Burns on the mouth: how to soothe, repair, treat burned lips?

As the sun went down, you may have enjoyed a little too much without adequate protection, even in particularly fragile areas such as the mouth. Indeed, we think little about it, but the lips are sensitive mucous membranes, which also deserve their sun protection, especially if we suddenly start spending hours outdoors, whether we enjoy terraces, parties, barbecues or whatever. Especially since the years of wearing the mask against Covid-19 have helped to disaccustom our mouths to so much sunshine and external aggressions.

How and why can you get sunburnt lips?

Faced with heat, dry winds and UV rays, the mouth can quickly become damaged, even get burned. And this, all the more quickly as the lip balm can have a magnifying effect. Due to the oils it contains, this fatty substance can have an enlarging effect (not to say frying…), intensifying solar radiation (that’s why many people try to accelerate the tanning of their body skin by spreading milk fat or olive oil , for example). Believing that we are protecting our lips, we can therefore do them more harm than good whilethere are lip balms with sunscreens, especially interesting when you start to expose yourself for hours at night.

But if the damage is already done and you notice tightness, cracking, patches of dryness, cuts, or irritation, chances are you’ve already burned your lips.

How to soothe, relieve, treat sunburned lips or sunburned mouth?

To remedy this, it will first of all be necessary resist the urge to constantly lick your mouth in hopes of soothing things with salivabecause the latter causes exactly the opposite effect.

As a result of excessive exposure without protection, the lips can suffer from sunburn. This can last from 3 to 7 days, full of unpleasant sensations, but also small blisters or white pimples, even bloody. And for this the second best ingredient against a sunburn on the mouth is: a lot of patience.

The 4 key steps to recovering from sunburn on the mouth

1. If you feel that your lips are burning after hours of sun exposure, and therefore you suspect sunburn, you can start by pinching a cold water compress between them to relieve them.
2. Once in the shade, you can too smear an aloe vera gel on your mouth (or, failing that, after-sun, but this type of care is rarely formulated to adapt to the sensitivity of a mucous membrane such as the mouth).
3. Before going to bed, you can slather on a lip balm, a skin repairing night mask, or even a healing and isolating cream. (to be preceded by the moisturizer) such as Bariéderm-Cica Protective Lip Balm by Uriage or Cicalfate Lip Repair Balm by Avène. If there is no conditioner, you can substitute it with vegetable oil, such as olive oil from your kitchen, for example.
4. But in the morning, it’s best to avoid oiling her freshly burned lips if you’re planning on spending time out in the sun. just to avoid burning yourself on it. It is best to put on an isolating and healing balm or sunscreen until the pain stops, after a few days.

Burns on the mouth, angular cheilitis, or both?

Also, sunburn on the lips can get worse and be accompanied by angular cheilitis (angular cheilitis) : an inflammation of the labial corner (the lateral crease between the upper and lower lips), on one side, or even both. This is more likely to happen if you are very tired, ill or stressed. Because then you become more vulnerable to contamination by the fungus called candida albicans or staphylococcus aureus.

Perlèche is manifested by redness in the corner of the mouth, a crack or crust, which can be a source of complex, in addition to pain. In case of angular cheilitis, it would be useful to consult a doctor to benefit from a possible drug treatment (often an antibiotic or antifungal cream on the offending microbe).

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