Excerpted
from the Australian edition of Cosmopolitan Magazine, December,
2002:
"Since
dry lips can be a chronic condition and balms provide immediate
relief, habitual use may feel like an addiction," says
David Leffell, a professor of dermatology at Yale University.
"But there's no ingredient that causes a true chemical
dependency."
Excerpted
from InStyle Magazine, September 1, 2002:
We've
all heard -- perhaps even spread the rumor: Certain lip treatments
are spiked with addictive ingredients, causing our lips to
be incessantly chapped and thus making us constantly reapply
the product. But there is no scientific evidence to support
the claim. So why the rumor? What feels like an addiction
is a psychological effect that results when you get used to
your lips feeling soft and supple from applying balm and then
stop using it. According to San Francisco dermatologist Seth
Matarasso, "When you stop using balm, your lips lose
that softness, so you probably start licking them to achieve
that hydration, which in turn dries them out even more."
Excerpted
from InStyle Magazine, April 1, 2001:
Don't
worry about getting addicted to lip balm. That's a myth,
according to Lawrence Moy, an L.A. dermatologist, who says "People get used to putting it on over and over, but you
can't do any harm by over-moisturizing."
Excerpted
from the Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA), March 6, 2001:
The
Internet has fueled a rumor that lip balms, especially those
that create a tingling sensation, are addictive.
However,
dermatologists
Dr. Bruce Bart of Hennepin County Medical Center and Dr.
Marian McEvoy of the Mayo Clinic said there's no evidence that any
lip balm is addictive.
"I've
heard of that business on the Web site and I can think of
absolutely no valid reason why anyone would say something like
that," Bart said.
Excerpted
from The Oregonian (Portland, OR), January 11, 2001:
According
to Dr. Jerome Z. Litt, assistant clinical professor of
dermatology at Case Western University School of Medicine, "It's not possible to become addicted to lip balm. Not
unless it's made with heroin or cocaine. It's just that when
people stop using it, their lips get dry. So they use it
again."
Excerpted
from Woman's World, February 1, 2000:
I
love using lip balm, but I've noticed something odd:
whenever I forget to apply it, my lips get chapped immediately. Is it possible they've lost their ability to moisturize themselves?
In
a word, no. In fact, most of the moisture on your lips
comes from your tongue, anyway.; My guess is that you've
just developed the habit of having a certain feel to your
lips. When you don't use lip balm, your lips automatically
feel dry, even if they're not. (Though they're certainly
dryer than if you had lip balm on them!)...Roy S. Rogers,
M.D., professor of dermatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
Excerpted
from News (Buffalo, NY), December 21 1999:
But
University of Kentucky skin doctor Margaret Terhune chuckles
at the notion that lip balm can be an addiction.
If
someone wants to put on lip balm all day long, it's not harmful,
she said. People don't build up a resistance.
Excerpted
from Men's Health, November 1999:
Is
it possible to become addicted to lip balm? I've heard
that it makes the lips lose their ability to moisturize themselves.
That's
not going to happen, says Nelson Lee Novick, M.D., a dermatologist
in New York. "Lip balm is no different from any
skin moisturizer -- it's just waxier so that it will stick
to your lips." Dryness of the lips is caused mainly
by environmental factors, such as wind, dry indoor heating,
or air-conditioning; it is not a symptom of an out-of-control
lip balm habit. "If you're hooked on using it,
it's just because moisturized lips are more comfortable than
dry lips," says Dr. Novick. And lips are particularly
prone to sunburn and certain types of skin cancer, so using
a lip balm with SPF 25 or higher really can save your skin.
Excerpted
from Allure, September 1999:
But
while it may seem as if there's an addictive connection between
balm and chapped lips, there simply isn't (and no, tingly
ingredients like camphor don't hook you). Lip balms
form a temporary seal to lock in moisture, and it's scientifically
impossible for an oil-based barrier to pull moisture from
your lips; Oil and water, remember, don't mix. That's
why petroleum-based lip balms are always a smart choice for
chapped lips. "It's the gold standard," says
Chicago dermatologist Marianne O'Donoghue. "It's
the very best thing that you could possibly put on your lips,
your hands, or your feet."
Excerpted
from News-Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), February 1, 1999:
Dr.
Meredith Overholt (a Knoxville dermatologist) chuckles at
the notion that lip balms are addictive.
"No,"
she says, "it's more the people who overuse them that
drives their own need of these things.
"There
isn't anything in them that is going to have an effect on
your brain, or whatever."
Excerpted
from Cosmopolitan, October 1998:
Do
balms contain an addictive ingredient?
"No.
Lip balms are generally made from nonaddictive mineral oil
and waxes, so your 'application addiction' is just a harmless
habit," says Robin Ashinoff, M.D., chief of dermatologic
and laser surgery at New York University Medical Center.
Excerpted
from Columbia University's Go Ask Alice Web Site, December
20, 1996:
There
is no ingredient in any of the lip balms/moisturizers on the
market that is physically addictive. You may feel that
you're addicted to lip balms/moisturizers because you've become
so used to the feeling of well-moisturized and non-irritated
lips.
