Chapped Lips

Cracked lips can be a serious problem, especially if you are a chronic lip biter or lip licker, as this may result in painful, bleeding and constantly dried out lips.

This article will discuss what cracked lips entail, and it will initially give you six sweet lip tips that will help you restore your lips back to their luscious potential.

What Are Cracked Lips?

Cracked lips are a result from being very dry, peeling and chapped. You may experience painful breakages on the surface of your lips or very dry skin around the outer edges; however, luckily this is often not caused by a serious condition that will put your health at risk, and it is quite reversible.

Six Sweet Lip Tips

Rather than chewing on your dried out peeling lips to clear away the dead skin, how about you try a couple of these lip enhancing tricks that will keep your lips luscious and non-chapped.

1. Stop Licking Your Lips

If you are constantly licking your lips the enzymes in your saliva that are meant for breaking down food, such as amylase and maltase, will eventually ware the lips thin skin down, and when exposed to the environment such as dry wind it will cause your lips to dry out; therefore, stop licking your lips, and you will be putting yourself one step in the right direction.

2. Use A Protective Lip Balm Or Gloss

It is important to use a SPF protective lip balm or gloss because your lips don’t contain any melanin, and like the rest of your skin they are quite susceptible to skin cancers when they are constantly soaking up the UV rays.

Lip-gloss or balm will also help you maintain moisture within your lips, and you can purchase medicated balms from you local pharmacy to help you if you have chapped lips.

3. Drink Your Water

If you haven’t heard this one before you are now! Your lips don’t contain all of the essential needs for remaining luscious that the rest of your skin has such as oil glands, sweat glands or pigments, and so unlike the rest of your body your lips need a bit of love and care.

One way of doing this is through simple hydration if you live in a dryer climate make sure to use a humidifier during the winter months, and drink a lot of water. Chapped lips are usually a result from not having enough fluids within your body, so by keeping dehydration at bay your lips can glisten more brightly

 4. Eat Right

The last thing that you probably think about while eating is how the food that you are putting into your mouth is going to benefit your lips, but it is true if you are eating right and getting enough essential vitamins and minerals you will be able to restore your lips back to full health; however, this suggestion does go hand in hand with drinking a lot of water because water is essential for the rehydration while the vitamins and minerals will help rebuild the skin cells, as well as rejuvenate its healthy glow.

Some nutrients will also act as antioxidants, which will reduce the effect of free radicals on your cells. Some vitamins that are essential to your diet for skin cell repair are Vitamin A, as well as Vitamin C that helps tissue to repair itself.

Then Vitamin E is another essential when it comes to fighting off free radicals, and it also helps to aid in keeping the skin smooth while fighting off fine lines and wrinkles.

5. Avoid Dry Heat

When your lips are lacking protection from the sun or dry heat they tend to shrivel up, and lose most of their moisture causing them to start peeling, chapping and cracking.

During the dry cold winter months while you have your heater pumping out dry heat you should invest in a humidifier to keep the air around you generally moist as this will help to enhance your, and prevent them from becoming chapped.

If you are heading out into the heat or into an area that has a dry wind you should use an SPF lip balm, or try to cover your face with a scarf to help protect your lips from heat exhaustion as well as the UV rays.

6. Be Aware

If you are aware of your skin sensitivity, your lip condition, your environment and the different practices that you can adopt in order to maintain healthy lips you will be able to take preventative measures in order to keep your lips looking healthy, moisturized and prevent any undesirable conditions.

If you are aware, and you have undergone all suggested preventative measures to maintain healthy lips yet they are still cracking I would recommend going to see you licensed health practitioner or a dermatologist as you may have an allergy.

Bottom Line

Cracked lips is often a self-induced chronic problem that may be caused by constant licking or chewing of the lips because they are dried out, and if you continue to lick your lips this will eventually lead to a chapped uncomfortable condition where chewing can lead to bleeding and sores.

The best way to prevent cracked and dried lips is by taking preventative measures to ensure that they are hydrated, which can be done through drinking water, eating healthy, using protective wear, avoiding hot/dry environments and being mentally aware of how to prepare your care if you are going to go out into an environment that will potentially affect your skin.

It is important to take care of your lips the same way you would take care of the rest of your skin because they lack any melanin, and they have a higher risk of getting different skin diseases. Many people don’t think that they need to wear protective lip balm, thus making lips one of the most neglected areas on the human body.