Cracked lips

The occurrence of chapped lips in various environmental influences, injuries and diseases is due to the special sensitivity of the lip skin, which is located at the transition between the facial skin and the oral mucosa. The skin of the lips does not contain sweat glands or sebaceous glands, so it lacks an important protective barrier, the so-called hydro-lipid film. This is responsible for the flexibility and protection against pathogens in the rest of the body skin.

In addition, the skin of the lips consists of only three to five cell layers. In comparison, facial skin has up to 16 cell layers and is therefore significantly more stable than delicate lip skin. These factors make the lips particularly susceptible to dryness and cracking. Due to the very high number of nerve endings in the lip, changes to the lip are often unpleasant to painful.

Causes

The causes of chapped lips are very diverse, since both environmental influences and diseases lead to the occurrence of these complaints. Mostly it is environmental factors or a combination of a pre-damage of the lips and an additional infection of the already damaged lips that lead to the appearance of chapped lips. Cracked lip skin caused purely by infection is comparatively rare.

Environmental influences that affect the lip skin include heat, cold, sunlight and diet. Possible illnesses that lead to chapped lips include viral infections such as the herpes simplex virus and also fungal infections. If the sensitive skin of the lips is exposed to the sun for too long, sunburn and thus a burn on the lips occurs, whereby the lower lip in particular is at risk due to its usually protruding position.

Since the skin of the lips is not capable of producing melanin, even brief exposure to the sun is sufficient to irritate the lips. Melanin is a dye produced by the body itself, which causes the skin to turn brown and provides the body’s own protection against damage from sunlight. Sunburn on the lips is initially characterized by a distinct redness.

If further damage occurs, the low protective barrier of the lip skin is destroyed and the lips dry out. As a result, the lips become brittle and quickly cracked. Depending on the degree of the burn, the lips are painful.

Also in the case of a burn caused by too hot food or hot drinks, the skin can be so damaged that it dries out and cracked lips appear. In both cases, cooling can improve the pain. In order to support the healing process of chapped lips, which are disturbed in their barrier function, greasy creams can be applied without perfume or other additives.