When your lips feel crusty and chapped, it makes you uncomfortable. Crusty, cracked lips are a condition that affects many people, time in time. You most likely have experienced cracked lips at some point in life. Chapped lips can be acute meaning the condition occurs and resolves within just a few days. Sometimes, it can be chronic meaning it manifests for an extended period of time. Chapped lips could also indicate an underlying condition needing treatment. Cheilitis is a severe form of chapped, cracked lips in which the corners of an individual’s lips crack extensively.
Why Lips are Susceptible to Cracking
During cold season, the lips require hydration than usual because of the thin epidermis. The lips don’t have sebaceous glands that are responsible for producing the skin’s natural moisturizer known as the sebum. That means lip skin is susceptible to becoming dry and cracked if not cared for the right way. Like much of skin in an individual’s body, the lip skin tends to have a weak barrier to elements that cause dehydration, for example heating systems in homes and those that cause cold air like cooling systems in homes.
Again, apart from lack of biological equipment to withstand and endure cold, the circulation in lips doesn’t either help. Lips tend to have few blood vessels. During cold weather or exposure to cold conditions, blood is released to flow to vital areas, but the lips and other extremities like ears and nose may be less-supplied. That’s why they suffer in cold conditions or temperatures. Because of this, the lip skin tends to thicken and crack. The epidermal cracks occurring on lips can penetrate deep and be quite painful.
When the cold weather sets in, lips have their own share of suffering. They get dry, are left sore, and tend to be dehydrated.
Causes of Crusty Lips
Crusty lips may occur because of many things. When you subject yourself to cold, dry weather, your lips may become dry and crusty. During winter months, there are temperature changes that affect the health of skin. You may have crusty or chapped lips as symptoms of being dehydrated. Mild crustiness of lips may be caused by the following:
- Trauma
- Dermatitis
- Dry indoor heating
- Malnutrition
- Wind exposure
- Sun exposure
- Breathing through mouth
- Dentures and braces
- Habitually licking your lips
- Dehydration
Some medical conditions may also be associated with crusty lips and they include:
- Thyroid conditions
- Kawasaki disease – This is a rare disease usually seen among children and it occurs when there is inflammation of a person’s blood vessels
- Herpes virus- Being infected with herpes virus 1 could cause your lips to be chapped. Herpes virus 1 is highly contagious.
- Crohn’s disease – This is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the bowel. It results in dysfunction of a person’s bowel.
- Diabetes – When you have diabetes, you may be malnourished and dehydrated leading to chapped or cracked lips.
There are conditions and habits that may increase the likelihood of a person having crusty lips. For example people who smoke, take caffeine, or lack proper skincare may have cracked lips. Some habits may also cause the lips to change their pigmentation. Taking medications like retinoids, chemotherapy drugs, lithium, and vitamin A may also be associated with chapped lips.
Crusty Lips Symptoms
People who have crusty lips may also experience other symptoms depending on the causal factor. For example, the lips may feel dry with crusting skin. The lips may swell or be inflamed. Sometimes, the cracking skin results in bleeding. A condition known as cheilitis may cause cracking in lip corners along with symptoms like ulcers, lumpy texture, reddened or darkish pink skin, and white plaques forming on an individual’s skin.
Treating Cracked Lips
Whenever your lips begin to crack, you may want to know how to resolve the problem. Some simple measures and change in habits can help stop the cracking. In most cases, crusty lips tend to resolve without needing any treatment. There are also home remedies that may help you prevent cracking or crusting of lips.
- If medications have been causing the lips to crack, you can discontinue them. However, talk to your physician before you stop any medication. You shouldn’t just stop medication on your own. A doctor can actually recommend a different medication.
- Applying petroleum jelly helps to sooth and moisturize the lip skin thus preventing cracking or chapping
- You may also want to avoid lip licking
- Taking proper care of lips can also help with crusty lips
- Adjusting air humidity in your home may allow the air to be moist and prevent dryness of skin including the lips
- If an infection is causing the lips to chap or crack, you can have medications like antibiotics and antifungals in form of creams.
Dr. Sara Sibilla who is the research and development head at Gold Collagen says that if you want to banish lip crusting, you can think of moisturizing it. It may be the old way, but at least it works. Talk ingredients that are soothing to the sensitive lip skin. Whether it is a conditioner, oil, or balm, you want to look for the ones that have protective and nourishing properties. For example, you can have products with healing and moisturizing properties like shea butter, almond, and coconut oil in addition to vitamin E. Beeswax in a product that provides anti-inflammatory action that helps to provide a barrier to retain moisture in lip skin.
There are also chemicals that need to be avoided for example, those used in lipsticks, creams, and cleansers because they tend to cause chapping and dryness. You should watch out for ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid because they make lip skin to become crusty.
Exfoliation not only helps in removing dead skin cells on lips but also banishes flaky skin thus creating room for a new, smoother, healthier skin look. When scrubbing the lips, you should do it in a gentle way, using soft, circular motions to ensure you don’t hurt the skin. After exfoliation, you can apply a balm. When scrubbing, you can use natural scrub products made of honey, salt, sugar, and coconut oil mixed with warm water.
The sun’s rays can bring dryness to an individual’s lips. So the dose of sunlight you are getting through the office window or at home may be delivering some dryness to the lips. You may have cornflake-looking lips when you don’t exfoliate, moisturize, and protect the lip skin. Think of a moisturizer that is SPF-ready to help protect the lip skin.
Drinking more water, not smoking, having a balanced diet, and avoiding licking or biting the lips can help prevent crusty lips.
