Chapped or cracked lips, cheilitis
What are chapped lips?
Causes of chapped lips
Cheilitis
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for chapped lips
What are chapped lips?
Most people get chapped or cracked lips occasionally, where the skin on the lips is dry, rough, or cracked, and bits of skin start to peel. The lips do not contain oil glands, unlike the skin on most other parts of body. This makes the lips more prone to drying out and cracking.
Natural home treatments give immediate relief and also provide support for underlying healthy skin.
Causes of chapped lips
- Saliva. Habitual licking of your lips is the most common cause. Saliva contains digestive enzymes that make the problem worse.
- Picking or biting loose pieces of skin. This spreads infection and stops healing.
- Exposure to wind, cold, or dry air (such as in heated rooms). Chapped lips are often worse in cold and dry weather.
- Dehydration.
- Nutritional deficiency, especially B vitamins.
- Sjogren's syndrome. Between 2% and 6% of adults suffer from this ailment, with the prevalence being nine times higher in women than men, and in older people rather than younger.
- Underlying illnesses such as anaemia, systemic inflammation or infection.
- Sunburn.
- Excessive use of soaps and other chemicals.
- Certain drugs and medications including excessive vitamin A or retinoids, lithium and chemotherapy drugs.
- Smoking.
Cheilitis
Cheilitis is a more severe form of chapped lips. It is often caused by an infection after micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi) enter through skin lesions.
Symptoms of cheilitis
- The classic symptom is cracked skin at the corners of the lips. There may also be deep cracks on other parts of the lips.
- Dark pink or red coloured lips.
- Lumpy texture on or under the skin of the lips.
- Ulcers on the lips.
- White plaques on the surface of the lips.
Causes of cheilitis
- Infection of chapped and cracked lips.
- Inflammation caused by an inflammatory disease such as Crohn's disease.
- Insufficient or excessive saliva production.
- Dental trauma or infection. Examples are from orthodontic braces, dentures, or infant's pacifiers.
Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for chapped lips
If you use any of these remedies, please come back next week (or whenever you have an outcome) and let us know about your experience. Please leave a comment as many people are interested.
See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.
- First, ensure that you are not dehydrated and are getting sufficient water. If the weather is very dry, it may help to use a humidifier.
- Lanolin is a thick waxy grease sourced from sheep wool. It is made up of thousands of different esters. When applied to the skin, it provides an excellent non-chemical protector which lasts much longer than most other oils. Pure lanolin is widely available and relatively cheap.
- Coconut oil.
- Gently exfoliating the dry skin on the lips using sugar and then rehydrating them with an oil or cream.
- Vitamin B2 and B complex vitamins support healthy skin.
- Many lip balms provide temporary relief but do not heal the underlying cause of the problem. Long-term use of lip balms can create dependence if the cause of the problem is not healed.
- Visitors have used a variety of other remedies such as glycerin, l-lysine, manuka honey mixed with coconut oil, mustard oil and shea butter. Many people have uses Vaseline (petroleum jelly) with success.