The lips are an important part of the face. The health of the lips holds a special place of importance in people’s minds.
The fragile lips are composed of both skin and mucous membrane. The lips are exposed and susceptible to external physical and chemical stimuli that may result in changes in form, color, and texture. Several lip diseases that older adults are susceptible to are listed below.
The most common is chronic lip inflammation. It occurs during the cold and dry seasons and is recurrent, sometimes mild and sometimes severe. It is more frequent on the red part of the lower lip. The main symptoms are dryness and flaking, itching and burning, and oozing and crusting. Patients often unconsciously bite their lips, lick their lips or rub their lips with their hands, resulting in chapped and oozing lesions, repeated crusting and obvious swelling. If secondary infection occurs, there will be thick crusts covering the surface of the lips, and the chapping will be deeper, and once the lips move, the pain will become more intense and the swelling will not subside. If it remains untreated for a long time, it may even be accompanied by oral Candida infection, making the treatment more complicated.
Angioneurotic edema is also a relatively common condition that occurs in the lip. The onset of the disease is sudden and rapid, and it can develop on both the upper and lower lips. The main characteristic is that the swollen area of the lip is diffuse and poorly defined. The lips are taut and shiny, tender to the palpation, and there is no depressed edema. The perioral skin is normal or slightly red, and swelling may also occur. In addition, the lips are free of other discomfort such as oozing vesicles and chapping. Other lax tissue areas of the body may also develop at the same time. It is generally believed that angioneurotic edema is primarily caused by allergies, so treatment begins with anti-allergy therapy.
Herpes simplex is a systemic rash disease caused by the herpes simplex virus. It often occurs in the oral mucosa and the skin around the mouth. If it occurs at the border between the lip and the skin, it is called “herpes labialis”. It begins with a burning, itching, and irritation sensation at the lip-skin interface, followed by the appearance of erythema. The blisters may gradually expand and dissolve, and the fluid becomes cloudy and gradually dries up or ruptures. If there is bleeding, a blood crust may be formed, and after 7 to 14 days, the crust may fall off. If there is no infection, there is no scarring. Antiviral treatment is usually given routinely. If the patient is in good health, herpes labialis does not require treatment and can heal on its own.
Lip diseases are usually often associated with diseases of other anatomical areas of the oral cavity, and even with systemic diseases. Examples include recurrent mouth ulcers, lichen planus, chronic discoid lupus erythematosus, aspergillosis, syphilis, etc. Therefore, we still need to pay attention to the health of the lips. Usually, take care not to smoke, eat too spicy and hot food, and avoid strong physical and chemical stimuli. If the sun is too strong, apply colorless lip balm or balm to protect the health of the lips.