diff --git a/src/middleware/real_ip.rs b/src/middleware/real_ip.rs
index fcbe4c41eba..1d691eaf3ad 100644
--- a/src/middleware/real_ip.rs
+++ b/src/middleware/real_ip.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,13 @@ pub async fn middleware(
     next: Next,
 ) -> impl IntoResponse {
     let xff_ip = process_xff_headers(req.headers());
-    let real_ip = xff_ip.unwrap_or_else(|| socket_addr.ip());
+    let real_ip = xff_ip
+        .inspect(|ip| debug!(target: "real_ip", "Using X-Forwarded-For header as real IP: {ip}"))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| {
+            let ip = socket_addr.ip();
+            debug!(target: "real_ip", "Using socket address as real IP: {ip}");
+            ip
+        });
 
     req.extensions_mut().insert(RealIp(real_ip));
 
diff --git a/src/real_ip.rs b/src/real_ip.rs
index e02aed37a45..e009015aa5a 100644
--- a/src/real_ip.rs
+++ b/src/real_ip.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ fn is_cloud_front_ip(ip: &IpAddr) -> bool {
 
 pub fn process_xff_headers(headers: &HeaderMap) -> Option<IpAddr> {
     let mut xff_iter = headers.get_all(X_FORWARDED_FOR).iter();
-    let first_header = xff_iter.next()?;
+    let Some(first_header) = xff_iter.next() else {
+        debug!(target: "real_ip", "No X-Forwarded-For header found");
+        return None;
+    };
 
     let has_more_headers = xff_iter.next().is_some();
     return if has_more_headers {
@@ -55,6 +58,8 @@ pub fn process_xff_headers(headers: &HeaderMap) -> Option<IpAddr> {
         // have to care about the trusted proxies, since the request was
         // apparently sent to Heroku directly.
 
+        debug!(target: "real_ip", ?first_header, "Multiple X-Forwarded-For headers found, using the first one due to Heroku bug");
+
         parse_xff_header(first_header)
             .into_iter()
             .filter_map(|r| r.ok())
@@ -69,6 +74,8 @@ pub fn process_xff_headers(headers: &HeaderMap) -> Option<IpAddr> {
         // In this case return the right-most IP address that is not in the list
         // of IPs from trusted proxies (i.e. CloudFront).
 
+        debug!(target: "real_ip", ?first_header, "Single X-Forwarded-For header found");
+
         parse_xff_header(first_header)
             .into_iter()
             .filter_map(|r| r.ok())