I've had Exfoliative Cheilitis for 3 years and have tried most methods mentioned on this forum. I'll spare you the list of all the crazy things I did. I've had other accounts on here, but this is my main one now.

So let's get down to the details.
(#1) I quit applying any lip products, famously known as the leave it alone method.
(#2) I quit drinking all forms of alcohol.
(#3) I started drinking Vitamin D whole milk with or without cereal.
(#4) I avoided letting any form of "oil" touch my lips.
(#5) (Optional) I started using medicinal marijuana daily as opposed to my previous every so often use...

So that's it folks, that's how I healed myself. I'll explain each step and why it's important.

For the first step, I chose the leave it alone because I've tried every lip product and non lip product (I'm sure you can imagine what crazy things those are) with no success. So nothing topical was applied to my lips. The first week was tough, my peeling continued, my lips bled, but I stuck through it. The second week and the weeks after were much better and healing continued with success. For the second step, alcohol just dries the body out and does no good for your health.

Quitting alcohol in general from beer, wine, liquor etc. actually helped alleviate my eczema on my hands and face.

For the third step, I don't have the time to sit out in the sun all day, so I chose to drink whole milk with Vitamin D plus I figured I was lacking in the essential nutrients that whole milk has to offer.

For the fourth step, this may be the most important step on the list; I did not let any oil touch my lips. I'm talking about all oil, from cooking oil, coconut oil, mineral oil, etc. all oil was avoided.

I had fordyce spots and I truly believe I got them because the oils entered the wounded area on the lip and deposited itself as fordyce spots on the border of the wound and normal area of the lip. That is my theory of fordyce spots; they completely disappeared and peeled off when no oil came in contact with my lips.

Also I noticed that oil just made my lips peel faster and cause a red line on my vermilion border, so obviously I wanted to avoid unnecessary peeling and "clown lips".

For the fifth and final step, medicinal marijuana has anti-inflammatory properties and helps with autoimmune diseases, which I believe what exfoliative cheilitis is.

I used marijuana for its medicinal properties, well worth it in all ways that needs no explaining. It's a miracle plant; doctors can no longer deny its many benefits.

I chose to leave water out of my list because everyone drinks water and should drink water. I drink lots of water. During my healing, if my lips would get to dry, I would just drink more water.

As for toothpaste, I went through that whole saga; I just went back to my normal mentadent. I concluded that toothpaste had no effect on my lips.

I did do something controversial during my healing process and that was I licked my lips.

In the workplace, sometimes you don't have a bottle of water with you at all times, so licking my lips before a brief conversation with a coworker showed no negative effects. I realize my fourth step makes sense only during the healing process, but once your lips are fully healed there will no longer be an open wound and you should feel free to indulge on chicken wings, french fries, pizza etc. only after you've healed. The ironic thing about all this is that you can use lip products again once all the wounded areas of the lips have fully healed. I know this is important for women since they use lip stick and lip gloss. It took approximately 2 weeks to fully heal :) with no relapse.

I'm a guy in my late 20's. If you have any questions, feel free to reply. So here's my list of my steps again to finish off. I believe that these 5 steps are the most important changes I've made in my life that contributed to my successful healing.

(#1) No topical products (leave it alone method).
(#2) No alcohol (beer/wine/liquor etc).
(#3) Drink Vitamin D whole milk.
(#4) No oil in any form touching the lips.
(#5) (Optional) Medicinal Marijuana (smoke it/vape it/eat it).