As I’ve mentioned, my burning mouth syndrome affects my lips. They feel like they’re on fire all the time, there are times that it’s much worse than others. Applying pressure on my lips with my fingers, a napkin, whatever, helps ease the pain somewhat.

At night. I hold a pillow against my mouth if I need it but when I doze off, the pillow falls away and then the pain is back at full intensity, so I adapted a hairband type of thing to wear when the burning is really intense – like it was last week while I had Covid. The band presses on my lips and allows me to fall asleep for a while.

I rarely use it during the day, because – let’s face it – it does look odd! But since I work from home, I can if I have to. If you’re someone with burning lips and you’d like to try using a head band, before you make one I suggest you do an experiment. Use a scarf or a large cotton towel, without any “nubby” bits or pills on it. It has to be very smooth. Hold it along your mouth and see if you feel any improvements. You could even tie it around your head – that’s what I did before I started making these bands.

A sewing machine, a bit of fabric, and a piece of elastic

If you have a sewing machine or have a friend who can help you with this – here is how I made mine. I made several so I can throw them in the wash and have clean ones ready to go.

The one I made this weekend is a bit wider than the other ones I have because I think they were too narrow. I’m going to see if I like the wider one better.

You’ll need a piece of high quality 100% cotton, generally used for quilting. I have plenty of that hanging around! Lower quality cotton can have a nubby texture and that is very irritating to the lips. I supposed you can use a polyester, but I’ve not tried it. You also need a piece of elastic. Ones that are about an inch wide are best, but if you have a narrower type, you can make it work.

Step 1: Cut out a piece of fabric 20 x 5 inches or narrower than 5 inches if you want a narrower band. (Added on Sept. 11: I tried using this band last night and it was too wide. I’ll make my next one with only a 4″ wide piece of fabric next time.) If you want to make it firmer than just folded fabric, you can add a piece of stabilizer to the rectangle on the wrong side. That is the white piece in the middle photo. It has adhesive on one side, so I pressed the stabilizer to the wrong side of the cotton. Cut out a piece of elastic about 4 inches long. These sizes are what work for me. You may need yours longer or shorter. If you have a big head or a lot of thick hair, cut a longer piece and then you can cut it down if it’s too big. If you make it too small, it’s harder to adjust it.

Step 2:Take the fabric and place it lengthwise right sides together. Sew a quarter of an inch along the seam from top to bottom. Now turn this tube right side out. The easiest way is to put a safety pin on one end and then feed it into the tube, edging it along until it pops out the other end. Iron it flat with the seam to the side.

Step 3: Take both ends of the tube and fold a half inch of it inside and then top stitch both sides of the strip (sew a very narrow line down each side

Step 4: Mark a half inch from each end of the elastic. Insert the elastic in one end to the half inch mark and then zigzag the end shut. Making sure you don’t twist the tube, insert the other end of the elastic into the other end and zig zag it shut.

And here is the finished product.

I only use it when my burning lips are really bad. And it’s not the most ideal solution. The band slips if I toss and turn too much. But I find it does help me through the worst nights. I hope it helps you if you try.

Tags: burning lips