The reason I emphatically stated no hair dryer whether hot or cold is in fact due to the drying effect. I went to a lecture at the LLL conference by Sue Huml and Jan Riordan , where Sue Huml used this analogy. If it was the winter and you licked your lips and went out into the cold wind you would wind up with cracked, dry painful lips. The same sort of drying effect happens when you use a hairdryer on nipples. I said current research supports this but I guess this is just an assumption that the panelists were using research as a basis for their panel. The outline I received sited several articles. I'm not sure which one would have the dryer info (and they would all be dealing with an already cracked nipple but I feel the same should apply to one that is not yet cracked)but you could try Sharpe D."Moist wound healing for cracked nipples, Breastfeeding Abstracts LLLI 1992, 12;(2) 19 ". I really didn't mean to yell at anyone but the information presented in this panel was very exciting.