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Lifestyle

26th Jan 2017

The surprising reason you may be suffering from chapped lips

A few changes to your habits may help

Megan Roantree

We’d never had thought of this.

If you suffer from chapped lips, you’ve probably tried everything to fix it.

You’ve probably tried products like Carmex and Chapstick, which soothe the lip but don’t fix the problem. Perhaps you’ve tried DIY hacks you’ve seen online using kitchen ingredients like sugar and honey. And maybe you’ve even tried just leaving your lips alone.

But if all else has failed perhaps it’s time to look at the products you use around your lips, as toothpaste may be the culprit.

Toothpaste is obviously made of strong ingredients to keep your teeth clean but it could be irritating your lips.

Toothpastes consist of flavourings, preservatives, colouring agents, abrasives, detergents, binding agents, humectants, antiseptics, antacids and fluoride salts so it’s likely one of these could be causing a reaction.

The condition is called cheilitis and females are more likely to suffer from it.

If this is what’s irritating your lips don’t worry, you won’t have to ditch toothpaste forever. The first step if to identify the ingredient that’s causing irritation and to then get a toothpaste without.

One Reddit user shared how changing up her toothpaste to Sensodyne Pronamel banished her lip problems for good.

”So chapped lips have been the bane of my existence since my childhood. Im talking dry, cracked, peeling lips constantly. I was a chronic chapstick user and nothing I did seemed to make it better.

I also have struggled with my skin care over the years which is what lead me to you guys. While I was reading through the sub to figure out how to change up my routine to work for me, I thought I would do a search for the magic secret to cure my chapped lips. Much to my surprise I found it.

I never in a million years would have guessed my toothpaste was the one to blame. AND my chapstick wasn’t helping. So I picked up a travel size Sensodyne Pronamel (because let’s face it changing toothpastes is a big decision) and switched to using just a thin layer of Vaseline on my lips twice a day.

Oh my god the difference it has made in just a week, and it’s the middle of a pretty cold winter here! So I just wanted to say thanks to ScA for solving my problem for me. I am excited to see what other changes in my routine bring”

So change it up and see if it makes a difference.

Topics:

Health,Science