The lips, full of nerve end­ings and cov­ered in translus­cent tis­sue, can quick­ly show signs of in­jury or­dam­age, in­clud­ing the ef­fects of UV ex­po­sure and free rad­i­cal dam­age, which is as­so­ci­at­ed with ag­ing.And un­like the rest of the face, lips don't pro­duce any oil, so they of­ten need mois­tur­is­ing. Rec­om­men­da­tions to keep your lips soft, smooth and safe.

• Don't lick your lips. Sali­va con­tains the en­zyme amy­lase, which can cause der­mati­tis in lip tis­sue.

• Avoid us­ing "slick" lip balms or pe­tro­le­um jel­ly, as they can ir­ri­tate and de­hy­drate the lips. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true for lip balms that are heav­i­ly fra­granced or fla­vored, be­cause they typ­i­cal­ly use syn­thet­ic agents.

• Use a lip balm with an SPF. Those balms that don't con­tain sun pro­tec­tion can in­vite burn­ing faster be­cause of their oil con­tent, es­sen­tial­ly fry­ing ten­der lip tis­sue.

• Be care­ful when us­ing lip stains or lip­sticks that last for 12 hours or more. Be­cause they can be dif­fi­cult to re­move, these pout-en­hancers can ir­ri­tate the skin and cause come­dones along the li­pline. For a sul­try pout year-round, ask your skin care pro­fes­sion­al if the spa of­fers any prod­ucts or treat­ments to keep your lips in tip-top con­di­tion.

chebel­bayspa@ya­hoo.com