Chapped lips: Causes and treatments - Mayo Clinic Press (2025)

Chapped, dry lips can show up after your mouth is exposed to dry winter air or burning summer sun — or seemingly out of the blue. Fortunately, there are simple, effective measures that can provide balm to your lips.

But sometimes, what looks like a simple case of chapped lips is actually more concerning. Learn more about chapped lips and their look-alikes.

Which lip balm works for chapped lips?

The simplest solution to dry, irritated or cracked lips is to use a lip balm. However, what’s in that product makes a big difference. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) lists these ingredients to try and those to avoid when your lips are chapped:

Try these ingredients:

  • Castor seed oil
  • Ceramides
  • Dimethicone
  • Hemp seed oil
  • Mineral oil
  • Petrolatum
  • Shea butter
  • White petroleum jelly.

Choose hypoallergenic choices without scents.

Avoid these ingredients:

  • Camphor
  • Eucalyptus
  • Flavors
  • Fragrance
  • Lanolin
  • Menthol
  • Octinoxate
  • Oxybenzone
  • Phenol
  • Propyl gallate
  • Salicylic acid.

If your lips tingle or burn when using a lip product, it means your lips are being irritated.

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Use your lip product on chapped lips as needed to control symptoms of burning and dryness. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) may be especially helpful.

It’s also important to avoid sun damage by using a lip product with a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 30. The AAD suggests using a product with titanium dioxide, zinc oxide or both and reapplying every two hours when outside.

Lip products also can be used to protect against windburn. Mayo Clinic experts recommend applying a balm or petroleum jelly to the lips before going out in windy conditions.

What else helps chapped lips?

Beyond lip balms, there are a few other measures that may help:

  • Wear a wide-brimmed hat to help keep your face and lips out of the sun.
  • Hydration also is important. Be sure to drink a sufficient amount of water. You may want to increase the humidity in your home by using a humidifier.
  • Try not to lick your lips, as this can dry them out more. If your lips feel parched and uncomfortable, reach for your lip product.

What else causes dry lips?

There are a few conditions that appear much like chapped lips.

Contact dermatitis

Using a lip, skin or beauty product that you’re allergic to or that irritates your skin could result in red, scaly, itchy, tender or swollen lips. This is contact dermatitis. If you suspect a cosmetic culprit, stop using it and see if the irritation gets better. Your healthcare team may suggest a patch test to find out what’s causing your reaction. In this test, potential allergens are put on patches that are stuck to your skin for several days. The team then notes skin changes under the patches.

To clear up contact dermatitis, it may help to use topical medication such as hydrocortisone or tacrolimus (Protopic) ointment on your lips. But consult your care team first.

Actinic cheilitis

With actinic cheilitis, your lip — usually an area on the lower lip — may be consistently dry and feel like sandpaper. It may look swollen and red. There may be one or more scaly whitish patches or sores. The edge of your lip may seem blurred with your skin. Your lip may itch or be painful.

Actinic cheilitis is caused by long- term exposure to UV radiation, such as from the sun. It’s more likely to occur in people with pale skin, men and those who work outside, such as farmers and construction workers. Eventually, actinic cheilitis can turn into squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.

Your care team may be able to diagnose actinic cheilitis through an examination of your lip and a review of your health history. But a biopsy also may be needed.

Depending on factors such as the size and location of the actinic cheilitis, your healthcare team may suggest freezing the area with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy), applying topical anti- cancer medications such as fluorouracil (Carac, Tolak, others) or imiquimod (Zyclara), or using light (photodynamic) therapy. In photodynamic therapy, a light-sensitive drug — known as a photosensitizer — is placed on the affected tissue. The area is then exposed to a special light that activates the photosensitizer to kill the tissue.

If the condition is severe, ablation with a laser can remove the top layer of the lip. Finally, a dermatologic or head and neck surgeon can remove the problematic lip skin and replace it with tissue from the back of the lip. This procedure is known as a “lip shave” or vermilionectomy.

Chapped lips: Causes and treatments - Mayo Clinic Press (1)

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Chapped lips: Causes and treatments - Mayo Clinic Press (2025)
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