Chapped lips causes can range from the things you do to some things you did not know about. Find out what causes chapped lips to know why you get them during summer, pregnancy and cold sores. Also, deficiency of vitamins and herpes can cause red, swollen and really peeling or flaked lips.
- What causes chapped lips?
- Why do I get chapped lips during pregnancy?
- Why do lips chap in summer and winter?
- What causes lips to chap when I have cold sores?
- Are chapping lips a symptom of herpes and vitamin deficiency?
When lips chap, you can easily feel that some parts become dry and painful. Stretching them a little will cause some pain or even a little bleeding. There are symptoms that you should look out for when you suspect that you are suffering from chronic chapping of the lips. You will learn of the signs and symptoms below. Right now, find out chapped lips causes first.
Chapped Lips Causes. What Causes Chapped Lips?
Lips can suffer from different problems. Most of them come from lack of good lip care. As soon as your lips start to show signs of cracks and dryness, you will notice that they are starting to chap, however small the peels may be. Here are the chapped lips causes you should know of.
Dehydration or Lack of Moisture
Dry and cracking skin is always attributed to the fact that your body is lacking enough moisture. This is not different when it comes to the mouth. The outside of your mouth is also covered by a skin. If you do not take care of it, it ends up dry and badly chapped. Without enough moisture in the body, you are likely to find that the skin forms cracks and looks dull.
Here, the main cause is lack of moisture or dehydration. When you see your lips showing signs of lack dryness, it is a clear sign or symptom that your body needs to be hydrated from inside out. When this is the case:
- Drink enough water and fluids in general to hydrate your body and moisturize the lips.
- You can use moisturizing lip makeup products such as lipsticks, lip balms and moisturizing lip glosses.
- If you understand the cause of the dehydration, such as dry and windy weather, avoid it.
What Makes Lips Chap During Pregnancy
You may ask yourself, why do some expectant women get dry and chapping lips? A pregnant woman can wake up in the morning with dry and cracking lips. This is sometimes said to be one of the signs of pregnancy. However, it is simply a sign that your body requires more water or hydration, but it is not getting enough of it.
As the fetus grows in the womb, your body will require a lot of water since the blood volume has to increase as well. Without adequate intake of water and other fluids, a pregnant woman will end up with dry and peeling lips.
- If you are not used to seeing dry cracked lips outside pregnancy, it is important you start taking enough water. Take at least 64 ounces of water plus other fluids in a day to keep your body well hydrated.
- Chapped lips during pregnancy may also be caused by a condition called preeclampsia. It is said that women with this condition have higher risk of suffering from cracking and peeling lips when they are expectant.
- Seek medication or treatment for your chapping lips if you suspect the problem is unusual.
Causes of Chapped Lips in Summer
What causes chapped lips during summer? What are the reasons of dry and cracked lips when summer holidays come? Well, the answer to this is simple. Even if you have never had the problem of dry skin and lips, it will not be unusual to see the problem on your lips during this time of the year.
Chapped lips causes during summer are simply the dry atmosphere coupled with the summer heat. It causes faster evaporation of moisture from your lips.
- During summer heat, ensure that you drink enough water to hydrate your body.
- Seal your lips to prevent excessive loss of water to the environment. Apply Vaseline as a sealant.
- If your lips are already dry and chapped as caused by the summer effect, apply olive oil when going to bed. This will heal chapped lips fast.
- Always apply sunscreen (SPF) on your lips during summer. This will help in preventing cracked lips causes. It will also help you avoid dark lips. Sunburn can exacerbate peeling or flaking lips. Therefore it is important to prevent it when you go out in the sun.
Protect Your Lips in Summer with SPF
Chapped Lips or Herpes?
Is herpes one of the chapped lips causes? Do you have chapped lips or herpes? Well, one of the conditions characterized by the chapping of lips is herpes. People infected with Herpes simplex virus-1 are sometimes seen to have dry and chapped lips as one of the symptoms.
However, it does not add up that anyone with flaked and peeling lips has herpes simplex or oral herpes. Note that the virus can be contracted through kissing or contact with the virus. Herpes cold sores cause dry skin and reddening sores around the lips, and are contagious. It is very easy to contract the virus.
Chronic chapped lips, or severe chapped lips can be caused by herpes cold sores. This condition is sometimes seen as cheilitis simplex. Peeling skin is one of the symptoms. Cracking, fissuring and peeling of the skin are the common evidences of cheilitis simplex infection.
- Ensure you see a doctor if you suspect that you are suffering from herpes simplex virus causing sores on your lips.
- The chapped lips may also cause bumps and blisters on the corners of your lips, which can be painful if not treated fast.
Chapped Lips Vitamin Deficiency Cause
The lack of riboflavin vitamin, also known as Vitamin B-2 is commonly seen by the effect it causes on the lips. Chapped lips and vitamin deficiency are commonly tied together, with dry skin and even wrinkling of the skin. If you see your lips are forming lip lines and are prone to chapping even when you try to hydrate them, it is important to include the following vitamins and minerals in your diet.
- Vitamin B2
- Vitamin B-3
- Mitigate Vitamin B-6 deficiency
- Zinc mineral
- Vitamin A – retinoid
Cold Sores as a Cause
Cold sores can be part of really chapped lips causes. Flu may cause severe dehydration and cause your lips to dry up, chap and peel. An allergy that causes cold sores may also be a reason for the chapping and peeling of the lips. The following are also common conceptions about cracking and chapping of lips:
- Chapped lips are caused by hormones
- Underlying causes of cracking and flaked lips are an STD or sexually transmitted disease
- It is common to see the problem in summer than any other time of the year.
Other Causes of Chapped Lips
Swollen chapped lips may also be brought about by various reasons. As we have seen above, dryness is a primary reason why most people may suffer from the problem. Dr. OZ and other clinicians and dermatologists point out various reasons as cracked lips causes. Here are some of them you should know.
- Licking your lips often does not hydrate or moisturize them. Instead, it causes them to dry fast, chap and even crack.
- Red and chapped lips may be a sign of an infection on the lips. You have seen dark dry patches on the lips. These may be caused by abscesses and periodontal diseases.
- Toothpastes that contain guaiazulene are known to cause lips to chap and flake easily.
- Allergy to nickel.
- Bad chapstick causes chapped lips. Other lip makeups too may cause your lips to dry and peel. A common ingredient that dehydrates and makes your lips to dry and crack is phenyl salicylate, also called salol.
- If you have a habit of breathing through the mouth, you are likely to suffer from drying and cracking lips since it blows away moisture and leaves your mouth dry. If you have this habit, consider using simple home remedies such as treating with oils and sealing with Vaseline.
- Genetic predisposition to chapped lips is also possible. In fact, studies have shown that people who suffer from Down’s syndrome are likely to develop the problem of lip peeling and cracking.
- If you are allergic to certain dyes especially red dyes commonly found in lipsticks, you may end up suffering from severe chapped lips.
- Hypothyroidism is another of the chapped lips causes, but is it less common.
- Windy weather during winter.
Signs and Symptoms of Chapped Lips
It is easy to identify dry and flaking lips. Actually, without feeling pain, one can easily tell from the appearance because you can distinguish between healthy and succulent lips and those that are chapped. The following are the common signs and symptoms of cheilitis.
Dry lips. The dryness can be felt easily to the feel of a finger or tongue. If the chapping and peeling is severe, you may notice some cracks forming on your lips. In extremely chapped lips causes, you may experience bleeding through the cracks, which may be accompanied with pain.
The skin on your lips may start peeling visibly. Before any cracks form, you will end up with lips caking and flaring.
Erythema is one of the symptoms, which is redness between your lips and the outer skin. Smiling and sometimes stretching of the lips may become painful due to the straining of the epithelium or skin of the lips.
Once you know of the chapped lips causes, you can go ahead and learn how to prevent them. Some of the preventive methods are simple and can be effected without really going for medication or seeing a doctor, as they are just changes on your habits.
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