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Dry and chapped lips: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

The emotional and spiritual meaning of dry, chapped and cracked lips: lost joy, words you regret, loneliness and an inner divide.
Mouth Also known as: Chapped lips, Cracked lips, Dry lips, Cheilitis, Lips, Split lips, Peeling lips, Lèvres gercées

By the Body Hemi-Sync editorial teamUpdated Editorial policy

In short
Spiritually, dry and chapped lips are often linked to a loss of joy in your exchanges with others, worry, loneliness or words you regret, and, when they crack, to a divide you have let open inside yourself.
Loss of joy in sharingLonelinessRegretted wordsAn inner divideRetreating into an ivory towerHolding back pleasure

What dry and chapped lips are

Dry, chapped lips are lips that have lost moisture and become rough, flaky, tight or cracked. They can sting, peel or bleed. The skin of the lips is thin and has no oil glands, so it dries out easily.

Common causes are cold or windy weather, sun, dry indoor air, licking or biting the lips, breathing through the mouth, not drinking enough, and some medicines or lip products that irritate. Inflammation of the lips is called cheilitis. When it affects the corners of the mouth, it is often linked to a yeast or bacterial infection or to low iron or vitamin B levels. Most dry lips get better with a plain lip balm (with sun protection outdoors), drinking enough water and leaving the lips alone. A pharmacist can help, and a GP can look at cracks that do not heal, infection or an allergy.

The emotional meaning of dry and chapped lips

Spiritually, the lips are linked to opening and closing: to an open or closed mind, and to what you choose to say or keep back. Tension, worry, sorrow or fear can show through lips that dry out or crack.

When joy dries up

Lips are said to go dry when you feel very tired, when a low "silent" fever runs through you, when you feel alone, when you have worries, or when you regret something you said. Your joy in living slips away and your exchanges with others give you little pleasure. You find you can no longer share your feelings, even with the person you live with. If the lips bleed, the loss of joy is felt more deeply still.

Cracks: a divide inside

When the lips split, ask what "division" you have let settle inside you. It may be a gap between your real world and an imagined one. You may stay in an ivory tower for fear of being hurt, building a world of fantasy that helps you avoid painful feelings and the old "ghosts" that still steer your life. You make compromises and water down your wine, as the French say, and you have had enough of it. Cracked lips are also found in children whose parents have separated and who need gentleness.

Pleasure and holding back

Full lips are linked to joy, pleasure and love in the heart, thin ones to a more reserved or rigid stance towards your wishes and life's pleasures. When it is hard to treat yourself, the lips can be touched. So can an unwanted kiss, a sense of being betrayed by someone close (the kiss of Judas), or a feeling that a person in authority is abusing their power.

Upper lip or lower lip?

In this approach, each lip carries one side of you:

  • The upper lip stands for your receptive, emotional, "feminine" side. Dryness or cracks here may ask how freely you let yourself feel and receive.
  • The lower lip stands for your rational, "masculine" side, the side of reason. Trouble here may ask whether you judge, control or analyse more than you share.

Ask too whether you tend to purse your lips, questioning and judging what others think, or to bite your lip, because you do not trust your own judgement. For the wider picture, see the left and right sides of the body.

A gentler way to hold it

The aim is not to blame yourself for chapped lips. Weather, dryness, habits and medicines play a real part, and simple care usually helps. The emotional perspective invites you to look at how much you let yourself share.

  • Come back to now. Instead of living in the past or the future, take a moment to taste what is here today.
  • Reach out. Let yourself talk more with the people around you, a little at a time.
  • Say both kinds of feeling. Voice your displeasure when something is wrong, and your affection, thanks and compliments when you feel them.
  • Bridge the gap. Notice where your imagined world has replaced real contact, and take one small step towards the real one.
  • Embrace life. Your lips are also how you kiss and show love. Let them do that.

Questions to ask yourself

Take your time with these. There are no right answers; simply notice what comes up.

  • Do I still enjoy my exchanges with others, or have they gone dry?
  • Are there words I said that I wish I could take back?
  • Who would I like to share my feelings with, and what stops me?
  • What divide have I let open between my real life and the one I imagine?
  • Do I keep myself apart for fear of being hurt?
  • Do I tend to purse my lips at others' opinions, or to bite my lip and doubt my own?
Affirmation
“I stay in touch with reality and with the people around me. I dare to say what I feel, and I taste the present moment.”

When to see a doctor

Please seek medical advice if you notice:
  • A sore, crust, lump or patch on the lip that has not healed after three weeks, especially in someone who smokes or has spent a lot of time in the sun. See a GP.
  • Lips that stay dry, cracked or sore for more than two weeks despite lip balm and care.
  • Painful cracks at the corners of the mouth that keep coming back. They can be an infection, or a sign of low iron or vitamin levels.
  • Lip swelling, especially with swelling of the tongue or face, or difficulty breathing. Call emergency services, as this can be a severe allergic reaction.
  • Blisters or tingling sores on the lip, which may be [cold sores](/mouth-and-teeth/cold-sores).
  • Very dry lips with thirst, little urine, dizziness or a fever. These can be signs of dehydration.
  • Dry lips that started after a new medicine. Ask your doctor or pharmacist before stopping it.

Related conditions

Cold sores
A cold sore is a blistering flare of the herpes simplex virus on the lip or mouth. It is read as distance, a word you regret, and a closeness that was interrupted.
Mouth ulcers
Mouth ulcers are often read as a fever that will not come out. You react to the atmosphere around you, you suffer with the mouth closed, and something burns that you feel you have to swallow.
Fever
Spiritually, fever is often linked to emotions that burn, irritation and anger that have built up until they fill the whole body, and a pause you have not allowed yourself any other way.

Sources and inspiration

Medical information

Emotional and spiritual interpretation

  • Jacques Martel, Le Grand Dictionnaire des Malaises et des Maladies , pp. 255–256.
  • Jacques Martel, Le Grand Dictionnaire des Malaises et des Maladies , pp. 255.

This page is an original interpretation written by the Body Hemi-Sync editorial team. It is inspired by these sources and does not reproduce them. How we write and check our pages.