Page 28 - Seniors Today - June 2021 Issue

Health

A Moment

on the Lips

What causes dry lips, and how can you treat them? And does lip balm
actually help?

An increasingly common complaint, as Soft but resilient
more of us work in an air-conditioned
atmosphere and also have air-conditioning
in our homes, is the problem of dry and
chapped lips. Dry lips are usually an
affliction that arrives along with the
cold and dry air of winter, but now it’s
practically year-round for many of us.
People have been trying to figure out how
to fix dry lips for centuries. Using beeswax,
olive oil and other natural ingredients have
been reported as early as Cleopatra’s time, Our lips are constantly exposed to the
around 40 BC. elements, such as sunlight, wind, dry air,
In 1833, there were even reports of human and cold weather. They have to withstand
ear wax being recommended as a successful our daily lifestyle, including contact with
remedy for dry, cracked lips. Not long food, cosmetics, biting, picking, rubbing
after, the first commercial lip balms hit the against clothes, kissing and more.
market. So, although they look soft and fleshy, our
So what causes dry lips, and which lip lips need to be resilient and tough.
balms actually help? The key is to avoid lip Lips sit at the junction where our outside
balms that contain certain additives which facial skin transitions into the tissue layers
might worsen the problem. lining the mouth. As such, the lips are

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