The Skinny

We're heading into winter which tends to bring dry, irritated skin and....more sick days. How are they related? The skin is your greatest barrier to keeping out the bugs. Once your skin is cracked, fissured, raw, or excoriated it is more susceptible to the bugs around us.

You have 3 layers to your skin: the epidermis, dermis, and a layer of subcutaneous fat. The epidermis is what this post is all about. This is what happens in the epidermis: keratin and melanin are produced, cells process the bits of environment that land on your skin and are presented to your lymphocytes where they are determined to be either safe or harmful, and finally you have cells that sense touch and pressure.

What are you using on your skin?

Cleansers
Soaps in general can be drying, so you should limit your use. Never use dish soap as a body soap. It's meant to get grime off pots and pans and is incredibly drying. If soap is what you have and what fits nicely into the budget, then you may want to consider using a mild soap cleanser without perfumes. Cetaphil is an inexpensive and effective cleanser. If your skin is already dry, you'll want to cut back on soap. Try an oil based cleanser instead which will hydrate your skin.

Moisturizers
Lotions are powder suspended in liquid (which can be water, alcohol, or oil). Lotions can be moisturizing if your skin is intact and you're only applying it once or twice a day. But water and alcohol are drying to the skin. If your skin is already dry, cut the lotions for now and go straight to creams. Creams are oil-in-water emulsions with 60% or less water content. Anything oil based is going to help lock in the moisture instead of evaporating it off. Finally, if your skin is really in a bad way, try an ointment. Ointments are water-in-oil emulsions with 40% or less water content (an example would be vaseline). It's a great barrier but best used on clean skin.

Tips

• Moisturize within minutes of bathing and patting dry
  
• Decrease the # of baths you take in a day. Clean skin is important but it's not necessary to bath every day.
• Keep environment humidified
• Avoid over-exfoliating the skin
• If susceptible to Atopic Dermatitis or Eczema, use fragrance free detergents, cleansers, and moisturizers
  

Recommended Ointments

• Vaseline Pure Petroleum Jelly
• Aquaphor Naturel Healing Ointment

Recommended Creams

• Purpose Dry Skin Cream
• Cetaphil Cream
• Keri Cream
• Eucerin Cream
• Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream
  

Recommended Lotions

• Dermasil
• Moisturel
  
• Replenaderm
  
• Eucerin lotion
  
• Lubriderm lotion
  
• Nivea lotion
  
• Corn Huskers lotion
  
• Cetaphil lotion

References:
Copstead, L.C. & Banasik, J.L. ( 2005). Pathophysiology. 3rd Ed.
Flynn, T.C., Petros, J., Clark, R.E., Viehman, G.E. (2001). Dry skin and moisturizers. Clinics in Dermatology. 19, 387-392.
Index Stock Photography for photos @ http://www.indexstock.com/default.asp
Uphold, C.R. & Graham, M.V (2003). Clinical Guidelines in Family Practice. 4th Ed.