Busted lips may degrade confidence and cause discomfort while eating and talking. Depending mostly on its severity, busted lips might take different length of time to heal. Some swollen lip problem will heal in less than one full day, yet some others might require some years to completely heal. As the lips are substantial and visible parts of the body, treating busted lips properly to promote a faster healing is essential.

What helps busted lips?

Lips may swell when a trauma happens directly to it or around the mouth area. Some risk factors cause temporary swollen lips, which go down in less than a day, while some others, such as accidents and punch to the face might cause not only a busted lip, but also severely bleeding one. Unsurprisingly, this takes more time to flatten and heal. The good news is that our face contains numerous blood vessels which work actively, pumping blood to and from the heart to each facial organs. Hence, trauma to the lips, especially busted lip, may heal quite fast.

Some treatments are also helpful in healing a busted lip, flattening the wounded area quite fast than it should generally be. A list of treatments might be helpful in triggering busted lips to go down, such as:

• Cleaning the lips thoroughly with water and soap. This is an essential treatment for almost all kinds of lip swelling caused by a variety of factors. In busted lips caused by allergies, cleaning the injured site will remove the allergen and thus, promote faster lip healing. Cleaning busted lips caused by accidents is also essential in order to eliminate left debris, dirt, and bacteria.
• Topical analgesic which contains clover and salicylic is helpful for minimizing itching and pain resulted with busted lips caused by insect bites. Natural oil, such as eucalyptus and neem oil are also beneficial for helping a busted lip.

• Applying cold compress onto the affected area is also advised. This is not only comforting, but will also numb the area, reducing the painful effect of inflammation. Cold compresses are advised for treating herpes-induced and accident-triggered busted lips, which are quite severe and painful.
  • Wrap ice cubes with a clean cloth or towel. Avoid putting ice cubes directly to the busted lips as it may trigger mild frost bite.
  • Press the compress gently on the busted lips for 5 to 10 minutes. Take a break and repeat for several times until the pain subsides and the swelling goes down.

• Baking soda is also helpful in reducing pain caused by fever blisters and allergic reaction. This home remedy is simple and can be done with some steps as:
  • Mix a teaspoon of water and three teaspoons of baking soda to make a thick paste.
  • Apply a thin layer of the paste onto the busted lip and let it sit for a few minutes.
  • Rinse off with cold water by rubbing—not scrubbing the lip gently.
  • Repeat until swelling subsides.

• Severe cuts and bleeding swelling on the lip can be treated using simple homemade saline solution. This does sting, but provides a very good effect on promoting faster healing. To perform the treatment:
  • Dissolve a tablespoon of salt into a cup of lukewarm water.
  • Soak a sterile cotton ball into the solution.
  • Dab the cotton ball onto the busted, cracked, or cut lip. Make sure you are prepared for the severe burning sensation to occur.
  • Anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory property of saline solution will help reducing busted lip which is caused by trauma, such as punches and accidents.

• Turmeric paste

Turmeric is a strong anti-infection ingredient, which can be used in treating badly busted lip caused by various causes. This is herbal home remedy, which has no side effect and in fact, is very effective in eliminating bacterial causing infection.

• Make a thick paste by mixing three teaspoon of turmeric powder with sufficient cold water.
• Apply the paste onto busted lip and let it still for minutes until dry.
• Rinse off with lukewarm water. Gently wipe the lip off thoroughly.
• Repeat several times to make the swelling go down.

Read also: How To Stop Lip Bleeding?