Your concern
Lips always chapped
Cheilitis: when they never heal, lip balm can be part of the problem.
Lips have a thinner barrier than the rest of the face and no sebaceous glands: they dehydrate quickly and repair slowly. Cold, wind, sun and mouth-breathing are enough to chap them. So far this is normal, and it passes.
It becomes a problem when it never passes. And in a significant proportion of these cases the cause is a cycle the patient builds without realising: licking the lips. Saliva evaporates, carrying water away and leaving digestive enzymes on the surface: the relief lasts seconds, the dryness that follows is worse than before, and it starts again. In children this produces a recognisable picture, with a red halo all around the mouth following exactly the reach of the tongue.
The second suspect is counter-intuitive: the product used to treat them. Lip balms and sticks often contain fragrances, flavours, filters or preservatives which on an already compromised barrier can cause contact dermatitis, sustaining the picture precisely while you try to resolve it. If lips get worse despite frequent application, stopping everything for a few days is the simplest diagnostic test there is.
Stop everything for a few days: it is the simplest test
This is the test you can do yourself, and it often gives the answer. If lips stay chapped despite a balm applied ten times a day, there are two possibilities: the product is not enough, or the product is part of the problem. Stopping any stick for a few days, using at most a plain, fragrance-free petrolatum, separates the two. In the same period it is worth observing yourself: how many times do you lick your lips without noticing? Together these explain most cases of cheilitis that «never heal».
How it shows
- Dry, peeling lips with painful fissures
- Persistence for weeks despite using balms
- A red halo around the mouth, within the tongue's reach
- Burning after applying certain products
- Winter worsening and worse in mouth-breathers
- Painful fissuring at the corners of the mouth
How we proceed
- 1Visit: appearance of the lips, extension beyond the border, corners of the mouth
- 2Review of products applied and their frequency
- 3Check for the habit of lip-licking, often unconscious
- 4Patch testing where sensitisation is suspected (Siena clinic)
- 5Therapy and a maintenance strategy
Available treatments
- Dermatology visit
- Review of products in use
- Patch testing if indicated
- Scheduled follow-up
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Frequently asked questions
The corners of my mouth always split: is that the same thing?+
It is a related picture but with its own causes, and it is worth distinguishing. Fissuring at the corners can depend on saliva pooling in that fold, on yeast or bacterial superinfection, on dentures that change how the mouth closes, or on nutritional deficiencies. Because the causes differ and are treated differently, this is one of the cases where a visit genuinely changes the outcome compared with self-treatment.
Do lips need sun protection?+
Yes, and it is almost always forgotten. The lower lip is one of the most exposed sites on the face and receives radiation directly: it is also a site where chronic sun damage can show itself over the years. A high-factor stick used in the mountains, at the seaside and generally on days of exposure is a simple measure worth making habitual.
A small scab on the lip that has not healed for months?+
It should be examined, without alarm but without delay. A single lesion, persisting for weeks or months on a site chronically exposed to the sun such as the lower lip, does not belong to simple chapping and deserves assessment for what it is. It is one of the few points on this page where waiting for the next season is not advisable.
Related reading
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