6 Habits That Cause Dry and Chapped Lips
Dry, chapped lips are a common condition. People of all ages and genders can experience chapped lips, especially if you have dry skin.
Dry lips can be caused by various factors and are classified as easy to treat with simple treatments. However, there are some people who may suffer from dry and chapped lips due to Cheilitis infection. Cheilitis is characterized by cracked skin around the corners of the lips.
Why do lips get dry?
The lips have a very thin and transparent layer of ‘skin’ called the stratum corneum. The reddish color of the lips comes from the concentration and closeness of the distance between the skin layer and the surface of the blood vessels underneath, which allows the color to be seen clearly.
The difference with facial skin, lips do not have oil glands. For this reason, lips dry out and crack more easily. Lack of moisture is the most common cause of dry and chapped lips, both in terms of the weather and lack of self-care.
Referring from Healthline.comThe signs and symptoms of chapped lips include: dryness, peeling, scaling, sores, cracks, and bleeding.
6 habits that make lips dry
1. Dehydration
Dehydration messes with the natural mineral balance in the body, causing damage not only to the organ systems in the body, but also to negatively impact your skin.
Dehydration causes symptoms such as dizziness, constipation, decreased urine production, dry mouth and lips, and headaches. In severe cases of dehydration, dehydration can cause low blood pressure, fever, shortness of breath, or a palpitations.
To avoid dehydration, always remember to drink 8-12 glasses of water every day. If you are an athlete or have diabetes, drink more fluids.
2. Lick your lips
One habit that you tend to do, continuously and without realizing it, when your lips feel dry is licking your lips. While licking your lips can provide temporary moisture, the saliva that travels from your mouth to your lips will eat away at the thin layer of skin on your lips and strip away natural moisture.
Saliva contains enzymes that function to help you digest food, not to provide extra moisture to your lips. The saliva quickly clears up upon contact with the outside air, making the lips dry and peeling again. This is what causes lip licking to become a recurring habit.
The solution, as much as possible stop the habit of licking your lips when you feel your lips begin to dry. You can apply lipbalm with a strange taste or contain drugs to help you start reducing this bad habit. Alternatively, you can apply aloe vera gel on your lips. Aloe vera contains healing properties that will improve the structure of dry lips, the bitter taste will keep you from licking your lips.
3. Biting the lip
The habit of biting your lips can be caused by feeling nervous and anxious, concentrating on certain things, or just fighting boredom.
Like licking your lips, lip biting can also threaten the health of your lips. When you bite your lip, your teeth will irritate your lips; making the lining torn and cracked, even bleeding.
3. Drink too much alcohol
Malnutrition due to alcohol is one of the causes of dry and chapped lips. Excessive alcohol consumption will interfere with the process of absorption of vitamins in the body, resulting in you unable to meet sufficient vitamin intake.
Deficiency of vitamins B2 and B6 can cause dry and chapped lips.
Alcohol can also cause dehydration. To work around this, drink one or two glasses of water when you wake up in the morning after you drink alcohol at night, and always keep your fluid intake sufficient throughout the day.
4. Salty or spicy foods
If you are a person who is prone to dry and chapped lips, you should start reducing your consumption of salty foods. The salt in your favorite salty foods can irritate the skin lining of your lips and cause inflammation. So it is with spicy food.
The solution, multiply fruits and vegetables that can restore the body’s pH balance.
5. Excessive sun exposure
Sun exposure is a major cause of dry and chapped lips, even when the weather is cloudy and cloudy.
Apply lipbalm that contains at least SPF15 whenever you are going to do outdoor activities. Choose a lipbalm that contains titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or avobenzone (butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane) as UVA protective properties.
The lipbalm itself helps moisturize the lips, while the sun protection properties contained in it will minimize the drying effect of the lips.
6. Take drugs
Some medications can increase your risk of chapped lips, such as:
- Vitamin A supplements
- Retinoids (Retin-A, Differin)
- Lithium – bipolar disorder medication
- Chemotherapy drugs
- The anti-acne drug isotretinoin, or Accutane
Tips for dealing with dry and chapped lips
The best thing you can do to treat and prevent dry lips from recurring is to regularly apply SPF lipbalm and keep you hydrated every day.
In addition, you can also do a lip scrub. Use a gentle lip scrub before applying lipbalm and lipstick. The scrub granules will remove dead and scaly skin cells, leaving a new and healthy layer of skin on the lips.
At bedtime, apply lipbalm. Avoid lip balms that contain menthol, camphor, peppermint, citrus extracts, or fragrances. These ingredients can exacerbate dry and chapped lips.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
