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Why won’t my chapped lips heal?

Usually something keeps re-injuring them: licking, a balm with flavour, menthol or fragrance, a retinoid, or sun. Use a plain ointment and stop licking; lips still cracked or scaly after weeks need a clinician.

By Patrick and Michelle6 min read
Article in one pictureFind the thing that keeps re-injuring them
  1. The re-injuryLicking, menthol or flavour, sun, a retinoid
  2. A plain ointmentPetrolatum, often, and thick at bedtime
  3. Still scaly after weeksCorners, sores or a scaly lower lip need a look
Licking, a tingling balm, sun or a retinoid restarts the cycle; a plain ointment lets it end.
On this pageWhy lips dry out so easily4

Quick answer

The bottom line

Lips have no oil glands and a very thin surface, so they dry out faster than any other skin and they only heal if you stop the thing that keeps injuring them. The usual culprits are licking, which strips them as the saliva evaporates; balms with menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, flavour or fragrance, which tingle, irritate and keep the cycle going; sun; wind; breathing through the mouth at night; and drying medications, above all retinoids. Dermatology guidance is to switch to a plain, fragrance-free ointment with petrolatum, apply it often including before bed, wear a lip sunscreen outdoors and stop licking. Cracks at the corners of the mouth are usually a yeast or bacterial problem, not dryness, and lips that stay scaly, rough or white-patched for weeks, especially the lower lip in someone who has had a lot of sun, need to be examined.

At a glance

Three things worth remembering

  1. Lips have no oil glands and a thin surface; they heal only when the repeated injury stops, and licking is the most common one.[1][2]
  2. Balms with menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, flavour or fragrance keep the cycle going; a plain petrolatum ointment, applied often and at bedtime, with sun protection outdoors, is what dermatology guidance recommends.[1][5]
  3. Cracked corners are usually infection, not dryness, and a lower lip that stays scaly or white-patched for weeks after sun needs examining.[3][4]

Section 01

Why lips dry out so easily

The skin of the lips is thinner than facial skin, has no oil glands to coat it and no pigment to shield it, so it loses water fast and burns easily. Licking feels like relief but makes it worse: saliva evaporates and takes moisture with it, and its enzymes irritate the surface, so the lips feel drier within minutes and you lick again. Dermatology guidance puts breaking that loop first.[1][2]

Cold dry air, wind, sun, a cold with mouth breathing, dehydration and holding metal or a pen against the lips all add up. Most chapped lips heal in a week once the cause is removed and a barrier is kept on them; lips that do not are being re-injured by something you have not spotted yet.[1]

Section 02

The balm may be the problem

Many lip balms contain things that tingle or smell nice and irritate thin skin: menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, peppermint, cinnamon, citrus flavours, fragrance, salicylic acid and some sunscreen filters. Dermatology guidance lists these as ingredients to avoid on chapped lips, and reviews of lip inflammation report contact allergy to flavourings and fragrance as a recurring cause of lips that never settle. If your lips need the balm every hour, the balm may be why.[1][3]

Choose instead a plain ointment built on petrolatum, mineral oil, ceramides, shea butter or dimethicone, fragrance-free and flavour-free, and apply it generously several times a day and thickly at bedtime. Outdoors, add a lip product with sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher, since regulatory guidance on sun protection includes the lips and the lower lip takes the most sun.[1][5]

Section 03

Other causes to check

Retinoids are the commonest medication cause: a retinol or tretinoin applied near the mouth, and above all oral isotretinoin, dry the lips relentlessly, and the fix is a heavier ointment and keeping the topical away from the lip line rather than stopping treatment. Some blood pressure and chemotherapy drugs do the same. A toothpaste or mouthwash with strong flavour or foaming agent can inflame the lips and the skin around them.[2][3]

Cracks, redness and crusting at the corners of the mouth are usually angular cheilitis, where saliva pools in the fold and a yeast or bacterium takes hold; it needs an antifungal or antibiotic cream, not lip balm, and it is common with dentures, braces, and in people who lick or have low iron or B vitamins. A cold sore starts with tingling and blisters and is a virus with its own treatment.[3][2]

Section 04

When it is not chapping

A lower lip that stays dry, scaly, rough or blotchy for weeks or months in someone who has spent years in the sun may be actinic cheilitis, the lip version of the precancerous sun spots dermatology guidance describes: persistent scaling, a blurred border between lip and skin, and sometimes white patches or a sore that does not heal. It is common, often mistaken for chapping for years, and treatable once recognised, so it should be examined rather than balmed.[4][3]

See a clinician too for lips that are swollen, blistered or peeling in sheets, for a sore that lasts more than two weeks, or for chapping that persists after a month of a plain ointment and no licking. Persistent lip inflammation has a long list of causes, and the right one is usually found by looking rather than by trying another balm.[3][1]

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