Sunburned Lips are a painful ordeal, trust me, I know. I am suffering with it as we speak. This is the first sunburn I have ever had in my whole life, and boy, is it a doosey!
Although the fact that my lips are swollen and very painful, and finding a quick cure has been the main focus of my life for the last week and a half, I have learned a few very important things along the way.
First of all prevention is the key here. Most experts recommend a lip balm with
SPF of 15 or higher, I personally recommend a lip balm with a much higher SPF content such as SPF 65. (I like Total Block SPF 65, it costs about $10.00, but it is worth it). The reason for this isn’t my current painful incentive of terribly burned lips, but the simple fact that, knowing that lips are easily burned and they are not as protected as the rest of our skin, a higher SPF simply makes sense.
Over the summer our lips are exposed to the hot sun , warm winds and dry air, no wonder they dry out and burn! Our lips have a natural oil that keeps them moist, when we lick our lips often or spend a lot of time outdoors, they become chapped and cracked. Not only do they have a greater chance of cracking and bleeding, but they can even get infected. Not to mention the fact that the lack of natural oils causes them to burn much easier.
Keeping your lips moisturized with go a long way in keeping them healthy. You can use petroleum jelly, many people do, but you should also use a lip balm with a good sunscreen to prevent sunburn. If you are in a pinch and don’t have any lip balm with sunscreen in it, lotions that contain SPF will work until you can get some.
As with any sunburn, treating sunburned lips should focus on repairing the damage, and avoiding future damage.
If your lips are burned, the first thing you want to do is get out of the sun. Apply moisture as soon as possible, either a petroleum jelly or a moist lip balm. You can use a burn cream to help heal them and acetaminophen is usually good to control the pain. Gently patting your lips with a cool, wet cloth feels really good on burned lips and also helps to cool them down.
A couple of home remedies that I have found to actually be more helpful than over the counter applications are:
* Soak some tea bags in cold water and apply them to your sunburned lips.. So refreshing!
* A paste of fresh milk and crushed rose petals is a good comforting balm also.
* A past of olive oil and sugar is very good for relieving the pain.Sources:
http://www.steadyhealth.com/sunburned_lips_t139218.html
http://snippets.com/what-are-the-symptoms-of-sunburned-lips.htm
