Lips being the most visible part of the mouth are also important for food intake and its retention, besides helping in articulation of speech and sound. Lips play an important role in the act of intimacy i.e. kissing, aside from giving an attractive look to your face. The size of lips can vary from person to person; some may have thin lips while other may have thick and swollen lips.
Causes Swollen Painful Lips
At times lips get swollen and painful due to many medical causes which we will discuss below.
- Swollen lips can be due to trauma. It is the first and most important cause for swollen and painful lips. This is because lips have rich supply of blood and a dense network of nerves.
- Insect bites and sting can also cause lips to swell and painful.
- An infection such as a boil or an abscess around the lips or in the gums may cause painful swollen lips.
- Allergies: various allergies from food, pollens, chemical, dust, animal dander can cause swollen lips.
- Certain medicines can also cause lip allergy and swelling of lips.
- Lip Herpes virus is also a leading cause for swollen and painful lips. The symptoms consist of pain, blisters, and swelling of lips.
- Certain diseases such as psoriasis, eczema, fungal infection can cause swollen lips.
- Dry and cracked lips can cause swollen and painful lips.
Home Remedies For Swollen Lips
- To reduce swollen lips, due to trauma, apply ice or cold water for some time. You can take few ice cubes in a clean cloth and apply it over the lips. After some time the swelling will reduce.
- Apply a paste prepared from cold water, turmeric and fuller’s earth. Fuller’s earth helps to reduce the swelling while turmeric has anti septic properties.
- You can also apply aloe vera gel on the swollen and painful lips if you are certain that the cause is due to insect bite. Aloe vera helps to reduce the pain and swelling of lips.
- Apply a tea bag on the swollen and painful lip after removing it from warm water and cooling it. It is an effective home remedy for swollen lip. It is useful when the lip gets swollen due to allergic reactions.
- To keep the lips moisturized, drink plenty of water. Apply lip balm to prevent dryness.
- If lip swelling is due to allergies, identify the allergen and avoid the food or the substance causing allergic reaction.
- Eat diet rich in vitamins B and C. vitamin C helps in repairing the damaged tissues in case of lip injury.