Dry Patch On Lip: 7 Causes, 4 Symptoms And 6 Remedies
Cracked, dry lips are a common phenomenon which leads to dry patch on lip. They are dry, peels off the skin and usually retain color. If your skin color on the lips was red, it would remain so. This characteristic is usually elaborate more on the lower lip than on the upper one.
This condition is very common almost to everyone. More than once in our lives, we have ever had dry lips, and this causes discomfort. This situation looks like something not worth talking of, but it’s a cause of discomfort and affects how we communicate .
Especially if it happened and you were to meet someone important or had an important business meeting.
Dry patch on lip is an issue affecting us all, and it is worth addressing it. What are the causes of a dry patch on lip? What are the symptoms of a dry patch on the upper lip? Are their cures or even prevention methods to this condition?
Causes of Dry patch on lip:
Image source: livestrong.com
It is so boring, and I hate it, it sucks! What causes it? I have gone to several hospitals, and I am told that I should drink more water, can water cure? Well, we shall discuss the remedies later. Let us first deal with the causes.
Dry patch on lip is caused mainly by environmental factors and behavioral factors. Below are few of the common causes of a dry patch on lip.
Dehydration:
Lips dry on the outer stretch. Usually, it is very evident on the lower lip than on the upper lip. The most common cause to this is the environmental factor. When our lips are subjected to harsh environments like hot weather and cold winds, they tend to give in and dry due to dehydration.
Our lips are supposed to retain a significant level of water content to keep our lips moist. This would make our lips tender and contributes to the efficiency of our speeches. These water contents can be lost to the environment through dehydration as a result of the wind and harsh sunburns.
Human behaviors:
When we talk about human behaviors as a cause for a dry patch on lip, we talk about the habit of continuously licking our lips.
We often find a habit in us where we tend to lick the lips. This habit of licking the lips softens the skin stretched on the lips. Under harsh sunburns and winds, our lips are prone to dryness. A licked lip is more prone to dry patches.
Eczema on the lip:
This is an infection on the human lip that causes an inflammation hence dryness on the lips. Eczema involves the formation of patches on parts of the lips. That means these dry patches can be formed only on the lower lips or on the upper lips. Known causative factors of eczema on the lip include; hereditary genes and environmental changes.
Other factors like allergic reactions to various substances can also ignite eczema. These substances include; foods, dental treatments, acne medications, toothpaste, pollen, lipsticks and even sunscreen.
Common symptoms of eczema over the lips are; redness on the lip, thickened lip skin, itchiness, scales, dryness on the skin part and cracks on the lips.
Cold sore:
Cold sores can also explain dry patches on the lips. Cold sores can appear on your lip and leaves about a dry upper lip. They cause inflammation on the lip that dries out after a few days and leaves a dry patch on lip.
Injuries:
There are conditions whereby we may incur physical injuries on the parts of the lips. Inserting sharp objects into our mouths can lead to lip injuries. When these physical injuries are healing, they tend to dry in their process of healing. These leaves a dry patch on the upper lip.
This condition usually heals on their own.
Boils:
When we have boils on the skin around the lips, they get inflamed and causes a swelling right to the lips. These would cause the lips to peel off and leaves spots of a dry patch on lip.
Other causes of dry lips are; salicylic acid, some medications and citrus acids.
Smoking:
Smoking dehydrates the skin stretch on the lip as it involves breathing in of dry smoke. This smoke absorbs the moisture contents on the skin leaving behind a dry patch on lip.
Symptoms of Dry patch on lip:
This condition of a dry patch on lip has several characteristics;
- Kawasaki disease
- Angular cheilitis
- Pellagra
- Dehydration
Kawasaki disease:
What is Kawasaki disease? This is a condition in the blood vessels that causes the vessels to be inflamed. This infection causes inflammation in almost all blood vessels that can end up into blood vessels in the heart hence heart-related problems.
Dry patch on the upper lip is amongst symptoms of Kawasaki disease.
Angular cheilitis:
This is a skin condition that causes inflammation in one corner of the mouth. The disease is associated with cracks on either corner of the mouth. The disease is called angular since it causes inflammation and also cracks in one corner of the mouth where the two lips make an angle.
The disease has one of its symptom being a dry patch on lip. Other symptoms of this disease include; pain, swelling on the lip, and even bleeding.
The main cause of this condition is accumulating saliva. They accumulate on the corner of your mouth and leaves a dry spot on the lip that easily cracks. These cracks would often cause you to be licking the sore left behind creating breeding grounds for the fungus that would cause swelling of the lip.
Pellagra:
Pellagra is deficiency disease often caused by lack of vitamin B-3 in the body. This condition should be treated as the body’s immune can’t fight the disease.
Dermatitis and dementia are symptoms of pellagra. These may cause replicate symptoms on the lips.
Provision of vitamin B-3 to the body orally can help cure pellagra.
Remedies for Dry patch on lip:
This lip condition, however, has remedies. Its remedies include both home treatment and medications. The cure to a dry patch on lip depends widely on the cause.
Most of the dry patch on lip disappears after a day or two without any treatment.
Cucumbers:
Cucumber is a spice of high nutritional content. One major important aspect of cucumber is the fact that is highly hydrated. Cutting a cucumber into slices would make the cucumber easily let go of its water.
Taking a slice of cucumber and letting it water ooze off to the skin would help rehydrate your lips.
Aloe Vera:
Aloe Vera gel has its property of healing of cracks and relieving pain in wounds. Applying the same gel over to cracked lip skin would help ease off the pain and heal the crack. This should be done more than once in a day, and in no time the wounds shall have disappeared.
Use of scarf:
For wind-related causes of a dry patch on lip, a scarf is used. A scarf is a small piece of cloth used to cover the areas of the face around the neck. It acts as a windbreaker and retains the moisture on the lip skin.
The act sacrificially blocks the wind from reaching to the lips.
Natural balms:
Natural balms like coconut oils are an excellent remedy to dry patch on lip. They help retain moisture on the part of the skin.
They maintain and condition your lips.
Warm water:
Using warm water can perhaps help to cure a dry patch on the upper lip. warm water. Soak a soft cloth in it and squeeze out the excess but not to dryness. Hold the moist cloth on the lip to allow it to moisturize your lip.
Using cold water, cool off your lip with it.
Do this repeatedly until the dry patch on the upper lip, and the lower softens.
Taking water:
One leading cause of dry patch on lip is dehydration. Taking too much water would help rehydrate a dry patch on the upper lip and moisten it.
It is the easiest known cure to dry patch on lip.
Other known remedies to a dry patch on lip include strict diets. Increasing intakes of specific nutrients can cure most of the causes of the dry upper lip into the body such that it can help heal the lip wounds and camouflages the patch leaving a moisturized lip. These nutrients help in the conditioning and maintenance of the skin, especially around the lip.
These nutrients include;
- Vitamin A – heals skin wounds and repairs worn skin.
- Vitamin E – These nutrients generally help in maintaining skin tenderness and slows the aging of the skin.
- Vitamin c – These nutrients help maintain and repair skin tissues.
‘Stop smoking’ is perhaps the best remedy to habitual smokers who are suffering from dry patches on the lips. However, reducing the frequency at which we smoke and using skin moisturizers can help reinstate a dry patch on the upper lip.
