Why Are My Lips so Dry? 6 Reasons and How to Treat Them

• Your lips may be dry if you spent the day in the sun, since lips get sunburnt super quickly. 
• Dehydration and wind damage can also dry out your lips and cause cracking.
• Avoid lip balms with ingredients such as camphor, menthol, lanolin, and fragrance. 

Nearly everyone has experienced dry, cracked, or tight-feeling lips. 

In fact, “the lips are particularly prone to dryness as opposed to skin on other parts of the body,” says Dr. Brian Toy, a dermatologist at Providence Mission Hospital and a clinical professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

This is because the skin on your lips:

• Is thin, so it’s more sensitive.
• Is constantly exposed to the elements, as opposed to body parts like feet that are usually protected by shoes or socks.
• Doesn’t have any sweat glands, which secrete oils that keep the skin moisturized and protected.

Anyone can experience dry lips, but certain environmental factors, behaviors, and vitamin deficiencies can make you more prone to dry lips, says Dr. Nkem Ugonabo, a dermatologist with Unionderm.

Here’s what might be contributing to your dry lips, and how to get rid of dry, cracked, and uncomfortable lips for good. 

1. Dehydration

Since the skin on your lips is thinner than the skin in other areas of your body, it can show the signs of dehydration first. So if you’re experiencing dryness and cracking, a good first step is to make sure you’re drinking enough water.

Quick tip: While it may be tempting to lick your lips to rehydrate them, it could actually make the dryness worse.  When the saliva dries, it causes the moisture in your lips to evaporate, leaving them even drier, Ugonabo says. 

What to do about it: Make sure you’re drinking enough water: Men should aim for 125 ounces of fluid each day, and women should aim for 91 fluid ounces. While water is an important part of that, you can also count fluids like coffee and tea, plus the fluid found in foods like fruits and vegetables. 

2. Sunburn

If you notice that your lips are dry or painful after a day in the sun, it could be a sunburn. Your lips are even more likely to burn than other parts of your body because the skin on your lips has no melanin, a pigment that protects skin from damaging UV rays.

If you have sunburned lips, you’ll notice symptoms including:

• Dryness
• Peeling
• Sensitivity, stinging, or burning

Note:  Blisters, pain, and swelling on your lips can indicate a more severe second degree burn. If you notice those symptoms, call your doctor. 

What to do about it: Use a lip balm with at least SPF 15. “A lip balm will protect the skin barrier and reduce moisture loss, keeping the lips supple,” Toy says.  

If you don’t have a lip balm with SPF handy that’s ok — you can apply regular sunscreen directly to your lips. 

Reapply lip balm or sunscreen every two hours, since it can come off when you’re eating or drinking. 

Quick tip: When you’re choosing a lip balm for going outdoors, it’s important to select one with SPF. Or else, applying product to your lips can actually increase your risk for sunburn. “It’s like rubbing baby oil on the skin before tanning,” Toy says. 

3. Wind damage

Because lips are exposed to the elements, wind and weather can take a toll on them. Wind can weaken and dry out the outermost layer of skin and remove the moisture from the skin, making them more prone to drying. This leads to a condition known as windburn, which is especially common on the lips.

So if you’re boating, skiing or doing other outdoor activities that leave you exposed to the elements, you’ll need to prioritize lip health. 

What to do about it: While you’re out in the sun, use a lip balm with SPF. After your activities are done and you’re inside, use a lip balm with Vaseline or Aquaphor to restore moisture. These thicker balms protect the skin, but they can leave you prone to sunburn, so don’t use them while you’re out in the sun. 

4. Irritation from cosmetics

If you experience dry lips after switching your personal care products, the cosmetics could be to blame, Ugonabo says. 

“Sometimes people are sensitive to certain ingredients that are in these products and so their lips are becoming more irritated with use,” she says. 

When you feel the need to apply a lip balm frequently — more than every two hours — it can be a sign that your lip products are actually drying your lips out rather than moisturizing them, Toy says. 

What to do about it: If your lips sting or tingle after application, stop use immediately and wash the product off with soap and water. Choose balms with healthy ingredients, while avoiding harsh ingredients. 

5. Yeast infection

A yeast infection around the mouth, also known as thrush, can cause dry lips and cracking at the corners of the mouth, Toy says. 

If you have thrush, you’ll notice symptoms including:

• Painful cracks in the corners of your mouth
• Redness or soreness at the corners of your mouth
• White patches inside your mouth and gyms

Eventually, this can lead to a condition called angular cheilitis, where people develop painful cracks at the corners of their mouths. It’s most common in people who drool when they sleep, Toy says, since the moisture lets yeast flourish. 

What to do about it: See your doctor. You’ll need to be treated with an anti fungal cream. In addition, you’ll want to stop drooling, since the moisture helps bacteria thrive. If you drool while you sleep, talk to your doctor about ways to stop drooling, like treating seasonal allergies and acid reflux that might be causing you to drool.  

6. Vitamin deficiencies 

If you’re not getting enough vitamin B12, you might experience dry lips and cracking at the corners of the lips. That’s because vitamin B12 helps your body repair cells, so if you don’t have enough it’s more difficult for your body to repair normal damage to the lips. 

Vitamin B12 deficiency is pretty rare, affecting about 6% of adults under 60 in the US. However, about 20% of people older than 60 are deficient. Vegetarians are also at higher risk, since vitamin B12 isn’t naturally readily in plant-based products, Toy says. However, there are ways to hit your B12 target if you’re a vegetarian including eating nutritional yeast and shiitake mushrooms. 

What to do about it: Make sure you’re getting enough vitamin B12. Most adults need to consume 2.4 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin B12. To get that, eat more foods like fish, eggs and other animal products that naturally contain vitamin B12; or breakfast cereals that have been fortified with vitamin B.  

Talk to your doctor about whether a vitamin or supplement is right for you. If you have a severe deficiency or other underlying conditions, you might also qualify for B12 shots, so ask your doctor if those might be right for you.  

When to see a doctor

If your dry lips don’t resolve in about a week, it’s time to see a doctor. You should also see a doctor if you have persistent or severe peeling or cracking, which can leave you vulnerable to infection. 

In rare cases, dry lips can be a sign of an underlying medical condition including:

• Infections like a yeast infection around the corners of the mouth
• Nutritional deficiencies, including vitamin B12 deficiency
• Eczema, also known as contact dermatitis
• Allergies

Best lip balms

Ulta; Sephora; Amazon; Alyssa Powell/Insider

Soothe dryness and protect your lips with our guides to the best lip balms and lip balms with SPF.

• Best overall: Burt’s Bees Lip Balm – See at Ulta
• Best unscented: Aquaphor Lip Repair – See at Amazon
• Best with SPF: Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lip Balm (3-pack) – See at Amazon
• Best tinted with SPF: MDSolarSciences Hydrating Sheer Lip Balm SPF 30 – See at Amazon

Insider’s takeaway

Dry lips are common because skin on the lips is thin and exposed to stressors including sun and wind. However, “the lips generally heal very quickly due to an abundant blood supply,” Toy says.

So, if you have persistently dry lips you should talk to a doctor. They’ll help rule out any underlying conditions and help you manage your dry lips. 

“Please consider seeing a  board certified dermatologist for further evaluation to make sure there isn’t something more going on,” Ugonabo says. 

Kelly Burch

Kelly Burch is a New Hampshire-based freelance journalist writing about finances, health, family, and more. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and Forbes, among others. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter, and or learn more here.   

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Lip Balm Tips for Severely Dry Lips

Written by Marcia Wade

In this Article

• What Are Chapped Lips?
• Symptoms of Chapped Lips
• Causes and Risk Factors of Chapped Lips
• Treatment and Prevention of Chapped Lips

Chapped lips are when your lips feel dry and cracked. If your lips burn, sting, or feel uncomfortable, they’re probably chapped.

You may think of chapped lips as something that only happens in the winter. But unless you take special care, your lips can get dry, sore, and scaly any time of year. This is especially true if you have a habit of licking or biting your lips or use products that irritate and dry out your lips.

Symptoms of chapped lips include:

• Dryness
• Cracks, peeling, or flaking
• Bleeding
• Redness
• Burning, stinging or tingling

Various things can cause chapped lips or make them more likely. These include:

• Dry weather
• Dry air indoors
• Lack of oil glands in your lips
• Not moisturizing your lips
• Wearing irritating lipsticks or balms
• Harsh or drying products like menthol, camphor, or salicylic acid
• Too much sun
• Excessive licking, touching or picking your lips
• Not drinking enough water
• Holding metal with your lips

Your lips don’t have oil glands, and they’re almost always exposed to the elements. So if you don’t take care of them, you’ll pay the price. What can you do to keep them safe?

• Use lip balm. A good balm can buffer your delicate lip skin from the elements. Choose one high in emollients. Check the ingredient list for petrolatum, which locks in moisture, and dimethicone, which seals off cracks and splits in drying lips. Don’t limit yourself to products with the word balm in them, either. Lip ointments are just as good a choice.
• Apply early and often. Whatever type of product you choose, apply it before you put on lipstick or lip gloss, not after. To keep your lips protected, reapply frequently. You need about six to eight coats during the day, so apply first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and every couple of hours during the day. To make this easier, stash a tube in your purse, one in the car, a third your desk, and another near the bed.
• Protect your lips when you’re outside.You cover your hands and feet when the temperature drops; do the same for your lips. Wear a scarf or a ski mask that covers your mouth when you go out in the cold. And remember to choose a lip balm with broad spectrum UV protection year-round.
• Drink up. You know it has tons of benefits for your body. One of those is to fight the dehydration that leads to chapped lips.
• Use a humidifier indoors. These devices provide the moisture your lips and skin crave. It’s great to have one at work as well as at home, especially in the winter. Turn it on at night to replenish your skin while you sleep.
• Don’t lick your lips.While it might seem like a good idea at the time, running your tongue over your lips is the worst thing you can do for them. As your saliva dries, it takes more moisture from your skin. Reach for your lip balm instead.
• Don’t peel or bite flaky skin.The skin on your lips is thin and delicate. Picking at it can cause it to bleed and hurt, slow the healing process, and cause more irritation.
• Don’t exfoliate. It can cause further damage to chapped lips. Instead, apply plenty of balm or ointment and turn on the humidifier.
• Listen to your lips. Some treatments can do more harm than good. Ingredients like eucalyptus, menthol, and camphor can dry or irritate your lips. Stay away from them, especially if you have dry skin. If you’re allergic to plant-based oils and moisturizers like beeswax, shea butter, castor seed, and soybean oil, switch to a petroleum jelly-based product.
• Call the doctor.See a dermatologist if your problem persists. Chapping that doesn’t heal, despite regular use of lip balm, can be a sign of infection or a more serious problem, like cancer or a precancerous condition called actinic cheilitis.

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What to do if lips are dry

Beauty

The heating season has begun, and with it the dryness of the skin and lips. What to do?

What can you put on your lips so that they stop looking like sandpaper and don’t crack? It is unambiguously difficult to answer the question, and it is incorrect to argue in this vein, although I would like to solve everything with a vanilla-scented balm in five minutes. No, lip balm will not solve the problem globally, nor will your active drinking regime with liters of water a day; all this is excellent, but it has nothing to do with the dryness of the skin of the lips, except, well, very mediocre. What is the reason for the dryness of the skin of the lips and how to put them in order, we decided to ask the cosmetologist of the Idealist clinic Maria Merekina.

cosmetologist at the Idealist clinic

Vitamin A and group B deficiency

Yes, yes, yes, you will have to approach the issue thoroughly, you cannot do without passing tests. Make sure you are not deficient in vitamin A, B vitamins; if there is, then the lips will be dry for a long time. For example, according to Dr. Berg, a well-known specialist in nutrition and the keto diet, dry lips and cracked corners of the mouth are caused by a lack of vitamin B2 in the body. It is found in eggs, lettuce, greens, nuts, dairy products, red meat, and fish.

Fats and more fats

Make sure that in your diet there are at least four tablespoons of unrefined vegetable oil per day: olive, hemp, camelina, linseed – any, alternate between them. And, according to Dr. Merekina, to prevent dry lips, you should start taking Omega-3 fatty acids. Don’t expect immediate positive results, be patient. Fats will help the cells retain fluid and thereby reduce skin dryness.

Lip balm ≠ skincare at home

Lip balm should only be applied before going outside: the product creates a protective layer that protects the skin from the negative effects of the environment, the skin does not breathe at this moment. Therefore, at home, experts advise leaving lips alone and not applying balm.

Fragrance-free balm without volume effect

If the balm contains mineral oils, petroleum jelly, paraffin, fragrances, alcohol-containing substances, then you do not need it. They also include menthol balms that promise to give lips extra volume. You want one that is made with natural vegetable oils, beeswax, and a neutral fragrance. And remember: you need to apply the balm only before going outside, during outdoor activities in the cold season, but not at home.

Face and lip cream

Cosmetologists advise moisturizing the skin of the lips with a regular face cream. You can use your favorite night cream, eye cream without retinol – everything will be in place. Today you can even find a special lip cream if you want to get confused. The skin of the lips needs to be moisturized no less than the skin of the face, and even more. If only because the skin of the lips is thinner than the skin of the face by at least one layer. They even differ in color: the lips have a characteristic reddish tint due to closely spaced blood vessels, while the skin has a natural bodily tone.

Use nourishing “regenerants”

Regenerants are nourishing ointments and creams that promote the restoration and healing of inflammatory elements on the skin, wounds, and dryness. The expert recommends using them only in case of extremely severe dryness and damage to the skin of the lips. Among the most popular means: Methyluracil, Solcoseryl, Radevit.

+1 lip scrub

Of course, if the lips are inflamed, with wounds and bruises, then there is no need to torment them with scrubbing. But as a preventive measure, once a week, you can apply a scrub on the skin of the lips to remove keratinized scales. You can make a scrub at home by mixing a regular cream with sugar, or you can buy a ready-made one. After the procedure, apply a moisturizer to the skin, but in no case a balm.

Biorevitalization of the lips

When there is no time to wait and lead a healthy lifestyle, Dr. Merekina suggests undergoing a moisturizing injectable lip procedure – biorevitalization. The patient does not receive changes in the volume and shape of the lips, but the condition and quality of the skin tissue improves markedly.

Humidifiers

Dry air in the room also has a negative effect on the condition of the skin of the lips: the skin is dehydrated, cracked, flaky. Beauticians advise using special humidifiers to partially help the skin retain moisture. It is worth noting that oily skin experiences a lack of moisture in the room less than dry and combination, but this is only a matter of time.

Dyson Pure Humidify+Cool

Tags

• Skin Care

Sign of Various Diseases: White Lips

• General Information
• Why white lips
• White lips in adults and children: diagnosis and treatment

General Information

Anatomically, the human lips are the musculocutaneous folds that surround the oral fissure. They consist of a circular muscle, skin and mucous membrane. The upper and lower lips are connected by adhesions (commissures) at the corners of the mouth.

The lips are under the constant influence of external and internal factors and act as a platform for the manifestation of various diseases. An indicator of pathological changes in the body is, in particular, a symptom that is simply called “white lips”.

Winkli nutrition – consult a doctor

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In the normal state, the lips stretch without pain, have a pink or light red color, and a smooth surface. White lips in a child or adult are a leading sign of various diseases, to which dryness, swelling, soreness, and cracking can be added.

Lips are an important detail that affects the aesthetic perception of the face and performs many other functions. The lips are involved in the formation of facial expressions, they have receptors responsible for different types of sensitivity. In addition, they serve as an indicator of the state of human health.

When a pathological process occurs in the body, lips can change their size, become less elastic, lose sensitivity, become covered with rashes, turn white. To exclude these manifestations or prevent them will help to contact a dermatologist.

Why lips are white

Human lips, their surface, mucous membrane, surrounding skin very often display pathological changes that fall within the scope of several areas of medicine. As a rule, these are deviations that require dermatological, dental, therapeutic care, and the attention of infectious disease doctors.

Only a qualified specialist will be able to determine that in your case, white lips are an external sign of illness or a temporary cosmetic problem.

The main reasons why a person’s lips turn white are as follows.

1. Manifestation of anemia. Lips and their mucous membranes lose their natural color and turn white due to a decrease in hemoglobin in the blood. Such changes are observed mainly in iron deficiency or anemia caused by a lack of vitamin B12. A change in color is often accompanied by a deterioration in general well-being, headaches, burning and pain in the lips, their dryness.
2. Oral candidiasis. More common in young children. It develops when infected with yeast-like fungi of the genus Candida. First, white dotted spots appear on the lips, later they merge and form a continuous film.
3. Leukoplakia. Chronic disease, accompanied by increased keratinization of the epithelium and inflammation of the mucosa. The color of the lesions on the lips can be different, including whitish or white-gray.
4. Smoking. Under the influence of nicotine, foci of whitish hyperkeratosis may appear.
5. Influence of meteorological conditions (dry air, wind, low temperatures). In such situations, a short-term color change is observed, followed by the restoration of normal tonality when the provoking factor is eliminated.

If the natural color of the lips is not restored for several days, their soreness, rashes on the surface, worsening of the general condition are observed, you should consult a general practitioner or dermatologist. He will review your complaints, take a medical history and perform a physical examination. If there is a suspicion of a systemic or infectious disease, he will refer a specialist of the appropriate profile for a consultation.

White lips in an adult and a child: diagnosis and treatment

In cases where anamnesis and visual examination of the affected areas of the lips are not enough for an accurate diagnosis, laboratory and instrumental studies are prescribed.