Synonyms in a broader sense
cracked lips, chapped lips, sunburn on the lips
Definition
Dry lips are a symptom of dry and possibly cracked skin consistency in the lip area due to various causes.
Causes
Dry lips can be caused by many different things and depend on the individual person. For healthy lips, the mouth-throat area must be sufficiently moistened with saliva. The most common cause of dry lips is insufficient daily fluid intake.
If a person’s fluid content is too low, this also affects the saliva, which can still be produced, but whose viscosity (toughness) increases and is therefore no longer as fluid, resulting in dry lips. Stressful situations also reduce saliva production. In a stressful situation, the sympathetic nervous system is activated to a greater extent and less so the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for saliva production, among other things.
In stressful situations, the body does not expect to eat and therefore slows down saliva production. If a person is under increased stress and tension, this can manifest itself in dry lips. A more rare cause is a vitamin deficiency.
Above all, a lack of vitamin B2 (e.g. due to a pronounced alcohol consumption) and an iron deficiency, which occurs more frequently in women due to menstruation, can lead to dry lips. The lips are much more sensitive to extreme temperatures than the rest of the skin. Very cold temperatures in particular can cause the lips to dry out.
Also too high temperatures or too fast changes between heat and cold can affect the lips. Humidity also plays a role and often leads to dry lips in the winter months, as the dry heating air damages the lips and removes fluid. Also lip care products, which are actually supposed to have the opposite effect, can cause the lips to dry out if used too often, as the body demands more and more of the applied product through frequent use.
This is known as a habituation effect, the cause of which has not yet been fully clarified. The lips can also dry out by constantly moistening them with the tongue, since the lips are then additionally dehydrated by the environment. Dry lips often occur as a side effect of chemotherapy. The goal of chemotherapy is to kill rapidly dividing cells so that the tumor cells are eliminated. However, since not only tumor cells divide quickly in our body, but also, for example, our cells of the oral cavity and lips, this leads to the strong side effects of chemotherapy, which in the case of lips can lead to dry lips.
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