Seven Dermatological Tips for Your Skin

5. Get those scaly rough spot on your face/ears/hands checked

Do you have some scaly spots on your body that do not seem to go away (and I do not mean your previously diagnosed psoriasis or eczema)? Get them checked. Especially if you have a history of sunburns of your face, like driving with your forearms resting on the open car window, or if you are a man who throughout your whole life was protecting your eyes and face from the sun by wearing baseball cap but totally neglected to protect your ears. These scaly spots on your face might be what doctors call actinic keratosis – a thickened pre-cancerous skin lesion that is still confined within epidermis, the most superficial layer of your skin. If left untreated these can progress to squamous cell carcinoma. But if found early, can be easily treated with cryosurgery, liquid nitrogen, chemical peel, or topical chemotherapy.

6. Prevent your winter itch a.k.a. eczema or atopic dermatitis

Any dermatologist will tell you that there is no cure for eczema, however in severe cases there are medications that can help control this skin condition. But we at healthy-family.org believe that the first intervention of such skin problem is prevention. Here is the list of things that you can do to help your self.

1) Moisturize – the best time to do it is right after the shower when your skin acts like a sponge. You can use lotions, but if your condition is severe use creams instead.

2) Take short cool showers – while this might be the most difficult to do (who from us do not like to stand under the steaming running shower in winter), but is the most beneficial. Just like hot/steamy showers, baths and Jacuzzi can extremely dehydrate your skin and make the condition worse.

3) Humidify – while on the outside there may be below zero temperatures more than likely the air inside your room is warm and dry, which will even further dehydrate your skin. To prevent that put some moisture back in your air by using a humidifier or a pot of cold water that is left standing uncovered to allow water to evaporate. And drink plenty of water even in winter!

7. Create wonderful skin with a good daily regime

After my recent dermatology rotation I have pointed out to the doctor that my head starts to spin when thinking about all the beauty procedures that are available “out there”: gold powder masks, oxygen treatments, chemical peels, to name a few. They supposedly make our skin look healthier and younger.  I asked her to help sort out the puzzle about what is really important. I was shocked with her simplistic answer to a seemingly difficult matter. According to her, there are three things that you can do for your skin.

AM: Use gentle wash, something like Cetaphil wash or Dove soap. Daily facial scrubs are not necessary as they may start to irritate your skin in the long run. Moisturizer with spf to both hydrate your skin and protect from the harmful sun through out your day.

PM: Use gentle wash, again, to remove any cosmetic product buildup or just environmental debris. Use corrective night cream that helps reorganize collagen and therefore reduce the appearance of the thin lines, such as Rejuva or Retin A micro.