The skin of the lips is particularly at risk of drying out because, unlike the rest of the skin on the body, it has no sweat and sebaceous glands that can form a protective film rich in fat. This protective film normally keeps the skin supple and protects it from pathogens. Since this protective film is missing on the lips, the lips dry out faster. Brittle or dry lips can become chapped, bleed and thus form an entry point for bacteria and viruses.
Causes
The causes of chapped lips are manifold. The most common cause is insufficient fluid intake over a long period of time. If the recommended drinking quantity of 2-3 liters is permanently undershot, the total fluid content in the human body is reduced.
This leads to changes in the metabolic processes in the body. These changes also affect the production of saliva, which is reduced during periods of low fluid intake. As a result, the saliva can no longer moisten the lips sufficiently and they become brittle and cracked.
A rarer cause of chapped lips is a lack of vitamin B2 (caused by excessive alcohol consumption) and iron deficiency. Another common factor that can lead to chapped lips is the climate. Especially cold, dry air causes the lips to dry out quickly if they are not sufficiently protected.
Of course, excessive exposure to the sun can also dry out the lips and even lead to painful sunburn. Brittle lips can also be caused by psychological factors, which reduce the production of saliva and the lips are no longer sufficiently moisturized. Especially in stressful situations, under tension before exams and under private and professional stress, the saliva production is reduced.
Dry lips are also often caused by infections, such as the herpes virus. The lip herpes forms small blisters, which are often very painful. Bacteria and fungal infections are rarely responsible for chapped lips.
Because the lips are put under a lot of strain, the healing process can be slower than in other areas and the wounds can reopen several times. If the wounds heal badly or not at all, it is possible that the patient suffers from a wound healing disorder. These wound-healing disorders occur, for example, in the context of diabetes mellitus and are sometimes accompanied by chapped lips.
Even lip care products that must be used several times a day according to the manufacturer’s recommendations can lead to dry lips through habituation. This habituation occurs when the care products have been used over a longer period of time and makes more frequent use of the product necessary. If you stop using these cosmetics you will get chapped lips.
The cause of this mechanism is not yet fully understood. A similar effect occurs if the lips are constantly moistened with the tongue and saliva. Through this behavior, the lips get even more moisture and dry out.
Chemotherapy can also be the cause of chapped lips. The active principle of chemotherapy is to stop rapidly dividing cells in their growth and thus inhibit tumor growth. However, since the body also contains fast-dividing cells that are not cancer cells, there are pronounced side effects.
These endogenous, fast-dividing cells also include the cells in the mouth and lips. This is why inflammation in the mouth area and brittle lips occur after chemotherapy. Similar processes can also be observed after irradiation, depending on how close the lips are to the irradiation field.
