Why Are My Lips Losing Pigment With Age?

When I was in high school, my friend came up to me before class started and asked what I was wearing on my lips. “Uhhh, nothing,” I replied. She couldn’t believe my lips were naturally that color, and it was the first time I had ever really thought about it, either. Now I think about it all the time and yearn for those days, because somewhere along the way, that beautiful pinky berry hue that was just there has faded away into nothing. So, why do lips lose color as you age? Why must I arise each day and look like a zombie woman until I swipe on something with a little pigment? Why is fate so cruel?

Dramatics aside, it’s a strange phenomenon, so I asked a couple of dermatologists why this happens to so many people as we grow older. And yes, there are some things you can do to bring a little life back to your lips.

A Little Lip Biology

Why are lips a different color than the rest of our skin anyway? The skin on our lips is made up of only three to five cellular layers, whereas the skin on the rest of our face has around 16 layers, Live Science explains. The blood vessels are, therefore, much more visible through the skin of our lips, giving them a lot more color.

It’s the changes to those structures underneath our lips that really affect their color as we age.

Why do lips lose color as you age?

If you’ve noticed your lips are less pigmented than they used to be, it’s probably because of a few contributing factors.

“The change of lip color as we age is more than just the fading of pigment,” says Dr. Jimmy C. Sung, board-certified plastic surgeon at Tribeca Aesthetics. “It is due to the fact that we are losing collagen and muscle fibers, and a decrease in circulation.”

Our circulation generally worsens with age. Your lifestyle and environment can contribute to making it better or worse, though the focus when talking about these things is typically on preventing heart disease (fair). Your lips could also be losing their color for other reasons.

“Sun exposure can have an impact on lip pigment as we age. Lack of hydration can also cause the lips to lose some of their color,” says Dr. Mark Murphy, double board-certified plastic surgeon and owner of Palm Beach Facial Plastic Surgery. These causes are within your control — Murphy says that upping your hydration and keeping your lips hydrated can help combat the fading, as can wearing SPF on your lips.

If you are interested in other options to return some color to your pout, Sung says plastic surgeons and dermatologists would probably turn to in-office, “energy-based” devices to stimulate the tissues around the lips and restore some circulation. He does advise that filler won’t change the color of your lips, so don’t jump to that as a solution, even though it’s the most well-known cosmetic procedure having to do with the lips. Then there’s lip blushing, which, like microblading for the eyebrows, involves tattooing pigment into the lips to add color and the appearance of fullness.

Personally, I’m content just throwing on a plumping gloss to get the circulation to my lips going, or using any pretty lip product. That said, it’s nice to have some reminders that staying hydrated really does matter (for our circulatory systems as much as our lips’ color), and that wearing SPF on the lips is actually important.