What to do when your lips are so chapped they hurt

What should you do now?

1. 1Wash your hands before applying balm or ointment. Do not share lip products.
2. 2Apply your ointment when your lips feel dry, including when you wake up. Reapply after eating and drinking.
3. 3Before going outside, apply a nonirritating lip balm with SPF 30 or higher. Reapply about every two hours outdoors, including in winter.
4. 4Apply ointment before bed. Run a bedroom humidifier if the air is dry, especially if you breathe through your mouth at night.

Which lip balm should you choose?

For very dry, cracked lips, choose a thick ointment: it seals in water longer than waxes or oils. Look for a product without fragrance and labelled hypoallergenic. Helpful ingredients include petrolatum, ceramides, dimethicone, mineral oil and shea butter. For outdoor protection, choose zinc oxide or titanium oxide with SPF 30 or higher.1

While your lips heal, avoid menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, fragrance, lanolin and salicylic acid in lip products. Cinnamon, citrus, mint and peppermint flavourings can also irritate chapped lips. Burning, tingling or stinging means a product is irritating your lips, not helping them heal. Stop that product rather than applying more.13

A balm or ointment is enough for basic home care, so your lips do not need their own product committee. A pharmacist can help you choose a treatment if your current balm is not helping.23

What makes sore lips worse?

Do not lick, bite or pick peeling skin. Saliva evaporates and leaves lips drier, while picking slows healing. Apply balm instead when you catch yourself licking. Keep your balm somewhere easy to reach, rather than giving it a permanent address at the bottom of a bag.123

Cover your lips with a scarf in cold weather and drink enough water to avoid dehydration. Citrus fruit, spicy food and salty food can sting severely chapped lips; avoid whichever foods trigger discomfort while you heal. Keep pens, jewellery and other objects away from your mouth.24

How long does healing take?

Regular balm use should ease discomfort while the skin heals. Recovery commonly takes two to three weeks, and severe chapping can take longer. Small cracks that bleed can be treated with a lip ointment, but frequent bleeding that continues despite home care needs medical attention.4

What if the corners of your mouth are cracked?

Painful corner cracks, especially when opening your mouth, can be angular cheilitis: inflammation at the mouth corners. Prolonged contact with saliva commonly causes it. Frequent thick ointment application can be enough for saliva irritation, but persistent cracking, oozing or crusting needs assessment because treatment depends on the cause, including infection.5

When should you see a doctor?

Get medical advice if your lips worsen, do not improve after two to three weeks, or develop sores that will not heal. Hot, painful, swollen lips need assessment without waiting for that healing period. A small fluid filled blister, often preceded by tingling, burning or itching, could be a cold sore rather than ordinary chapping.246

Persistent lip inflammation is not always a weather problem. Allergies, skin conditions, infection, nutritional deficiencies and medications can contribute. Tell your clinician about medicines you take, including isotretinoin or acitretin, and the lip products you use so treatment can address the cause.7