My Body

Why Are Our Lips Red?

One night…

I hear there are lots of humans living on Earth. Why isn’t anyone here?

Perhaps there are humans over there! We’ve come to the earth for the first time.

It is so beautiful! Let’s find out where the humans are.

Alright.

Let’s go and check it out.

Hi! We’re aliens from outer space.

Oh no, Dad! Aliens are attacking our Earth. Why is the colour of human lips different from ours?

No! We’re not attacking the earth. We just want to

study humans.

Now I Know! Now I Know!

Our lips are made up of upper and lower lips. They are very important organs on our face. Their major functions are to help with eating food, protecting our mouth and pronunciation of words when we talk.

Their lips are not blue in colour as we thought they would be.

Why are your lips red? What does your blood colour have to do with your lip colour? That’s because the blood in our

body is red.

Dad, I’d like to know too. Why are our lips not same colour as our skin?

Now I Know! Now I Know!

The lips are one of the most sensitive and softest facial parts. Beneath the lips are many microvessels.

The skin of our lips is thin and transparent.

I see. I understand now.

Besides, different people have slightly different lip colours. The bright red blood under our skin can be seen through our lips, giving our lips their red

colour.

Some people have redder lips, others have lighter coloured ones. This is all normal.

Now I Know! Now I Know!

Healthy lips are always a lustrous reddish colour. When our lips are dry, their exterior colour looks lighter.

Aw! Why are there two aliens in my house?

That’s because my mum has lipstick on. I’m ready, let’s go!

Why are her lips so much redder than yours?

I want to have red lips! No, me!

Now I Know! Now I Know!

The skin structure of the lips, which is thin and cannot be *keratinized, is different from other body parts. Thus, the microvessels in the lip skin look more obvious.

*keratinized: a process which turns the skin into a hard protective cover

Our Red Lips

The lips are *mucosal organs. The skin covering both lips is very thin. The lip colour that we see is not the colour of the lip skin but the colour of the blood in the skin.

Blood is mostly made up of red blood cells. Therefore, the colour red of the red blood cells looks more noticeable in the blood. That is why our blood appears red and so do our lips.

The change of lip colour can reflect the condition of the human body. If you find your lips too pale, too red, or blue, it could mean your body might be diseased and you should pay more attention to your health.