Addicted To ... Lip Balm? It Happens, Experts Say

Woman Applies Stick Up To 60 Times Per Day
CLEVELAND -- Most people use lip balms once in a while, but for a few people, those little tubes have become an obsession.

If you notice the people around you applying and re-applying lip balm, it may not be a sign of dry lips, but of an addiction, reported WEWS-TV in Cleveland.
There are actually Web sites devoted to the problem.
Carrie, a lip balm user, says she has to have her tube with her all the time -- and she applies it more than just now and then.
"It's almost involuntary, but probably 50 to 60 times a day," she said.
In case you doubt the addictive power of lip balm, it took only minutes in a crowd of people to find those who get pretty worked up about it, especially the flavored stuff, the television station reported.

"Oh yeah, and eat my lips, mmm," Louise Tufts said.
Dr. Kevin Cooper, a dermatologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, offered a theory about how people get so stuck on their Chapsticks.
"I think it could become repetitive behavior, more like habit, in same sense that some people become fixated orally with smoking, or chewing on pens," Cooper said.
Ingredients like camphor and menthol give lips a tingly rush, another addictive sensation, WEWS reported. The problem is some of the ingredients can create the need for more lip balm.
"The menthol can be drying, can take out moisture and interfere with function of outer layer of skin, so don't have natural barrier anymore, so now need moisturization," Cooper said.
Using more can create the need for more. So how do you battle this addiction?
"The best way is to gradually wean down," Cooper said. "Try to go to a couple times a day, maybe breakfast, lunch, dinner. Then try to cut one out, maybe over three to four weeks to get yourself off."
Cooper recommends the most plain, unflavored wax-type lip balm when you do need one. He said fewer chemicals are better. More serious dermatitis around the lips may need medication.