How to overcome peeling and excessive dryness of the skin of the lips. Dry lips: the reason. Lips become dry and flaky

Increased dry skin always brings discomfort and inconvenience to a person. If your lips are peeling, you can solve such skin problems for a short period of time with the help of hygienic lipstick, balm or gloss. But such cosmetics help overcome peeling lips only temporarily. It will not solve the reason why your lips peel. Therefore, if your lips peel and crack, it is necessary to find out the provoking factors of this phenomenon and eliminate them. At the same time, you can also use products for external treatment of this area to remove peeling and redness.

Why do lips peel?

There can be many reasons why lips peel and crack. There are several reasons why lips become dry and flaky:

Also, intense discomfort in this area can be caused by various organ diseases digestive system– peptic ulcer, pancreatitis, gastritis, intestinal dysbiosis. For organ diseases endocrine system, with fungal infections such a symptom is not uncommon. Herpes is also accompanied by such manifestations. If spots with a whitish coating appear, this is an alarming signal of disturbances in the functioning of the pancreas. It is recommended to consult a doctor and get tested.

After doctors make the correct diagnosis and determine the causes of unpleasant symptoms, competent treatment is prescribed using correctly selected means. You also need to take extra care of your skin. This will help to quickly cure the pathological process, exfoliate upper layer, which has already begun to peel off.

How to deal with the problem

When persistent flaking patches of skin appear, both basic care and treatment are important. How to get rid of peeling lips and remove increased dryness? The following measures will help with this problem. Applying masks at home. Effective recipes masks:

• sour cream. To make it, you will need fat sour cream - 1 tablespoon. Add a few drops to it lemon juice and a couple of drops of corn, olive or linseed oil. Mix all the ingredients and apply to the skin for half an hour, making sure to lubricate the exfoliated corners of the lips. After half an hour, wash off the sour cream with warm water;
• is effective honey mask for lips against peeling and cracks. With its help, they will quickly peel off and recover. Natural honey Apply to lips for half an hour. Such by simple means the problem can be cured;
• oil mask based on cocoa butter contains a large number of useful substances. This substance is used to lubricate the lips and the area of ​​the corners of the lips. Can be used several times a day. After the procedure, the skin is very well restored and moisturized.

The listed mask recipes are very simple, but at the same time effectively moisturize, exfoliate, and saturate the skin. useful components, vitamins and minerals.

Others effective means To combat the problem are oils: almond, grape seed oil, sea buckthorn and wheat oil. To enhance the effect of treatment, mix them with natural vitamins A or E. Lubricate the epidermis until completely absorbed. Among the abundance of creams and balms, the simplest baby cream is effective. This cream is applied before going outside, instead of hygienic lipstick. It nourishes the skin and eliminates unpleasant symptoms.

You can make your own homemade balm. It will help restore healthy lips. To prepare such a product, you need to take the following components in equal proportions: beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, olive or corn oil, cocoa powder. Melt the wax and cocoa butter in a water bath. Add the remaining substances and pour into a convenient container. Such natural cosmetic is very effective. This balm can be used by children before going outside to prevent dryness and cracking.

Use of pharmaceuticals

If pieces of the epithelium constantly peel off near the lips, on their surface, hurt, cause discomfort, if home remedies are not enough, you can use pharmaceutical products:

• calendula oil: has a healing and anti-inflammatory effect;
• cocoa butter: eliminates cracks, flaking, itching, dryness. It is included in the food category, therefore absolutely harmless;
• St. John's wort oil: softens, promotes regeneration;
• aloe juice: used to get rid of cracks.

Additionally, the doctor may prescribe a course of multivitamin complexes. Treatment is carried out depending on the diagnosis.

Preventive measures

To ensure the health of the delicate skin around your mouth, you need to take care of it using the following method. Every time before you go outside, be sure to use lipstick for protection, it is better if they are greasy. Make yourself some natural balms and care creams. By increasing the amount of nutrients in cosmetic products, your skin will be much healthier.

Be sure to exfoliate and scrub your lips once a week. For this, you can purchase ready-made peeling rolls that exfoliate the upper keratinized layer of the epidermis and stimulate the division of new cells. Or you can make your own peeling product using coffee grounds, ground apricot or grape seeds.

It is recommended to periodically carry out a light massage using a soft toothbrush. Additionally, massage is applied fatty oil. It is very important to include a large amount of vitamin products in your daily menu. If there is a lack of vitamins and minerals, take a course of vitamin therapy.

It is very important to drink as much clean drinking water as possible to restore water balance in organism. Ideally drink at least one and a half liters.

Rules of care

To ensure maximum protection of sponges from negative influence exogenous factors, it is important to properly care for this sensitive area. Be sure to exfoliate your lips once a week. You can use store-bought cosmetics, or you can prepare them yourself: to do this, take a handful of semolina, mix with oatmeal, and dilute with boiling water. It should be a thick paste. Gently massage your lips with it. You can do this not with your hands, but with a toothbrush. You can also make a scrub based on cosmetic clay, rice flour, heavy cream and granulated sugar. Take all components in equal quantities. Also massage gently.

To perform peeling, you will need a fine abrasive substance - semolina or crushed apricot kernels.

Make honey, curd and fruit masks as often as possible. It will be useful to lubricate with herbal decoctions (chamomile, calendula, nettle, St. John's wort). They will promote healing, restoration of epidermal cells, relieve inflammation, irritation, and redness.

Peeling of lips is a fairly common and unpleasant phenomenon. In medicine, it is called “cheilitis” and is the appearance of light and dry skin particles on the surface, as well as around the red border of the lips.

In some cases, this condition can progress and manifest itself with other symptoms: pain, burning, redness. Most often, you can get rid of it without much difficulty at home, but sometimes it is difficult to do without a medical examination and the help of doctors.

This unpleasant process can manifest itself as an independent condition or as a symptom of certain diseases. Peeling of the lips occurs in people regardless of gender, skin color or age according to a number of various reasons. It can become not only a cosmetic, but also a medical problem, as it often serves as a sign of trouble in the body.

Causes

A variety of factors can lead to the development of cheilitis. These most often include:

1. Exposure to external conditions (ultraviolet radiation, cold, wind, high humidity).
2. Allergic manifestations.
3. Diseases internal organs(immunodeficiencies, diabetes, fever, gastrointestinal diseases).
4. Eczema and psoriasis.
5. Lichen planus.
6. Lack of vitamins.
7. Herpetic infection.
8. Fungal infection.
9. Breathing through the mouth.
10. Constant licking of lips.
11. Traumatic injuries.
12. Chemical and thermal burns.
13. Dehydration.
14. Using expired or low-quality cosmetics.

As you can see, peeling lips can occur with many diseases, so often the appearance of this symptom should be a reason for a visit to the doctor. In some cases, it is impossible to determine the triggering factors without conducting a full health examination.

Symptoms

The manifestations of cheilitis are varied and often depend on the specific cause that caused it. In addition to peeling, this condition also manifests itself in other ways. clinical signs. These include:

• dry lips;
• redness;
• soreness and itching;
• deep cracks and jams;
• rash;
• swelling;
• the appearance of inflammatory crusts.

These symptoms can be combined with each other or appear separately, which serves as a diagnostic sign in identifying the causes of peeling. If they occur often enough, then this should alert you. It should be remembered that constant chapping or damage to the surface of the lips can become a predisposing factor for the development of cancer.

Diagnostics

If you have problems with your lips, consult a dentist, dermatologist, allergist or cosmetologist. To determine the source of the disease, it is important to consider the following factors:

1. Frequency of symptoms.
2. Communication with external influences (cold, wind, sun rays, cosmetics).
3. Manifestation of symptoms from other organs (thirst, chills, heat, nasal congestion, urticaria).
4. Degree of manifestations.

During the examination and interview of such patients, the doctor can often suspect the cause of peeling lips even without additional examination. However, even in this case, confirmation of the diagnosis is required. For this purpose, blood tests are carried out: general, biochemical, for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, and sugar. For allergies, special skin tests are performed to determine which substances cause an individual reaction.

For determining concomitant diseases The following instrumental methods are used: ultrasound diagnostics internal organs and lymph nodes, radiography, endoscopy, tomography. In addition to blood tests, laboratory diagnostics use skin scrapings and cultures of microorganisms from the damaged surface of the lips.

Treatment

Due to the variety of causes of peeling of the surface of the lips, before prescribing medications, it is necessary to accurately determine the source of the disease, since the success of all measures taken depends on this.

• To treat cheilitis caused by weather conditions, cosmetics are usually used: lip balms, moisturizing creams. In addition, you need to carefully monitor the habit of biting and licking your lips, due to which chapping occurs more often.
• If you have an allergy, you first need to identify the substance that causes it. Then antihistamine drugs (Suprastin, Tavegil, Claritin, Cetrin) are prescribed. Successful treatment of this disease primarily depends on limiting contact with allergens and subsequent desensitization (reducing sensitivity to allergy-provoking substances).
• If peeling lips are associated with insufficient intake of vitamins and microelements from food, it is necessary to adjust the daily diet. To restore health, multivitamin complexes or injections of necessary drugs (most often B vitamins) are prescribed. Sometimes vitamins A and E are applied to damaged areas.
• For diseases of internal organs, the choice of medications depends on the diagnosis, degree of the disease, individual characteristics. Some diseases, such as diabetes, require lifelong medication and a complete change in your usual diet. If the cause of peeling lips is internal diseases, then without appropriate treatment other, more significant symptoms will appear, which may even be life-threatening.
• For skin pathologies, ointments with glucocorticosteroids (Advantan, Hydrocortisone, Afloderm, Sinaflan) are often prescribed. These substances have a pronounced anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, and analgesic effect. They are prescribed for fungal diseases, eczema, psoriasis, and chronic inflammation.
• Viral diseases, such as herpes, require the administration of antiviral drugs internally (Acyclovir, Famvir, Valtrex, Anaferon) and externally (Zovirax, Panavir, Fenistil Pencivir). These substances suppress the development and spread of the virus within the body and enhance the immune response.
• For traumatic injuries to the skin of the lips, agents are used that improve tissue regeneration (Dexpanthenol, Actovegin, Solcoseryl, sea ​​buckthorn oil). They are prescribed in the form of creams or gels and are applied directly to the affected areas of the lip several times a day. They also have a good effect on various tissue burns.

You should know that when using any ointments or creams externally on areas of peeling, you should not tear off pieces of skin, as this will cause wounds on the lips. This can cause cracks or infection.

Particular attention should be paid to lip skin care. In the cold season, you need to use protective balms and lipsticks before going outside. In the summer, cosmetic products containing protection against ultraviolet rays are necessary.

During treatment, you need to pay attention to your diet, which should include: fresh vegetables and fruits, dairy products, nuts, greens.

To prevent peeling, you can use a gentle massage of your lips with your finger or a soft toothbrush, and quit the habit of licking or biting them.

Slanko Anna Yurievna

Many people are influenced various factors lips are peeling. For some, this goes away quickly after using the most ordinary hygienic lipstick. And for some, it ends with the formation of scabs, cracks and bleeding ulcers, disrupting the usual rhythm of life. It is impossible to eat, laugh, or kiss without pain. Therefore, you need to approach this problem with all responsibility and use everything available methods to eliminate it.

Causes

If your lips dry out and peel, the following reasons may be to blame:

• adverse weather conditions;
• , toothpaste, Food;
• reaction of thin and sensitive skin to chemical components of lipstick or gloss;
• dry indoor air;
• constant consumption of too hot, sour, salty or spicy foods;
• the habit of licking, biting, touching your lips with your hands or an incorrect bite, due to which the teeth involuntarily injure them (then the skin around the mouth will peel off constantly);
• long-term use of antidepressants or other powerful medications;
• smoking.

Peeling can be caused by various diseases:

• reduced immunity, deficiency of vitamins A, C, E, B2, B9 and B12, iron;
• dehydration;
• runny nose and diseases accompanied by high fever;
• prolonged depression;
• low hemoglobin level, anemia;
• problems with the gastrointestinal tract: dysbiosis, ulcers, gastritis, pancreatitis;
• thyroid diseases;
• fungal infections (the first sign is that the lips not only peel, but also itch);
• lack of sugar in the body;
• diabetes;
• renal failure;
• hormonal imbalance in women during pregnancy, menopause, and the postpartum period.

The skin often peels off after cosmetic procedures: tattooing or implantation of fillers. Certain diseases of the lips can also cause this unpleasant phenomenon:

• angulitis (peeling in the corners of the lips);
• (accompanied by rashes and severe itching);
• mycosis (the sequence of symptoms is as follows: white film - ulcers - scabs - peeling + all this is accompanied by severe itching);
• cheilitis (inflamed, red edges of the lips);
• (resembles a burn);
• Fordyce's disease (ulcers appear).

If your lips peel when exposed to various factors like the weather or cosmetics, it’s quite easy to deal with them: first we eliminate the root cause (we don’t go out into the cold without chapstick, don’t use expired products and fluoride-containing paste, etc.), and then we treat the damaged skin with wound-healing and softening ointments and masks. Everything is much more complicated if it is a symptom of a more serious disease. In this case, it is simply necessary to see a doctor and complete treatment.

Medical reference. If the patient’s lips begin to peel for no apparent reason (they were not chapped, bitten or injured, etc.), the doctor first of all suspects initial stage development of diabetes mellitus or kidney failure.

Additional symptoms

As a rule, peeling is accompanied by other, more unpleasant symptoms:

• crusts;
• cracks;
• itching;
• redness;
• pain during talking, eating, kissing;
• rashes;
• burning;
• excessive dryness;
• spread of inflammation.

Most often, dryness and slight redness appear first, then a thin but dense film forms, which bursts and begins to peel off. The process is different for everyone: for some, dry pieces of skin fall off, for others they are a little damp, stick and look very unaesthetic.

If no measures are taken at this stage, bleeding cracks and crusts with ulcers may then appear. The hyperemia of the entire area around the mouth increases. This can result in infection and spread of inflammation. The pain will gradually increase.

Lifehack. To reduce pain when eating and when your lips are peeling, lubricate them with honey half an hour before meals.

What to do

When peeling appears, everyone has the same question: what to do? If you realize it right away, the problem can be solved at home. If the situation is aggravated by cracks and infection, you cannot do without the help of a dermatologist. To make the treatment more effective, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the rules for caring for painful lips, which will speed up recovery:

1. Find out the reason. If she is sick, they need to be treated immediately.
2. Half an hour before going outside, apply moisturizing and protective medicinal cosmetics: balm or hygienic lipstick.
3. Take a vitamin complex.
4. The daily water requirement is 2 liters. Drink hot drinks through a straw. Limit the use of marinades, spices and seasonings. Include in your diet as many foods as possible rich in vitamins A, C, E, B2, B9, B12 and iron.
5. Give up for a while. If lips are flaky and peeling, abrasive particles can further injure already damaged skin.
6. During treatment, limit exposure to frost or heat. In winter, cover the lower part of your face with a scarf. In summer, wear a wide-brimmed hat and use lipstick with an SPF filter.
7. Do not use fluoride-containing pastes, low-quality cosmetics, or products with salicylic acid.
8. Make sure that the air in the room is as humidified as possible.
9. Get rid of the habit of tugging, biting, licking, touching your lips. Under no circumstances should you peel off the resulting crusts and pieces of skin: they should fall off on their own.
10. Contact an orthodontist to correct your malocclusion.

The more careful you take care of your lips during the period of peeling, the sooner they will return to normal.

Sad statistics. In 50% of cases, harmless peeling ends in infection and an inflammatory reaction. The reason is rough and untimely removal of exfoliating elements, crusts, and skin particles that should fall off on their own.

How to treat

Treatment is usually external. Medicinal ointments and solutions are used strictly as prescribed by the doctor. Folk remedies and medical cosmetics good only at the initial stage, before the appearance and bleeding of ulcers, or during the rehabilitation period.

Medications

• Homeopathy

Solutions, tinctures and ointments based on medicinal plants: Aconitum, Belladonna, Arsenicum album, Cinnabaris, Natrium carbonicum. They have a powerful moisturizing effect, promote tissue regeneration, heal cracks, block inflammatory reactions, and relieve pain.

• Anti-burn products

Ointments also speed up the healing process.

• Hydrocortisone ointment

Relieves the inflammatory process, relieves pain, eliminates itching and swelling, and softens peeling. Use no more than 2 times a week. Make sure that the ointment does not get on the oral mucosa. Contraindications: syphilis, age under 2 years, viruses, fungi, bacterial infections, ulcers, wounds, abrasions.

• Petrolatum

One of the best and most proven products that soften the skin if it is very flaky. Can be used as often as required. The only contraindication is individual intolerance.

• Vitamins

Alpha tocopherol acetate and retinol acetate (oil, ampoules, capsules), in capsules, riboflavin mononucleotide, ascorbic and folic acids, cyanocobalamin (in ampoules). Lubricate your lips with vitamin liquids (the capsules are opened and the oil is squeezed out) three times a day.

I have an opinion. For some time now, there have been ongoing debates on the Internet about whether it is possible to smear your lips with Vaseline. Opponents claim that the paraffin contained in it dries out the skin when creating a protective film. However, both wax and ointment are included in almost all cosmetic products for the care of this delicate part of the face.

Cosmetics

• Baby cream

Apply twice a day - half an hour before going outside and before bed.

• Balms

Mini Green Apple Lip Balm with extract green apple from the South Korean brand Tony Moly.

Moisturizing balm Egg Balm with fruit extracts from the Russian concern Divage.

Soothing multi-regenerating balm for children and adults Cicaplast Baume B5 from the French company La Roche Posay.

• Hygienic lipsticks

Chocolate is a softening hygienic lipstick with grated cocoa from the Russian concern Spivak.

Moisturizing hyaluronic lipstick, as well as Aevit from Librederm.

Intensive protection from the German company Nivea.

Folk remedies

Rules for using homemade masks for lips that are peeling:

1. Wash with warm water.
2. Blot your mouth with a paper napkin.
3. Gently apply the mask with your fingertips (around the mouth too), making sure that it does not flow and does not get on the mucous membrane.
4. Action time is from 15 minutes to half an hour.
5. Rinse off with warm water.
6. Lubricate with medicinal, moisturizing serum or hygienic lipstick.

• Sour cream mask

Mix 15 g of sour cream, 5 ml of warm extra virgin olive oil, 5 drops of lemon juice.

• Honey mask

Melt a small amount of fresh, uncandied honey steam bath. Apply to pure form to the mouth area. The effect of the mask is not limited. You can wear it at home all the time until your skin stops peeling.

• Oil mask

Heat 20 ml of any base oil(olive, castor, cocoa, from apricot kernels). Mix with 5 g beeswax. Melt the mass. Add 5 g of Vaseline and 20 ml of chamomile decoction.

• Vitamin mask

Mix 50 ml of warm oil (wheat germ, sea buckthorn, grape seed, almond oil are suitable) and the contents of 2-3 capsules of oil vitamins A and E (can be replaced with Aevit).

• Apple mask

Mix equal amounts of applesauce and melted butter.

• Chocolate balm

Melt 5 g of beeswax, mix it with warm oils: shea, almond (10 ml each) - add 10 g of cocoa powder. Keep in a water bath for 10 minutes. Cool until completely hardened. Store in the refrigerator for up to six months. Can be used to soften peeling in children.

• Softening balm

Mix 10 ml of melted beeswax and butter.

• Protective balm

Melt a tablespoon of lard and mix with 30 ml of liquid, warm honey. Let it thicken.

• Wound healing oils

If the skin not only peels off, but also cracks until it bleeds, lubricate the wound surface every 3 hours with either sea buckthorn oil or rosehip oil.

• Therapeutic rubbing

Lubricate with aloe juice 2-3 times a day.

• Tea compress

Apply the finished green tea bag as often as possible.

Visit a dermatologist so that the treatment is carried out under his supervision. For the first 2-3 days, you can use more powerful medicinal ointments, then oils and homemade masks until painful symptoms disappear. 2 weeks after such an intensive therapeutic course cannot be used decorative cosmetics- only medicinal: balms and hygienic lipsticks.

Grandma's recipe. Whisk the egg yolk and apply it to your flaky lips. As the mask dries, reapply it again and again at least 5 times. The next day the situation will improve significantly.

Prevention

To keep your lips from peeling, you need to properly care for their soft and delicate skin at any time of the year. Do not forget that it is devoid of fat and here the blood vessels are located dangerously close to the surface. So only you can provide her with protection. Compliance with several preventive measures will not require much time and expense, but from discomfort will save you in the future. What will you need:

1. Visit your dentist regularly to rule out oral diseases that could cause flaking. Correct malocclusion in a timely manner.
2. Once a week, exfoliate and massage using a soft toothbrush dipped in olive oil. After which any moisturizing mask is applied for half an hour.
3. In the morning, wipe with an ice cube wrapped in 2 layers of gauze.
4. Use only natural and high-quality cosmetics.
5. Before going outside, apply balm or hygienic lipstick.
6. Eat right and drink enough water.
7. Do not bite or lick your lips (especially on the street).

You can’t approach peeling lips from the perspective of the Russian “maybe”: so, they say, it will pass. Only proper care and timely treatment will help you cope with this problem.

Throughout the year, many people face the problem of peeling lip skin, chapping, and the skin on the lips can peel off. If your lips peel off on the inside, there are certain reasons for this that need to be eliminated in order to restore smoothness and evenness to the epithelium. The epidermis around the mouth is very delicate and sensitive, it is thin, and there are no sebaceous glands. Therefore, it is very important to provide it with proper care, since this area is most affected negative factors(bad habit of licking the skin, unfavorable climatic conditions, hard water). And if the skin constantly peels off your lips, it is important to find out why this is happening.

Main causes of the problem

If your lips are peeling, it is important to find out the reasons for this condition. This will affect the further outcome of treatment. The key reasons for peeling skin on the mucous membrane of the upper or lower lip in children and adults are:

1. Avitaminosis. This reason most often affects the peeling of the mucous membrane in winter and spring.
2. Development of an allergic reaction.
3. Infectious processes in the oral cavity.
4. Unfavorable climatic conditions. If the mucous membrane in the oral cavity peels off, the cause of this problem may lie in the effects of wind and cold air on the sensitive epidermis in the lip area. This factor also includes increased water hardness, which negatively affects the condition of the mucous membrane in children and adults.
5. Diseases of internal organs. Such ailments include: diabetes mellitus, pathological processes in the oral cavity, herpes.
6. Bad habits - smoking, constant licking of lips, excessive coffee consumption.
7. Dehydration of the body. Sometimes the mucous membrane may suffer from a lack of fluid in the body.

Before carrying out any treatment, it is important to find out why the problem appeared, and then improve it. appearance lips through certain activities.

What to do

What to do if there is peeling or peeling of the mucous membrane on the inside of the lips? It is necessary to treat such a problem, depending on the cause that caused it. If the provoking factor is a deficiency of vitamin substances, it is recommended to undergo a course of treatment with multivitamin preparations (in particular, vitamin A and C play an important role). It is better for such medications to be prescribed by a doctor, since an excess of vitamin substances is no less harmful to the body than its deficiency.

If the cause is an allergy, it is important to identify the potential irritant. It could be a specific product cosmetic product, medicinal product. IN in this case Treatment consists of taking oral or topical antihistamines prescribed by a doctor. Additionally, it is very important to eliminate the allergen from the patient’s life.

In the presence of infectious processes, it is important to carry out timely and competent treatment prescribed by a specialist. If the problem arose under the influence of unfavorable climatic conditions, it is important to properly protect sensitive skin– before going outside, be sure to use a rich cream, hygienic lipstick or balm.

If there are diseases of internal organs, it is important to carry out their timely treatment. After which the unpleasant symptoms will go away on their own. If the mucous membrane suffers from dehydration, it is important to establish a drinking regime - drink at least one and a half liters of clean water during the day (this does not take into account liquid in teas, coffee or liquid dishes).

Features of care

To ensure the health and normal condition of the epithelium, you should follow simple rules:

• throughout the day, regularly moisturize the epidermis with hygienic lipstick or balm, preferably hypoallergenic;
• Carry out a scrubbing procedure at least once a week. For this you can use ready-made cosmetic compositions or make a scrub yourself at home;
• before going to bed, apply a thick ball to the skin rich cream, oil solution of vitamin A or E;
• you also need to reconsider your habits, stop smoking, constantly licking the epithelium, drink less coffee;
• saturate your diet with vitamins - herbs, vegetables and fruits.

If proper care is taken, many problems can be prevented. If you cannot cope with the problem on your own, it is better to visit a dermatologist or dentist, who can find out the cause and prescribe competent treatment in order to prevent the recurrence of the unpleasant symptom in the future.