How are lips different from other skin areas? by
Elizabeth Whitmore
Without lips we wouldn't be able to make the sound of the letter "P,"
we wouldn't be able to
kiss the people we love, and we wouldn't be able
to make those funny fish faces. Lips are unique -- they aren't like any
other part of the human body. But although they look different from the
rest of your skin, they're actually quite similar.
The outer
layer of your skin is called the
epidermis, and it has a protective
covering called the stratum corneum. Underneath your epidermis is
another layer of skin, the dermis. Like the rest of your skin, your lips
have all three of these layers -- the difference is that the stratum
corneum on your lips is far thinner than it is anywhere else on your
body. Your lips also don't have any sebaceous glands -- these glands
keep your skin moisturized, but your lips are on their own. Their only
source of moisture is your saliva, and that's why they can easily become
dry and chapped [source:
Blistex].
The
skin on your lips doesn't have any hair follicles either -- this is a
characteristic it shares only with the palms of your hands and the soles
of your feet. Whether you can see them or not, hair follicles cover
every other area of your skin [source:
Dowshen].
Another
difference between your lips and the rest of your skin is that your
lips don't have melanin, the pigment that makes you tan when you're
exposed to the sun.
Melanin is your body's natural way of protecting
your skin from ultraviolet rays, and because your lips don't have any,
they're at a higher risk of getting sunburned. Because your lips can't
protect themselves from sun damage, it's important to use a lip balm
that contains sunscreen -- your lips can develop sunspots and skin
cancer just like the rest of your skin [source:
Stevens].
Your
lips' red or pink pigment comes from underlying blood vessels --
red-colored, blood-filled capillaries are close to the thin skin on your
lips. The transition of the reddish-pink outline of your lips to the
rest of the skin is called the vermillion border, and it's found only in
humans [source:
Ditkoff].
What do you think, Beautiful?
Love,
Something Beautiful
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