SIMPLE WAYS TO REPAIR CHAPPED LIPS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992                   TAG: 9202180110
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DR. DARRELL RIGEL
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium
SIMPLE WAYS TO REPAIR CHAPPED LIPS
It is difficult and often painful to keep a chapped stiff upper lip during winter, but a few simple measures can ease the discomfort.
Lips become chapped because they are not covered by ordinary skin tissue. The tissue that covers the lips actually is a continuation of the mucosa which covers the interior of the mouth. Inside the mouth, the mucosa is kept wet by saliva.
The tissue covering the lips doesn't have that constant moisturizing coverage, so it can become dry and chapped as it loses water.
Chapped lips are more common in the winter for several reasons. Heating systems in most buildings reduce relative humidity as they draw in cold outdoor air and heat it. One result of lowered humidity is an increased tendency for the lips to lose moisture.
One way to combat chapping is to increase the humidity of indoor air. That can be done by having many indoor plants, which add moisture to the air. A variety of commercial humidifiers also are effective, but something as simple as placing a pot of water on top of a radiator works just as well.
You can prevent loss of water from the lips by keeping them well covered with an ointment that seals in moisture.
Lipstick will do the job effectively for women, as will almost all of the lip balms available over the counter. Hydrolated petrolatum - petroleum jelly - is as good as anything.
If the cracks in chapped lips become too deep, they can bleed and become infected, causing pain and swelling. Such infections may require antibiotic therapy.

Darrell Rigel is clinical associate professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB