Soothing the effects of smooching

Q: I am seeing a new guy, and the stubble on his face has left a large chapped area on my face that almost feels burned. It's an unpleasant aftermath of an enjoyable kissing session. I'm putting Vaseline on it. Is there anything else that might help more?

A: We checked with cosmetics expert Stanley Levy, M.D., of Chapel Hill Dermatology in North Carolina. He said you can use 1 percent hydrocortisone cream for a few days. It is available over the counter.

To prevent or soothe irritation, Aquaphor (made by Beiersdorf) would feel and work better than Vaseline. It, too, is OTC.

Levy continued: "Make sure you are not sensitive to his aftershave, moisturizer or lip balm. Although the grizzly look is in, you also could ask him to shave more frequently."

Q: I believe my friend was sleep-driving when he was killed in a car accident. A dump truck slammed into his car at an intersection he'd known all his life. It was only two blocks from his house.

I called his wife to get the story, and she said he reportedly ran a blatant red light on his way to work. That is certainly not like him, especially because he was applying for a police job. If you're doing that, you don't go through red lights, for sure.

When I'd talked with him not five days earlier, he had told me he was on Ambien. He said if he didn't get enough sleep he would do strange things. I feel the Ambien caused him, a husband and father of two, to be killed needlessly because he was probably sleep-driving under its influence.

A: Ambien has been linked to "sleep-driving." Whether this sleeping pill was responsible for your friend's accident is impossible to tell. Others have shared stories of bizarre behavior (including sleep-driving) under the influence of Ambien (zolpidem).

Many people are able to take Ambien safely, but others need a different approach for dealing with insomnia. Some people wake early in the morning and cannot get back to sleep. For them, a shorter-acting drug like Sonata may be preferable.

We discuss the pros and cons of sleeping pills like Ambien, Sonata, Lunesta and Rozerem as well as nondrug approaches in our Guide to Getting a Good Night's Sleep. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $3 in check or money order with a long (No. 10), stamped (59 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Graedons' People's Pharmacy, No. I-70, P.O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027. It also can be downloaded for $2 from our Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.com.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them c/o King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019, or via their Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.org