Share your smiles, not your lipsticks!

For the make-up crazy lot, sharing lipsticks and other cosmetics with friends is a usual practice. However, the daily-use lipsticks packed in our kits could be carrying potential skin diseases. Dermatologist Dr Shefali Trasi gives us a heads-up and explains why we must immediately stop this practise.

Lipsticks, cosmetics are common sources of viral infections as they come in direct contact with the skin and the oral mucosa. Since lip colours tend to penetrate or stay onto the skin for long hours, sharing these could be dangerous.

Do not use or share lipsticks and cosmetics with those suffering from virus-related skin conditions like warts and mollusscum or other contagious skin diseases.Here is what you need to know about the contents in various lip-formulas. 

Yes, sharing of lipsticks can increase the chances of spreading human papilloma virus (HPV), commonly causing warts. However, there is no such relation to cervical cancer.

Avoid sharing lipsticks and clean or blot them with a tissue paper before application.

Originally published on www.healthsite.com