Hi Derm-friends,
Winter is upon us. With winter comes some unfortunate skin problems. Dry winter air (both from the cold outside and the heater running inside) can wreak havoc on skin. With these tips, you can better prepare yourself and keep your skin healthy all winter long.
- Humidifiers help! Heaters naturally dessicate (dry out) our inside air, this eventually causes dryness and cracking in our skin. A humidifier can help to minimize these effects.
- Pick a daily moisturizer that works and then make a habit of using it. Personal favorites in the moisturizer category: Vanicream, Aveeno, Neutrogena, Cetaphil, Cerave. Stay away from scented products, stay away from bright colors, -these can cause allergic contact dermatitis and actually worsen your eczema.
- With flares of eczema a mild topical corticosteroid (example: 1% hydrocortisone), available at any pharmacy, can help. Apply twice a day, don’t do this for more than two weeks in any one place though.
- A daily over-the-counter 2nd-generation antihistamine (Zyrtec, Allerga, Claritin) can help to ease both itching and runny noses this time of the year.
- Layer up! Eczema is triggered by over-heating. Shed those layers when you have to travel to that one part of the office that is the eternal Sahara and vice-versa for that other part of the office that is the South Pole.
- Water-facts:
- After hand-washing or showering be sure to moisturize immediately after. Washing our skin depletes it of our natural oils. When leather gets wet, we dry it off and then oil it up. Same idea for our skin, instead we just use moisturizers.
- Shed those wet workout clothes immediately.