Take Care of Your Lips

Your lips are unique! Human lips are the only lips that have what is called a “vermillion border,” which describes the natural color changes (from shades of red to shades of pink).[1] Lips are also an integral part of your oral health. It is important to practice a good health routine for your lips and to know how to prevent diseases.

Steps

Treating Your Lips

  1. Exfoliate with a lip scrub. Exfoliating your lips will help to remove dead layers of skin and help generate regrowth of new skin cells.[2]
    • To exfoliate your lips, use an abrasive lip scrub product (for example, a sugar scrub) and gently rub it on your lips. Rub the mixture into your lips, removing any flakey or dead skin. Rinse off the remaining mixture for smoother lips.
    • You can also try applying petroleum jelly to your lips and exfoliating by massaging them with a damp cloth. Apply the cloth in a gentle, circular motion to remove dead skin.
  2. Apply lip balm, almond oil, coconut oil, or olive oil. Applying oils to your lips will help to hydrate and maintain moisture.
  3. Hydrate your space with a humidifier. Dry air can dry out lips. If you can, use a humidifier in spaces where you spend a lot of time (like a bedroom) to infuse more moisture into the air. This is especially helpful during winter when the air can be more dry.
  4. Heal eczema by observing your beauty routine. The American Academy of Dermatologists suggest that the most common reason for lip eczema is an allergic reaction.[3] This could be from your shampoo, lipstick, face wash, or even toothpaste.
    • To heal eczema, try removing one product from your routine for about a week. If your lips start to clear up from a removal of a product, you can best guess that was the cause of the irritation.

Practicing Healthy Habits for Your Lips

  1. Quit smoking or chewing tobacco. Smoking can cause darkened lips and wrinkles on or around the lips.[4] Both chewing tobacco and smoking can cause oral cancer, which can cause unpleasant lip lesions. Quitting these habits is the first step to healthier lips.[5]
  2. Protect your lips against the sun by using sunscreen. Sunburn can cause cancer, blisters, cracking, and peeling.[6] Use lip balm that contains sunscreen (at least 15 spf), or a sunscreen on your lips. Use this every day to help protect your lips against the sun.[7]
  3. Stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water not only will help your body stay healthy, but also keep your lips moist. This will stop dryness and cracking and make your lips appear fuller and healthier. While there is no standard of how much water or fluid you should drink per day, the Mayo Clinic suggests around nine 8-oz gasses (about 2 liters) of water a day for women, and 13 glasses (3 liters) per day for men.[8]
  4. Stop licking your lips. This habit can cause your lips to dry out and crack.
    • You can break this habit by wearing a bad-tasting lip balm.
    • You can try chewing gum or sucking on a hard piece of candy to stop licking your lips.
    • Every time you find yourself licking your lips, try drinking a glass of water. This will help you get into a good routine of staying hydrated as well as stop you from licking your lips.
  5. Get the proper vitamins and minerals. Cracked or dry lips can be a sign of vitamin or nutrient deficiency, such as vitamin B or D. Be sure to get the appropriate amount of healthy vitamins by maintaining a healthy diet or supplementing your diet with a daily multivitamin.[9]
    • Foods high in vitamin D include fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon.
    • Foods high in vitamin B include yogurt, dairy, and dark, leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale.
  6. Keep your teeth healthy. Dentists have found that unhealthy teeth can lead to or indicate unhealthy lips. Be sure to visit your dentist every six months for a routine checkup and cleaning.[10] Oral health goes beyond healthy teeth — it also includes your lips![11]
  7. Wear a mouthguard when playing sports. This will help prevent you from injuring your teeth. It may also stop you from involuntarily biting your lips if you fall or take a head injury.[12]

Preventing Oral Diseases

  1. Prevent eczematous cheilitis or lip dermatitis. This disease is associated with dryness, cracking, or scaling of the lips.[13] This may also affect the skin around the lips. This may be caused by allergies or by excessive licking of the lips.
    • To prevent or eczematous cheilitis or lip dermatitis, your doctor may prescribe a topical ointment. Your doctor may also suggest an allergy test to seek out potential irritants.
  2. Identify cold or canker sores. Cold sores generally appear on the outside of the lips in a cluster of blisters. Canker sores are gray and white surrounded by a red inflamed area, generally located inside the mouth on the inside of lips, cheeks, tongue, or throat.[14]
    • These may be caused by a simple viral infection. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for sores although there are pain relieving options in topical ointments and treatments that may shorten the duration of a cold sore.
    • You may treat these sores with a cool compress. You can also take an anti-inflammatory to help the swelling.
    • You can prevent cold sores by avoiding the saliva (drinking after, eating after, or kissing) of a person who has a cold sore. If the sore is caused by a viral infection, it can be transmitted.
  3. Prevent leukoplakia. This disease is characterized by white patches on your lips, tongue, cheeks, or mouth.[15] It is most commonly associated with tobacco (smoking or chewing). The best way to prevent this disorder is to stop smoking or chewing tobacco products.
    • Leukoplakia is usually benign, but can sometimes show early signs of cancer.
  4. Identify the symptoms of herpangina. This viral disease is characterized by blisters, ulcers, or sores in the mouth.[16] It is a common childhood infection that can treated with plenty of fluids, rest, and over-the-counter pain relievers.
    • Herpangina is typically short-lived and resolves on its own.
    • Herpangina is similar to hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). Both are caused by a virus in the same family. HFMD causes the same mouth ulcers as herpangina in addition to spots on the hands and feet.
    • As this is a viral infection, prevent this disease by frequently washing your hands or your child’s hands.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=yfb06-7rtZoC&pg=PA188&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
  2. ↑ http://www.lipscrub.org/
  3. ↑ https://www.aad.org/stories-and-news/news-releases/saving-face-dermatologists-helping-patients-identify-source-of-facial-allergic-contact-dermatitis-
  4. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15162344?dopt=AbstractPlus
  5. ↑ http://www.newhealthguide.org/Home-Remedies-For-Smokers-Lips.html
  6. ↑ http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/sun-exposure
  7. ↑ http://www.healcure.org/lip/sunburned-lips/sunburned-lips-blisters-swollen-treatment-soothing-and-pictures/
  8. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256
  9. ↑ http://www.wintercount.org/articles/12/7-simple-tips-for-avoiding-dry-lips-during-winter
  10. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15055666?dopt=AbstractPlus
  11. ↑ http://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(14)64564-5/abstract
  12. ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5021a1.htm
  13. ↑ http://www.dermnetnz.org/site-age-specific/eczematous-cheilitis.html
  14. ↑ https://www.uhs.umich.edu/coldcankersores
  15. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/leukoplakia/basics/definition/con-20023802
  16. ↑ https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000969.htm
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