Yes, dark lips can occur from constantly licking your lips, which may lead to hyperpigmentation. Due to the constant licking, our saliva might moisten our lips, but it also dries up them quickly, making them chapped and dry.
But there is one more thing that can darken your lips and it is something that most of us do quite often. It is licking your lips. Why is it bad? According to dermatologist Dr Kiran Lohia, people who lick their lips not only have dark lips but the area around their mouth is also darkened due to this detrimental habit.
Licking temporarily alleviates the symptoms, but the saliva dries out your lips more, worsening the situation and perpetuating a cycle. Lip licker's dermatitis typically looks like dryness, redness/discoloration, chapping, and scaling in a ring shape around the lip area.
Lack of moisture leads to discoloured, dark, hyperpigmented lips due to excess melanin production. This happens due to various reasons including sun exposure, smoking, pregnancy, certain medication or other medical issues. Less moisture also leads to dry lips.
This repetitive friction and irritation causes a darkening of the lips and even the surrounding skin. Why does this occur? Usually, people with this habit have lips that continually dry and they repeatedly lick their lips to moisturize it.
Sugar Scrub: Mix some sugar with olive oil or honey to make a scrub. Gently massage this on your lips for a few minutes and then rinse it off. This will help to exfoliate your lips and remove dead skin cells that can cause darkening. Beetroot Juice: Beetroot is rich in antioxidants and can help to lighten dark lips.
Dark purple lips or increased lip pigmentation can be caused by the following reasons: Smoking habits: Smoking is one of the common causes of dark lips. Accident, trauma: Punctured lips due to accident or trauma can cause purple or black lips, one or all of the lips, part or all of the lips.
Vitamin B-12 Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin B-12 may make your skin dark. If you don't get enough vitamin B-12 through supplements or diet, then it can cause dark spots on your lips.
You might think that licking your lips keeps them hydrated and keeps them from getting flaky and chapped, but, in reality, it makes them even drier. That's right! You've been living a lie all your life. Plus, this habit and the dry lips it causes is a chronic condition called lip licker's dermatitis.
When you lick your lips, you're coating them in saliva. Not only does it evaporate very quickly to leave lips drier than before, your saliva is also full of enzymes that are too harsh for the delicate lip skin. These enzymes can remain on the lips and cause them to feel dry and uncomfortable.
The citric acid in lemon juice helps to lighten the dark shade of lips, in turn, making your lips look pink. One thing you take care while using this remedy is, lemon is acidic in nature, and not all skin types will adjust to its nature. Especially those having extra sensitive skin.
A person can experience lip discoloration after consuming things that contain pigments, such as berries, beets, and wine. Lip discoloration can also be the result of sun damage, nutritional deficiencies, or an underlying medical condition.
Normal, healthy lip color varies, depending on skin color and other factors, but should fall in the reddish-pink-to-brown range.
The pressure of the lips against each other can cause some of the small blood vessels in the lips to break, which can lead to bruising. However, this is usually not severe and will resolve on its own within a few days.
B Vitamins Deficiency: specifically vitamin B-12 (Riboflavin) can cause cracked lips that have difficulty healing. Angular cheilitis is a severe and very uncomfortable lip condition in which cracks and sores are present in the skin at the corners of the mouth when there is a B vitamin deficiency.
Conditions like environmental pollution and dehydration can result in dry, chapped, pigmented and dark lips. That's why it's important to drink as much water as you can. Especially in winter, make a conscious effort to have at least 8 glasses of water every day.
In addition, dehydration can also cause your lips to lose their natural color. If you are dehydrated, it is important to drink plenty of fluids and apply a lip balm or moisturizer to your lips to keep them hydrated.
It is natural for the upper lip, to be darker than the lower! There are numerous reasons responsible for two-toned lips! Other than the genetic one, these might be responsible: Hair Removal Methods: Waxing the upper lip area may result in the appearance of dark patches.
Lips with higher melanin levels will often appear as multi colored/toned, such as a brown upper lip and pink bottom lip, and/or hyper-pigmented. Due to the vascular nature of lip tissue, hyper-pigmented lips usually appear to have cool blue and purple undertones to the naked eye.
One of the most important causes of dark lips is vitamin B12 deficiency. In this condition, you will get dark spots or patchy dark lips. When diagnosed then the doctor might tell you to have vitamin-rich foods and supplements as well. In some cases, injections might be required.
“Sun damage and aging can lead to paler lips due to dryness, poor circulation, as well as fine lines and wrinkles due to loss of underlying collagen and elastin,” says Dr. Cox. To prevent this, your sun care routine needs to apply to not only your face but your lips as well.
After the first session of the neutralization process, the healing period can extend anywhere between six to eight weeks, sometimes even more (depending on the individual). During these weeks, the injected pigment color will start to fade. Just after the procedure, the lips may appear bright pink to red.
Does vaseline darken lips? There is no scientific evidence to suggest that Vaseline can darken lips. It does not contain any ingredients that are known to cause pigmentation or discoloration of the lips. However, using Vaseline on your lips regularly can keep them hydrated and soft.