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Smoker’s lips are characterized by vertical wrinkles around the mouth. The lips and gums may also become significantly darker than their natural shade (hyperpigmentation).
Smoker’s lips can begin to occur after months or years of smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products. If you have smoker’s lips, the best thing you can do to reduce their appearance is to stop smoking. There are also treatments that may help.
Smoking can cause periodontal disease and several types of oral cancer.
In addition to these serious health conditions, smoking can affect your appearance, causing the skin around your mouth to sag and wrinkle. It can also darken your lips and gums.
Smoking accelerates the skin’s aging process, causing wrinkles. One reason for this is nicotine. Nicotine causes blood vessels to shrink and narrow, reducing blood flow and starving skin of oxygen and the nutrients it needs to remain healthy and supple.
Reduced blood flow and exposure to tar and nicotine can also cause the melanin in your lips and gums to darken, leading to uneven pigmentation. They may appear blotchy, purple, dark brown, or black.
The chemicals in cigarettes also have negative effects on the skin. In one cigarette, there are over 4,000 chemicals in the tobacco smoke.
These chemicals damage collagen and elastin, which are two proteins that help maintain your skin’s elasticity and structure. Without enough collagen and elastin to keep it strong, your skin’s fibers weaken, causing sagging and wrinkles.
The repeated puckering of the lips when smoking and the heat generated by burning cigarettes can also cause smoker’s lips to form.
Quitting smoking can often stop further damage to the lips and mouth.
Whether you stop smoking or not, drink lots of water to flush the toxins from cigarettes out of your system, and make sure to keep your lips protected from the sun. Shop for smoking cessation aids.
There are several treatments for hyperpigmentation. They may help return your lips to their natural color.
tips to lighten lips
- Exfoliation. Lip skin is delicate and should be treated with care. You can make a DIY exfoliator at home, or use a store-bought brand. Try mixing coarse salt or sugar with almond oil or coconut oil and gently massaging the mixture into your lips once a day. You can also use a soft bristle brush or washcloth dipped in oil to exfoliate. Use a moisturizer or lip balm after each treatment. Shop for almond oil and coconut oil.
- Lip mask. Anecdotal evidence shows that lip masks containing turmeric, lemon, or lime juice may help lighten lips. Try combining one or more of these ingredients with vitamin A or vitamin E oil, and coat your lips for 15 minutes, once daily. Shop for vitamin E oil.
- Laser treatment. Done professionally by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon, laser treatments work by focusing concentrated pulses of light deep within the skin’s layers. These treatments can be used to restore lips to their natural color, target dark spots, remove excess melanin, stimulate collagen production, and erase vertical wrinkles around the mouth.
Lip wrinkles caused by smoking are also referred to as lipstick lines. These wrinkles may be made worse by drinking alcohol, not getting enough sleep, too much sun exposure, and eating a poor diet.
There are treatments that can help reduce or eliminate vertical lines around the mouth. Some of these treatments are especially beneficial for reducing lip wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.
tips to reduce lip wrinkles
- Moisturize and hydrate skin. Using a rich moisturizer that contains tretinoin, such as Retin-A, may help build collagen and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth. A daily moisturizer that contains a broad spectrum SPF can reduce exposure to UVA and UVB rays. Shop for retinol.
- Acid peels. Mandelic acid is a gentle type of alpha hydroxy acid that’s derived from bitter almonds. There are at-home and professional versions of Mandelic acid peels of varying strength. Many can be used on and around the lip area to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and to lighten dark patches. Shop for alpha hydroxy acid for face.
- Anti-wrinkle injections. Your doctor may suggest using an injected medication, such as Botox, to smooth wrinkles and relax facial muscles.
- Dermal fillers. Fillers often contain hyaluronic acid. They’re used to plump up the appearance of lips by filling in wrinkles and lines around the mouth.
- Laser resurfacing. Also called lasabrasion or laser peeling, laser resurfacing is done by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. Laser treatments remove the uppermost, damaged layer of skin. Some treatments are done after injecting temporary fillers or fat grafting directly into deep wrinkles.
Oral cancer can develop in the lips, gums, tongue, and on the inside of the mouth. Smoking cigarettes and using other types of tobacco are high risk factors for oral cancer. Quitting smoking can help reduce your risk.
Treatment for mouth or lip cancer often requires surgery to remove tumors and cancer cells that have spread to other areas of the body, such as the neck. You may also need surgical reconstruction of the mouth, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.
Smoker’s lips can start to form within months or years of smoking. Your lips may start to wrinkle and darken for a long time before you realize it.
The time it takes for smoker’s lips to develop depends on multiple factors, including how much and how long you’ve smoked, your age, skin type, and other lifestyle habits.
If you have faint wrinkling and mild hyperpigmentation, at-home treatments may be enough to improve your skin’s appearance. Deep wrinkling, sagging skin, and dark pigmentation may require medical treatments.
Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health and causes cosmetic concerns, such as smoker’s lips. This condition is characterized by wrinkling and discoloration of the lips and mouth.
When mild, this condition may respond well to at-home treatments. If you have deep vertical wrinkles around your mouth or severe hyperpigmentation, medical treatments may be a better option.
People may view naturally pink lips as a sign of beauty. However, lips come in many colors, sizes, and shapes. It may be possible to naturally change lip color to pink, but often, the effect is temporary.
In this article, we will look at ways people can get pink lips naturally by using some simple home remedies and lip care techniques.
We will also look at whether having pink lips is beneficial, other factors that may discolor the lips, and whether there are any long-term cosmetic procedures that change the color of the lips.
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Sarah Charlier/EyeEm/Getty ImagesMany people view pink lips as a sign of natural beauty or health. However, beauty trends change over time. Even lip trends change over time, with research suggesting that the full lips so popular today were not in fashion over a decade ago.
Despite the perception that pink lips are healthy, there is no evidence that they are healthier than any other lip color. The exception to this is if a person normally has pink lips, and they change color.
Healthy lips are typically:
As with skin tone, the color of the lips will vary from person to person. People with darker skin tend to have darker lips. This is normal and occurs due to an increased amount of melanin in the skin. Melanin gives the skin its color.
People also can develop darker lips as a result of hyperpigmentation. This occurs when areas of the skin become darker than the surrounding area. Common causes of hyperpigmentation include:
People with naturally dark lips may be able to temporarily make them more pink using home remedies, while those with hyperpigmentation may find that treatments for this skin condition help most.
The following home treatments may help people keep their lips hydrated and smooth, while also temporarily increasing blood flow to the area:
Gentle exfoliation can help remove dry skin that could be giving the lips a dull, rough appearance. It can also stimulate circulation, resulting in temporarily pink lips.
There are many lip scrubs available in stores or online. Alternatively, people can make their own by mixing sugar or salt with an oil such as sweet almond or coconut oil.
To use a lip scrub:
The skin on the lips is delicate, so do not rub hard. Do not use lip scrubs more than once or twice per week, and do not use scrubs designed for the face or body, as these may be too harsh.
Massage can boost circulation to the lips, which may make them appear pinker. People can gently massage the lips once a day with a food-grade oil, such as coconut oil, before rinsing them off. Alternatively, people can leave the oil on overnight as a hydrating treatment.
Lip masks are treatments that involve applying a substance to the lips, leaving it on for a set amount of time, and then washing it off.
Some people report that lip masks containing turmeric improve the health and appearance of their lips. A 2018 systematic review notes that turmeric may reduce hyperpigmentation on the face, which may explain why this ingredient is popular. However, more research is necessary to conclusively prove it works on the lips.
To make a turmeric lip mask:
Note that turmeric can cause temporary staining of the skin around the lips.
Some cosmetic companies use peppermint oil in lip balm to create a naturally pink look. Peppermint oil contains menthol, a compound that can dilate the blood vessels when applied topically, according to a 2016 study. This may result in temporarily flushed lips.
People can purchase lip balm that contains peppermint in stores or online. However, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) advises that a person should avoid menthol and peppermint if they have chapped lips, as it can be irritating.
In addition to making the lips appear temporarily more pink, people can take steps to reduce dryness, irritation, and the chance of hyperpigmentation. These include:
Applying sunscreen to the skin and lips daily is one of the most effective things a person can do to prevent hyperpigmentation, sun damage, and visible aging. It also reduces the chance of developing skin cancer.
People should wear SPF on their lips, face, and other exposed areas when going outside, even if they do not burn easily, have darker skin, or live in a cold climate. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends using a nonirritating lip balm with an SPF of 30 or higher and titanium oxide or zinc oxide as the active ingredient.
Reapply SPF lip balm and sunscreen every 2 hours while outside.
Smoking can stain the lips, as well as other parts of the body that come into contact with tobacco, such as the hands. Nicotine in any form also reduces blood flow in the skin, which may reduce the color of the lips and accelerate skin aging.
Learn 11 tips for giving up smoking.
People can keep their lips hydrated by:
Licking dry lips can feel like it will help with dryness, but it actually makes dryness worse. Similarly, other habits such as biting or picking the skin on the lips can cause dryness, irritation, and bleeding.
Try to avoid these habits by replacing them with something else. Instead of licking the lips, apply a hydrating lip balm regularly. Instead of picking the skin, people may find it helpful to use a stress ball or something else that keeps their hands busy.
Learn more about lip biting, its causes, and ways to stop.
If a a person thinks a medication could be contributing to darker lips, they should discuss this with their doctor. Sometimes, the effect is temporary and their lip color will return to normal after they finish their treatment. In other cases, there may be alternative medications a person can try.
Many online sources claim that people can permanently change the color of their lips using natural or home remedies. However, few of these are based on scientific evidence. Additionally, some remedies may damage the skin.
Some cosmetic treatments may help people achieve long-lasting changes to their lips. For example, laser therapy can treat hyperpigmentation. However, the results of these treatments may not last forever. The side effects can include swelling, irritation, and scarring.
People who want to explore ways of treating hyperpigmentation can discuss the options with a dermatologist.
People can get pink lips naturally by using simple treatments, such as lip balms, scrubs, or masks. However, the effect will be temporary. Many at-home treatments that make the lips more pink work by increasing the blood flow to the area, which will eventually return to normal.
There is no medical benefit to having pink lips, but if a person wants to address skin discoloration or hyperpigmentation, a dermatologist may be able to help.
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