What causes dry skin on the face? Dry itchy skin on the face? Scaly, rash and dry patches on the face? Read on to get more insights into the causes of flaky skin on the face. This is a better way of understanding your health as well as your appearance.
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Everyone experiences dry skin at one point in life due to various factors that the post explores on. This condition hardly associates with a serious medical condition but can cause appearance disappointment and inconveniences as a result of itching, flaking, irritations, and low self-esteem. Before getting to know the various ways on how to prevent and treat dry skin on the face, it is better to first know the possible causes and comprehensively understand why this problem occurs.
Dry Skin on Face Meaning
“Dry skin, medically known as xerosis or xeroderma, is usually a mild condition caused by environmental factors, although dry skin can also result from some common skin ailments. Inherited diseases of the skin known as ichthyoses, while very rare, can also cause disfiguration and excessively dry skin.”[medicinenet.com]
This condition can affect the entire body parts or specific areas such as the face, hands or legs. It associates various symptoms such as flaking, dullness, pain, flaking, redness, and formation of patches on the skin. There are also patients who experience skin inflammation, peeling skin rash and skin tightness.
Dry skin on the face or any other part requires treatment to avoid more complications such as embarrassment, dermatitis, swelling of the skin, and infections. Since this condition is mostly external, most of the treatments also involve external applications such as creams, lotions and dry skin moisturizers.
Causes of Dry Skin on Face, Legs, Arms, Hands and Abdomen
Most of the causes of dry skin are environmentally associated while a few involve underlying medical conditions. Here are the major reasons for drying and flaking of skin.
Dry Air and Low Temperatures
Winter is a weather season that associates dropping in temperatures with an increase in humidity. This leads to the formation of dry air that carries away moisture from your skin causing itching, flaking, and the formation of dry patches on the skin.
To prevent your skin from such weather conditions, ensure that you create a moisture barrier that can protect more exposed parts like the face, hands, lips and arms. You can use a scarf, gloves and long-sleeved tops and pants.
You can also install a humidifier in your house or home that is regulated at a constant humidity and temperatures. This will help in keeping the air around moist during winter weather. Apply appropriate dry skin moisturizer while getting outdoors.
Sun Poisoning
The radiations from the sun are powerful and they appear in various dimensions and spectrums. The UV rays are one of the dangerous rays from the sun and when they exceed the required limit in the body they can cause serious harm. This is why the ozone layer in the atmosphere helps in reducing the intensity of such radiations. Sun poisoning is the effects of these radiations on the skin.
The skin is made up of several layers of cells. The topmost layer is composed of dead skin cells that are usually dark in color. They are useful in protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. One of the dangerous properties of UV rays is the ability to penetrate these dead skin cells to cause damage to the life underneath cells hence causing dry skin on the face and other exposed parts of the body.
How to Prevent Sun Poisoning Rash?
- The sun is normally too hot during peak hours. Avoid getting outdoors from 10 am to 4 pm.
- Wear wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses with UV protection, long-sleeved shirts and pants.
- Avoid medications and drugs that make your skin vulnerable to the sun poisoning
- Avoid abuse of substances such as excessive use of mind-altering drugs which will impair your judgment.
- Be cautious while going for short and sequential sun exposure since it can cause tanning and skin cancer in the long run.
- Avoid tanning beds since they are associated with serious cell conditions such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
- Young adults and children are at high risk of sun poisoning compared to aged people.
- Use sunscreen and sun protection while outdoors.
Steamy and Hot Showers
A hot shower is what most people enjoy. It is good in relaxing the muscles as well as soothing the skin but is a devastating thing when it comes to your skin texture. Steamy showers remove natural oils from the skin leaving it dry. Such oils make the skin supple and glowing.
When you scrub off your skin with a towel after taking a shower, you are also risking dry skin on the face and on the entire body. The skin surface usually absorbs some of the moisture and toweling strips such moisture away.
According to Cheryl Karcher, MD, a dermatologist, hot water damages the top layer of the skin and makes it vulnerable to moisture loss. “Most people with really dry skin are probably using soap that is too strong, or they’re taking long hot shower or baths,”
Therefore one of the best ways on how to get glowing skin that is not dry and flaky is to avoid steamy showers. Make the temperature moderate and take little time. The more you overstay in the hot shower, the more you cause more harm to your skin.
Use of Skin Lightening Products
There are many dangers of skin lightening creams reported and observed among many users. According to dermatologists, skin bleaching creams can only be safe when prescribed by a specialist. “Unfortunately, many skin-lightening creams contain illegal compounds that can damage your health,” [Indy Rihal of the British Skin Foundation]. “The most common compounds are high-dose steroids.”
Hydroquinone is also a chemical substance available in most skin whitening products. This is a bleaching agent that can also be risky to the body health of the user. Steroids are fine when used in correct doses. “Unmonitored use of high-dose steroids can lead to many problems,” [Rihal]. “Patients are often very distressed by the results of skin-lightening creams.”
Dry skin is one of the possible effects of skin lightening products such as skin whitening creams and skin lightening pills. Avoid products that contain harsh chemical elements. Moisturize your skin to avoid flaking and drying before application of any treatment on how to bleach your skin.
Wrong Moisturizer Use
Moisturizer use is one of the best ways to prevent dry skin on the face or any other part of the body. When you don’t use moisturizers correctly, you are also going to be a long term patient of dry skin. This product ought to be applied on damp skin so that it can tap and maintain the moisture on your skin.
Application on dry flaky skin will not help but will keep you contending with your dry skin for a long. Do not also apply on wet skin, apply it immediately after patting your skin dry with a piece of towel. Allow it to stay and act for a few minutes and use your towel to remove the excess.
Use the correct type of moisturizer for your skin. According to experts, you are supposed to use mild moisturizers with no perfumes or alcohol for your dry skin. They recommend a thick and greasy moisturizer since this makes it ideal for sealing and tapping moisture on your skin.
Some dermatologists recommend the dry skin patients to use moisturizers that contain lactic acid that strips off the top dry and flaky skin to allow penetration into the skin. Apply it twice or thrice during the day especially if your skin is too dry.
David McDaniel, MD, assistant professor of clinical dermatology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Virginia Beach also recommends products containing glycerin or petroleum jelly to apply particularly to the dry spots. According to him, glycerin acts as a humectant hence suitable for attracting and trapping moisture into the skin. Despite the appearance as thick and goopy, its molecules are large enough to penetrate the skin pores.
Use of Soap
Soap is regularly used in daily washing and cleaning of the body without knowledge of the effect. Natural protective oils can be stripped away by the soap leaving your skin dry, cracked and prone to infections. Harsh deodorant and antibacterial soaps form a more lather form that can leave dry skin on the face, hands and other parts.
Experts recommend the use of a mild skin cleanser especially for people with dry skin. Soaps with no fragrances are also recommended. Wash your body with soft materials and avoid using harsh abrasive sponges and brushes to scrub your skin. For bleaching your skin, there are best skin lightening soaps recommended for you.
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Aging
The skin is likely to change as people age. There is a low secretion of hormones hence little production of natural oils on the skin to maintain moisture. You can use antioxidant and anti-aging products such as creams and lotions to help in your skin restoration. There are also irritants such as detergents, fabrics and chemical spillage on skins that can also contribute to this matter
The use of certain medicines can also lead to a flaky skin rash. There are a number of drugs that have such side effects. Examples include diuretics, drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure, retinoid and steroids among others.
Medical Conditions
As said, most of the dry skin cases are linked to external causes while there are some cases that associated with an underlying medical condition. Among them include the following:
- Skin diseases and conditions such as eczema and psoriasis
- Diabetes due to unregulated glucose levels in the blood can cause dehydration hence dry skin.
- Underactive thyroid gland hence a low level of natural skin oils production.
- Lack of sufficient nutrients in the body can cause skin disorders and drying of the skin.
In conclusion, therefore, you need to take any action to help in getting rid of dry skin on the face, legs, arms, hands, abdomen to prevent itching, rash development, and cracking of the skin which can lead to bacterial infections and permanent skin denaturing.
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