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To some people the phrase ‘cracking a smile’ is more literal than figurative. Keeping a straight face may be more a matter of avoiding pain than hiding emotion. With sore lips, dry and chapped all the time, it is often better not to laugh than to feel the sting of cracking skin. The solution may lie in a new understanding of what causes dry lips and a simple change in your diet.

A new diagnosis

You might have thought it’s dehydration or a cold climate that is making your lips chapped. And you wonder why drinking two litres of water a day and keeping your lips balmed-up with potions and lotions is having no effect.

But you may in fact be suffering from a mild case of cold sores. ‘But I have no blisters’, you argue, ‘there are no big red sores on my mouth!’

The fact is that the cold sore virus, Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1), does not affect everyone in the same way. Some people never get sores, but rather have dry patches of skin that flake or crack.

The arginine test

The cold sore virus will pop up when your immune system is lowered, and the virus is strengthened by the amino acid, arginine. To test whether HSV-1 is making your lips dry, eat a bowl full of baked beans and see what happens. You should notice some effect within two or three hours. You may feel a slight tingle and as the day progresses your lips will become drier than they were before you ate the beans.

Change your diet

If this is the case you are one step closer to solving your dry lip problem. Next you will need to follow a cold sore prevention diet until your immune system is back on track.

Avoid legumes, such as beans, peas and lentils, whole grains, such as brown rice and whole wheat, and chocolate, since these foods are all high in arginine. Then stock up on food rich in lysine. Lysine is another amino acid, which regulates arginine levels in the body. Luckily for you there are plenty of delicious foods full of lysine such as fish, meat, chicken, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.

Try this for a week and see what happens. You may be surprised that your lips’ chronic dryness vanishes before the week is out. And it may be time to smile again.

Tags: facial care, Healthy diet