Lip dermatitis is caused by excessive lip licking, which irritates and inflames the lips. Saliva contains digestive chemicals that can slowly digest the lips, causing pain and inflammation. Breaking the cycle of licking and using lip balm can treat the condition. Children are more prone to lip licking, and parents may need to remind them not to do so.
Lip dermatitis is a condition that occurs when the lips become too dry and people spend too much time licking them. Saliva eventually irritates the lips and causes inflammation. This condition tends to get worse in cold weather as it often causes the lips to feel drier than normal. Lip dermatitis is so closely associated with lip licking that it is sometimes called lip lollipop dermatitis. Children often experience this problem more frequently than adults because they may not be able to control their urge to wet their lips with their tongue.
Saliva contains digestive chemicals and this is the real main reason of lip dermatitis. When people lick their lips, the chemicals in an individual’s saliva can actually start digesting their lips very slowly. This generally causes pain and inflammation, eventually leading to more licking, which makes things worse.
Breaking the cycle is the key to treating this condition. If the person is able to stop licking their lips, everything will usually return to normal within a few weeks. Sometimes a big part of this process is getting rid of excess dryness on the lips. There are various commercial lip balm products that are sold specifically for this purpose and they usually work well enough to get the job done. In some cases, doctors may also prescribe a topical steroid to reduce inflammation.
Sometimes the most difficult aspect of treating lip dermatitis is the daunting challenge of controlling the urge to moisten the lips with saliva. Some people may have a lot of problems with this. Lip licking is a habitual thing for many people and it may not even be related to dryness. In fact, some people do it as a purely nervous habit. When this happens, some people get relief by using very foul-tasting lip balms. In addition to being a natural discouragement, this can serve as a reminder to the person each time they lick their lips, and may ultimately be able to reverse their mental conditioning.
When children suffer from lip dermatitis, parents will generally have to be responsible for any treatment. Lip balms are often the only answer in this situation because children will often forget not to lick their lips no matter how many times they are told. Many parents will still focus on reminding children every time they see them lick their lips, and that can potentially be helpful too, although it may take some time.
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