Cold, dry weather, sun damage, and frequently licking your lips are just some of the reasons your lips might feel dry and chapped.
B vitamins
Chapped lips are a common symptom of deficiencies, especially in folate (vitamin B9), riboflavin (vitamin B2), and vitamins B6 and B12 ( 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ).
What Causes Chapped and Cracked Lips? Your lips don't have oil glands like the rest of your body, so they're more prone to dryness than other areas of your skin. Any of the following conditions can contribute to chapped lips. Dehydration – When you're dehydrated, your lips are more prone to dryness.
And even though they may be already dried, dead skin cells that you think are harmless to peel off, they can actually make your lip condition even worse. Bottom line: picking and peeling your lips will only damage your lips more and make your lips more chapped.
What does it look like? Solar cheilitis predominantly affects the lower lip because it tends to be more prominent. The homogenous pink color of the healthy lip (Figure A) is replaced with non-homogenous white/gray, pink, red, or brown areas and the normally sharp vermillion/skin border becomes less distinct (Figure B).
Vaseline is known as an occlusive, which means it can hold in moisture . If you use Vaseline on your lips before they're dry and chapped, you may be able to stave off dryness. However, petroleum jelly isn't all that effective at restoring moisture once it's been lost.
Also known as xerostomia, dry mouth in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes is common, but if you're experiencing it nearly every day, you shouldn't ignore it. In addition to your mouth feeling constantly dry, symptoms of xerostomia can also include: dry, rough-feeling tongue. dry, cracked lips.
Chapped lips is an early sign of low thyroid function. A more severe form of hypothyroidism is called HASHIMOTO'S DISEASE.
Health issues like low stomach acid, poor nutrition, and an unhealthy gut can lead to chapped lips. If you are dehydrated, the body will absorb water from the remaining body to hydrate its cells. This can cause constipation and dry skin and lips.
Vitamin B-3 Without enough vitamin B-3 or niacin, a person may experience dry, cracked lips or tongue and a red, swollen mouth. A deficiency of this vitamin can also lead to dermatitis. People can get niacin in their diet by eating beef, pork, halibut, tuna, poultry, whole grains, dairy, and green leafy vegetables.
Being under stress for a long period of time, with accompanying symptoms such as low mood and tiredness, can result in cracked lips. As well as this, a poor diet which is low in iron and B vitamins may lead to lips becoming dry and sore.
Iron deficiency can also cause the appearance of sore, red, flaky cracks at one or both of the sides of your mouth. This feels more extreme than when your lips are chapped due to cold weather.
Your chapped lips could be caused by something aside from dry weather. An allergic reaction, yeast infection, or something more serious can make your lips feel dry and uncomfortable. Actinic cheilitis is a precancerous condition that turns one or both lips dry and scaly.
A precancerous condition that can lead to squamous cell cancer of the lip is actinic cheilitis. Symptoms include: Scaly whitish patches on the lip. Dryness or peeling that won't heal.
Is dry mouth a symptom of diabetes? Dry mouth is a common symptom of high blood sugar in people with diabetes. Sometimes dry mouth is the first noticeable symptom of diabetes. If you have dry mouth and think you could have diabetes, talk to your healthcare provider.
High glucose levels can cause the symptom of dry mouth, although healthcare providers aren't quite sure why. Other oral symptoms of high blood sugar are: Thrush, an overgrowth of yeast.
If the severe dryness and cracking doesn't improve with self-care, you should see a dermatologist. Cheilitis is often to blame for severely chapped lips. This is a condition marked by cracked skin at the mouth corners and several cracks on your lips.
So, should you use chapstick or Vaseline? Both! Chapstick moisturizes dry lips, and Vaseline helps in sealing the moisture in and keeping the skin barrier intact. While you can get away with using just chapstick, there is no point in using Vaseline without applying chapstick first.
Use it as a lip balm
Keep your lips winter-safe by applying a coat of Vaseline on them overnight. Keeping it on overnight will seal in the moisture and soften and smoothen your lips.
Severely chapped lips may take longer to heal, but the average time is two to three weeks to recover completely. If you treat chapped lips as soon as you notice a problem, your lips will heal much faster and you can avoid potential complications like infection.
Lip cancer often looks like a mouth sore that won't heal. In people with light skin, this sore may appear reddish. In people with darker skin, it may appear dark brown or gray. Lip cancer can look different for everyone, so if you notice something strange, you should call your healthcare provider for an appointment.
Vitamin deficiency is the most common cause of cheilitis. The absence of vitamin B2 in the body slows down the metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates and decreases energy production. Thus, increasing the intake of B2 and eating foods like eggs, milk, and lean meat may help reverse the problem of cheilitis.