How to smooth dry and chapped lips?

The skin of the lips is delicate and prone to drying out. Under the influence of various external factors, it can become chapped, dry and even crack. What are effective ways to treat chapped lips? How to restore their softness and proper level of hydration? We suggest!

Chapped lips – causes

Since the skin on the lips is far more delicate than on the face or torso, it is also far more susceptible to external factors and to drying out. There are no sebaceous glands on the lip area, so the skin covering it is deprived of its natural protective lipid layer.

What causes dry and chapped lips?

• Atmospheric factors – both wind as well as strong sun and cold strongly affect the thin and delicate skin of the lips, usually the problem of its chapping and cracking intensifies in autumn and winter, when it is cold and windy.
• Heating and air conditioning – these factors affect the condition of the skin and mucous membranes in a not inconsiderable way. Heating promotes chapping of the lips, but air conditioning can have a similar effect.
• Dehydration – while in summer the natural need to drink water or other beverages is rather obvious, in winter it is also easy to become dehydrated. The cold weather and lower physical activity result in less thirst, which often results in not drinking the necessary amount of fluids during the day. Dehydration can manifest itself precisely by dry skin – including on the lips!
• A variety of medical conditions – primarily, redness of the lips, bacterial and viral infections. If the problem of chapped lips occurs frequently or is chronic, it will be necessary to make a thorough diagnosis and determine the root cause of the problem. Make an appointment with your family doctor, internist or dermatologist for a consultation.
• Medications taken – some oral agents, ointments and even specialized cosmetics can cause dryness of the skin on the lips. Diuretics, chemotherapeutics, retinoids and many other agents can have this effect.
• Bad habits – especially frequent licking, nibbling and biting of the lips promotes cracking and chapping.

As you can see, when it comes to dry lips, the causes can be varied. While some factors are easy to avoid, a good portion of them are beyond your control. If your lips are dry, chapped or cracked, take care of them so they can regain their proper moisture level, smoothness and nice appearance faster.

How to moisturize and smooth dry lips?

Dry and cracked lips can be treated with home remedies, properly selected cosmetics, as well as using professional beauty treatments.

What for chapped lips? Home remedies

Natural lip care is preventive, as well as soothing in the treatment of dry lips. To restore their smoothness and proper level of hydration, you can:

• Use a homemade lip scrub – use it only if your lips are not severely chapped or cracked, but you suffer from rather dry skin around the lips. You will make a gentle scrub with honey and very fine sugar. Optionally, you can add a few drops of any oil (for example, from avocado or pumpkin seeds) to the concoction.
• Lubricate your lips with aloe vera or coconut oil – aloe vera is an amazing plant to grow at home. When needed, you can tear off one of the aloe leaves and use its juicy pulp to rub on your skin. Aloe vera juice has strong moisturizing and soothing properties. Coconut oil can be bought from the store and used for culinary and cosmetic purposes. It also has strong lubricating and nourishing properties.

If your lips are severely chapped, home methods may not be enough. This does not mean that they are not worth using, but you need to consider additional cosmetic treatments. You can easily find a wide range of lip moisturizers on store shelves: balms, lipsticks, scrubs and many other products. You can also choose to perform any of the specialized treatments at a beauty salon.

Treatments for chapped lips

• Needle mesotherapy – can be extremely effective not only for the face or scalp, but also for dry lips. If the effect of the treatment is to improve the hydration of the skin of the lips and smooth them, mesotherapy will most likely use a product with hyaluronic acid in the formulation.
• Platelet-rich plasma treatment – an alternative to the use of hyaluronic acid may be platelet-rich plasma. It is a substance extracted from the patient’s blood and then applied by injection. The treatment helps to stimulate the skin’s natural regenerative processes. As a result of increased production of elastin and collagen, there is also a smoothing of the skin of the lips and improvement of their hydration.

If you don’t know which treatment to choose, schedule a dermatology consultation. The doctor will offer you a personalized treatment plan for chapped lips. If necessary, he will order additional tests, direct you to specialized treatments and indicate which cosmetics to use for daily care to avoid this problem in the future.