Eczema On The Lips Treatment Options
Not surprisingly, the most irritating part of dryness around lips is the symptoms. Thankfully, for most people, it is pretty easy to treat.
Simply add and adequately maintain moisture in the area. Non-irritating lotions, lip balms, and moisturizers can help provide protection from the elements, and help repair dry, cracked, and painful lips.
You can get a little added boost by applying them directly after a shower or face wash. Doing so will lock moisture into the lips to help the healing process and offer relief, but it is also important to carry such products around with you for easy re-application.
If your lips are inflamed and swollen, looking for a lip cream that features one-percent hydrocortisone may help to bring it down.
If you are noticing excessive inflammation and it seems to be a highly irritating recurring problem, pay a visit to your doctor to talk about further treatment options.
Other potential treatments for lip eczema/lip dermatitis include:
- Antibiotics
- Alternative medicines/home remedies
What Else Should I Know
If you live with eczema, tune in to what triggers it and how to manage it. For example, if you find that some types of makeup irritate your skin, ask a dermatologist to recommend brands that are less likely to do so.
Your self-esteem doesn’t have to suffer because you have eczema, and neither does your social life! Getting involved in your school and extracurricular activities can be a great way to get your mind off the itch.
Don’t forget to exercise. It’s a great way to blow off stress try walking, bike riding, swimming, or another sport that keeps your skin cool and dry while you work out.
Emollients For Treating Eczema
Emollient creams add moisture to the skin. Apply moisturisers each day to clean, dry skin. It is especially important to moisturise after showering and bathing, and when living or working in an air-conditioned or heated environment. You may need to try several different brands until you find the emollient that works best for you. Ask your doctor, dermatologist or pharmacist for advice.
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Risk Factors For Lip Eczema
Surprise if you already have atopic dermatitis elsewhere on your body, youre far more likely to develop lip eczema, too.
If you have a history of allergies, youre also more at risk of having an allergic reaction that can trigger lip eczema.
Since lip eczema is often an allergic form of cheilitis, its obviously best to avoid putting anything you know youre allergic to in or around your mouth.
Also, just avoid habitually putting odd things, like pencils or nails , in your mouth in general.
Cosmetic ingredients known to trigger lip eczema include:
- cosmetic sensitizers
- lipstick ingredients, like ricinoleic acid
- resins like rosin and shellac
- dyes
Can Eczema On The Lips Be Prevented
Changes in the lifestyle can effectively help to treat the conditions of lip eczema:
- Lessen Stress: Opting for meditation, yoga and few calming breathing techniques can effectively help you manage stress.
- Avoid extreme temperatures: Try to keep out of cold in winters and heat in the summers. Sweating can worsen the condition. Stay away from extreme cold and hot weather.
- Moisturize: Always keep a lip balm in your pocket to soothe your skin condition. Try to avoid licking your lips.
- Avoid allergic foods: Try keeping yourselves at bay from allergens by making a regular habit of reading the ingredients in products.
Although eczema on lips is a non-contagious condition that requires proper care and management. You can do many things to soothe your lips such as go with the complete natural treatments or other recommended ones. See your GP if you think you have sore and dry lips to avoid any severe condition.
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How Is Eczema Diagnosed
There is no specific test used to diagnose eczema. A doctor will look at the rash and ask about your symptoms and past health, as well as your family’s health. If you or your family members have any atopic conditions, that’s an important clue.
The doctor will want to rule out other conditions that can cause skin inflammation. The doctor might recommend that you see a dermatologist or an allergist.
What Causes Eczema On The Lips
There are both internal and external causes that lead to dry lips.
You could have naturally dry or irritable skin that increases your risk for lip dermatitis. On the other hand, you may be frequently exposed to cold, dry temperatures that lead to freezing and cracking and eventually eczema on lips.
Causes can help determine prevention and treatment methods, and therefore should be accurately identified.
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How Is The Cause Of Eczematous Cheilitis Identified
Careful history and examination may help to narrow down the list of possible causes. The examination should include the lips, inside the mouth, and the skin in general.
Patch testing is very useful in eczematous cheilitis as at least one-quarter of cases involve an allergic reaction. Testing should include the standard series as well as extended series such as for lipsticks, toothpaste and others as suggested from the history. Testing the patients own products as is is important. may also be useful. The relevance of positive reactions must be considered.
If patch testing is negative, prick testing may be positive, indicating the diagnosis may be contact urticaria.
Symptoms Of Lip Eczema
These are some of the symptoms of lip eczema.
Eczematous cheilitis can appear in 3 areas:
- Skin next to the lips
- Vermilion margin of the lips
- Mucosal aspect/oral cavity
The first 2 eczema symptoms are the most common.
However, its also possible to experience this near the red mucosa area .
Patients may present with redness, swelling, dryness or scaliness, fissuring, painful blisters, dark discoloration , and inflammation of the lip.
Most people complain about an itch or burning sensation, and in severe cases, pain and difficulty eating and drinking.
In some cases, the itchiness and burning sensation come and go, and in other cases, it is constant.
Excoriations can be seen as well when the itch is so intense that patients cannot stop scratching.
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Home Remedies For Lip Eczema
Check out these easy home remedies for relief for irritated lips:
Coconut Oil A key ingredient in plenty of natural treatments, coconut oil helps soothe irritated or inflamed skin thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Use a virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil for optimal results.
Sugar If youre looking for a natural scrub treatment, opt for using sugar as opposed to salt. Using a larger grain, such as brown sugar or cane sugar, works fine as well.
Aloe Vera For quick relief, you can break off a piece of the aloe vera plant and rub it directly on your lips for a cooling effect. We recommend staying away from gels as these tend to contain alcohol or other drying substances that arent helpful for your skin.
References
Few Recommended Treatment For Lip Eczema Also Include:
- Antibiotics: Known to prevent disease caused by microorganisms from gathering around the mouth. Take antibiotic medicines in order to treat yourselves.
- Moisturizers: A careful selection of moisturizer is necessary. Usage should be more cautious as many lip moisturizers can dry out your lips. Vaseline petroleum jelly can come as a rescue to your condition.
- Topical Corticosteroids: Take help from your doctor and apply the recommended corticosteroids on the lips to deal with a inflammation, dryness and redness due to itching.
- Avoid harsh soap solutions while cleansing your face and try to opt for natural products.
- Avoid staying too long in the sun.
- Protect your face during cold or hot weather to prevent eczema symptoms.
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Eczema On Lips Causes And Symptoms
Eczema can develop anywhere on the body elbows, knees, face, hands or back. When it affects parts that are exposed such as the face, lips, hands and feet, you have to treat it well and worse still, you need to answer questions regarding it.
Eczema of the lips may occur due to various reasons history of eczema elsewhere on the body, having a very dry skin, allergy to certain foods or skin products and stress.
Symptoms: Eczema can be rather uncomfortable to deal with. It results in small, red patches on the lip which may be dry, inflamed, itchy and may ooze. Occasionally, the skin of the lip may crack and even a yellow crust may develop.
What Is Lip Eczema Meaning
Contents
Lip eczema is definitive on specific symptoms and the changes likely to occur in terms of the symptoms experienced. Therefore, we can say eczema or lip dermatitis is an inflammation of the lips that is presented as redness with dryness and scaly appearance.
This is influenced by hereditary factors such as inherited genes. The external factors or changes environment conditions can also factor in unfavorably leading to chronic. Affected areas may go beyond the lip surface when eczema symptoms flare up or worsen.
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How To Get Rid Of Eczema On Lips
Even though there are a number of commercial products that can provide the much needed relief, it is also important to try home remedies. According to doctors on WebMD and Mayo clinic, the following are I2 home remedies that can be applied to get rid of eczema:
Sugar is recommended as it assists in exfoliating all dead skin cells, paving the way for new cells to regenerate.To use sugar:
- Combine a single tablespoon of honey with two tablespoon of sugar and apply this paste on your scarily lips and allow it five minutes to sit here undisturbed.
- You should then use your fingers to rub the mixture all over your dead lips gently. By doing so, you will be loosening all the dead skin cells, making sure that they will be easy to remove.
- Use warm water to wash off the sugar scrub.
When your lips become cracked, you can try rose petals. It is a natural treatment which will assist your lips to remain moisturized throughout the day, while also enhancing their natural beauty.To use Rose petals:
- Pick a handful of rose petals and use cold water to wash them thoroughly. Once clean, soak them in milk for between two and three hours. If you have a problem or are allergic to dairy products, soak them in glycerin instead of milk.
- Take the petals soaked earlier and mash gently to obtain a paste.
- Take this paste and apply it at least three times each day. You will also have to do this before going to bed in the evening.
The Symptoms Of Lip Eczema:
Lip eczema appears as redness, dryness, scaling and fissuring. The angle of the mouth is often also involved. The most commonly affected parts of the lips are the perioral skin and vermilion margin.
It is important to note your skin and mucosal lesions elsewhere as these may give a clue about the main cause.
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Eczema On Lips Final Thoughts
Its okay to feel a little bummed out when lip eczema flares up.
However, with a few changes in habits, you can actually minimize the drama. Of course, its really important to find the cause then take action.
Some changes make sense for everyone like not smoking or avoiding stress. But other changes are more related to you as an individual such as the effect of different chemicals on your skin or how your skin reacts to weather conditions where you live.
Either way, you can successfully figure out what works best for you and take control of managing this common condition accordingly.
Eczematous cheilitis is a common skin condition, that can be caused by:
- Internal problems: Genetics.
- External causes: Irritation, allergic reactions, or infections.
The frustrating part comes when trying to sort through all the products that we use to determine which may be causing the problem. It takes diligence and good sleuthing to find the cause.
For mild cases, OTC remedies can help lip eczema. If OTC therapies do not help or you cannot figure out the cause, always seek medical advice and immediate treatment from a board-certified dermatologist.
They have many good prescription medicines, such as topical steroids and antihistamines, at their disposal to get you better faster and tests that can help determine the cause.
Contact Eczema: An Allergy
The causes
Is the eczema affecting other parts of the body besides the area around the mouth? Do you have a history of atopy? If you answered no to both these questions, it is likely allergic eczema. You may develop a sudden allergy to a product at any point throughout your life, even if you have already handled or used it before, an allergy which manifests as eczema.
Contact with the allergen may be direct, as with an allergic reaction to a cosmetic applied to the face for example, or it can occur indirectly, especially via the hands, which often touch the mouth. For example, you may be allergic to a nail polish or to a product you touched beforehand.
Products or objects commonly known to trigger eczema around the mouth include:
- lip sticks and lip balms
- nail polish
- etc.
Consult a professional
Several weeks can pass from the point of initial contact and the reaction, making it difficult to find the culprit. It is always recommended to consult a doctor, who will help confirm the cause by carrying out allergy tests . They will also be able to tell you what products contain the allergen. If you have an allergic reaction to formaldehyde in a cosmetic, for example, you will need to avoid this product as well as any others that contain formaldehyde.
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Types And Symptoms Of Lip Eczema
There are several different types of eczema on lips, including the following:
Irritant contact cheilitis occurs as a result of external irritation, such as lip licking, cosmetics, and environmental factors. Allergic contact cheilitis is an allergic reaction to lip products, dental materials, toothpaste, or medication. Angular cheilitis develops due to a fungal infection, usually Candida, or a bacterial infection. A person may get the infection because lip licking, dentures or braces, or other factors cause saliva to build up in the corners of their mouth. Angular cheilitis is common in people with diabetes.
The symptoms of lip eczema can occur on one or both of the lips and can also affect the skin inside and surrounding the mouth.
The symptoms of eczema on the lips may include:
a red rash on or around the lips dryness or flakiness
Eczema On Lips Treatment
Treatment of eczema on lips in based on causative agent. However, there is always a chance that the correct cure may not be available. At a time you need to identify the factors that triggered the eczema for the curative solutions to be known, which will assist you to get rid of this problem. Once they have been noted down they will need to be eliminated in a systematic manner. America Academy of dermatology recommends the following treatments:
Other triggers to avoid or things to do include:
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Lip Eczema In Infants
Young children and babies can develop irritated, cracked and dry lips through many ways. One of the most common causes include contact allergens or irritants. It can be often seen that continuous saliva from drooling can act as a culprit in babies. Irritation occurs when saliva comes out and left to stay on the lips.
Probably prolonged hours of irritation leads to the dry, red, irritating rash all around the mouth of the babies making the eczema symptoms severe. Lip licking can make the skin condition worse in many cases leading to dryness and chapped lips.
These cracked lips are painful and thus cause soreness. Children who develop respiratory infection or are sensitive to cold are likely to have eczema on lips.
Dermatologist Treatments For Lip Eczema
Steroids
Topical corticosteroid ointments are anti-inflammatory. There are a variety of strengths of topical steroid ointments that can soothe the inflammation on your lips, such as hydrocortisone or clobetasol .
They should always be used under the supervision of a dermatologist to ensure adverse reactions do not occur, such as prolonged use causing side effects like skin atrophy .
These topical steroid medications are best for short-term use in acute conditions such as allergic contact dermatitis and less so for long-term daily use in chronic conditions like atopic dermatitis.
It only takes a small amount of topical corticosteroids to get good effects. In very severe cases, oral steroids have been used.
Oral steroids are not suitable for every case because of their potentially serious side effects.
Steroid sparing medicines/topical calcineurin inhibitors
Protopic ointment and Elidel cream are 2 prescription topical medications, which reduce inflammation, just like a steroid would, but they do not have the same bad side effects of thinning out your skin as topical steroids can.
These topical calcineurin inhibitor medications are preferred for use in atopic dermatitis, which is chronic dermatitis usually requiring long-term or lifetime treatment.
Anti-fungal/antibiotic medications
If EC is caused by a fungus or yeast, also known as angular cheilitis, prescription nystatin cream can be used.
Antihistamines
Systemic medicines
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