If they go white the barrier of the skin of your lips is not healthy ie, you have infection etc, healthy lips don't go white in water only damaged, or infected ones. Aquaphor is the same as Vaseline, but has a slightly different texture, it will temporarly provide a barrier to your lips but like for most people on this forum it is not a cure. I maintain we all have varying degrees of e.c I personally could only use Aquaphor once and it irritated my lips my lips peeled within hours of using it, when I use almond or olive oil they feel soothed and go a longer time without peeling, if you use Aquaphor for over 3 weeks and it helps you, you've probably just got dry lips. E.C Proper is an infection of the skin of the lips of the vermillion border at the dermis. epidermis stratum corneum,in the saliva, as well as the gut,a cocktail of staph,as well as fungi and a combination of these microbes making the cure for it difficult for both derm and sufferer.
When I first used Noxema as an antibacterial cream on my lips I saw my peeling go from 7 days to 16, by which I understood that I had infection they wernt just flaking off out of dryness etc, am still not cured but am better than before as I learnt more about my own condition. Aquaphor is just a moistening gel etc. For those of us with infection, it does nothing.... in fact it blocked my skin from breathing and trapped the infection beneath making it worse and stopping my lips from healing. Infected skin needs to be de-infected not have a cosmetic softening agent put on top of a condition which underlying it is a virulent microbial issue. Eczema, Psoriasis etc have a microbial issie to them also but what makes our condition weird is that I myself have pretty good skin overall.. its just my lips that have this peeling issue, so do I have excema? No. I don't, excema Psoriasis is usually an all over the body problem, but with us its just only the area of our lips,
just that little tiny area of the body that can cause so much stress and havoc because of the social implications of it being RIGHT THERE ON YOUR FACE for the world to see if you have not yet learnt how to cope with it. Ive got an infection on my lips that I know because of the radical way noxema changed my peeling cycle, so now maybe I have to add yeast raiders to my healing formula and see what that does, will tell you all if I do.

Had a similar issue 20-15 years ago. After seeing many professionals and trying all kinds of treatments (I did it all - biopsy, injections, Rx topicals, diets, total isolation, etc.) ,I was eventually prescribed Lamprene (this was after seeking out the best expert on this topic who was at John's Hopkins. Dr. James Sciubba. I drove to Baltimore from NYC to see him for several appointments). I was on this oral treatment for multiple years and it got my issue under control before I stopped taking it. I would've probably continued taking it, however my new PCP suggested I stop to see if I still needed it. After I stopped taking Lamprene, my condition was under control. Still I have dry lips and carry vaseline with me, but far far far improved to the point I don't think about it at all.

As for Aquaphor, I always preferred plain vaseline. Aquaphor is second best option.