. We are happy when we are somehow validated in our social circles. No one would want to be labeled as weird or an outsider.
I guess the first advice or tip I would like to share is to love yourself more. It’s unfortunate enough you need to go through EC. No one wants to have a medical condition. A condition that involved our face is tough. Most of our human first impression starts with looking at another one’s outlook, and our face obviously plays a crucial role. We first need to love ourselves more. We deserve to be loved. We can live a normal life. Only when we feel better at accepting who we are, including our medical condition, we can really be ourselves, and start to feel at ease at whatever social context.
Next, I think it’s taking small steps.
We all feel much more comfortable when we are with our family or close friends. They should have more understanding, and maybe know what we had been through. If you feel alright, sharing more with your close friends helps. After you are feeling more comfortable meeting your family and close friends, you can gradually expand your social interacting circles. You don’t need to rush the process. Just take the time and you will get over how new friends staring at your lips. The one thing that I will do is if you are feeling uneasy, you may choose to tell the other person that you are having a medical condition or to just tell the person you are feeling uneasy if the person keep a crazy stare. From my experience, most people are friendly and just really curious about what’s going on with your lips, so if you go upfront and tell them it’s just a medical condition, the whole weirdness would just halt there.
Some people may have concerns or worries about dating while having exfoliative cheilitis. I understand as the level of intimacy is going up from normal social gatherings to dating or even more, it is natural for you to feel a bit anxious along the journey. But yea back to my first point, you deserve to be loved, and the one who truly loves you will try to understand what’s going through in your life. Your other half would love who you are and not just your looks. There’s some practicality you two may need to get through. It’s all about honest sharing, showing your vulnerabilities, and keep on communicating.
The cliche practice makes perfect truly works. You deserve a normal life. Start with small steps and eventually you will get there!
You can share how you tackle your social interactions in the comments sections.
Good luck