Q&A about skin issues with Dr Christopher Steele - ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

We're inviting you to send in your questions over the next week to Dr Chris Steele about skin problems. Whether it's stretch marks, scars, skin blemishes or dry skin, he'll be on hand this week to answer your questions.

Dr Chris Steele qualified as a doctor in 1968 and has worked as a GP in South Manchester since 1970. He has been the resident doctor on ITVs This Morning for the last 23 years and was voted Health Journalist of the Year in 2007.

Dr Chris is working with Bio-Oil who are running a campaign to help improve the nation's relationship with their skin blemishes. Skin Stories a campaign to celebrate how every scar and stretch mark tells a story, whether it's the birth of a child or falling off our bike when we were young. They would like you to upload your own Skin Story as an inspiration to other women, to empower them to think and feel more positively about their own skin. For every story shared, Bio-Oil will donate £1 to the British Skin Foundation to help fund research into skin health.

Send in your questions to Dr Chris before the end of Thursday 17th November

This Q&A has been sponsored by Bio-Oil

Really, I don't want to celebrate my acne, and see that 'every scar tell a story'. I would just like a product or treatment that works. Is that too much to ask?

I'm 35 and over the last two years have developed two small, flesh coloured lumps on my cheek. Each one of them has a very thick, black, stubbly type hair that grows out of the middle. I don't have facial hair anywhere else. I tweeze the hair out of them which then leaves a hole in the lump and I can squeeze clear liquid out of them and then the lump goes down in size. I then get a bit of a scab and after the scab heals the lump grows back.

What are they and how can I get rid of them for good? Would a good facial sort it out,or changing my skincare routine, or do I need to see a dermatologist?

Dr Steele, do those newish light pulsing treatments sold in Boots for ££ actually work for acne? Mine is very much hormonal and controlled by Dianette but nothing else works.

Am so excited to ask Dr Chris a question!!

I am 40 and have rosacea which started when I was pregnant with my son nearly 10 years ago.

Is there any new product on the market that I could try?

I have been on roaccutane twice which improved things for a while but my cheeks are very red as is my forehead.

Am fed up of it at my age.

TIA

Georgeclooney - I meant a sheet of plastic. It can be anything - a bit of a plastic bag. Or if you want something more 'breathable' you could use those large dressings - are they called Mepore?

DD age 14 now has reinfecting periorificial acne rosacea with serious chronic eye surface inflammation, but that's another story. This started age 10 and OTC 'teenage' washes were initially useful as antibacterials but increased sensitivity long term. She can't take oral antibiotics now, we are controlling it with topicals and lifestyle.
Q. All products available are too harsh for under 14s with acne starting - what do you advise? (same question as GHDavies, really)

My 9 wk old ds has been left with dry skin after the top layer of skiing peeled off his entire body shortly after birth. What is the best thing to use? The only bit that has yet come away is on his scalp, I haven't picked at any of it but am concerned now cause his hair has start growing it looks horrible but also the hair seems to be almost holding it in ace rather than allowing it to wear away. What can I do?

Thanks

Sice i had my baby 9 months ago i have had spots on my thighs and tummy.They are red and some have a tiny amount of waxy white in them.
My skin used to be remarkably smooth there.I am about 2 stone over weight since the baby and im also now 44 could it be linked to any of that?

A question about stretch marks - I got really terrible, livid, purply red stretch marks all over my hips as a teenager - they took ten years or so to fade completely, and were a source of much self consciousness and embarrassment. I assumed that I'd be very prone to them when pregnant, but didn't get a single one with either pregnancy. Obviously I'm not complaining, but I'd just really like to know why, and what might have caused such different experiences.

Tethers, I've got two boys. It must be hormone related to be affected either way by pregnancy, mustn't it? I hate it, my upper arms are like chicken skin!

I suffer from reoccuring shingles its affects my right hand side much more. When I have a stress bout its affects the top of my arm , face and back. It can last ages as I`m slow to heal then leave alot of scarring especially on my arm. so what is the best way to boost my immune system and what can help with scarring.

Also any helpful pointers with the stress will be much appreciated.

thank you

My daughter (2) has molluscum contagiosum on her face and torso, she's had it for ages (at least 12 months) and its getting worse, not better, I understand there's nothing that can be done so we're waiting it out and it's horrible. However every now and then one of the spots goes brown, shrivels up and drops off, leaving a slightly raised area which is skin coloured and stays for months.

My question is, is it possible that the brown shrivelling spots are something else, and if so, what might that be?

Oh I'm so pleased to see this topic

ive been cursed with a lifetime of problem skin. I have a chronically itchy, flakey scalp. It itches, violently, constantly. My shoulders are always covered in a thick snow of flakes. It has been variously diagnosed over the years as dermatitis / psoriasis etc. I've has lotions, potions, creams and ointments. I've tried homeopathy, seaweed from the dead sea, natural shampoo, no shampoo. It seems it's with me for life

Ive also got an area of lumpy, bumpy almost but not quite scales all over the back of one lower arm, this doesn't itch. It looks almost like a burn.

I have the same over part of my back and one hip

I have different looking, not itchy but rough, thick scaly bits on the top of each foot

My hands are peely and so dry they snag silk tops

Seriously, what the can I do? I'm pretty disgusting. As I say I've had the scalp thing all my life and have periodically asked doctors about it over the years. Not once has one shown any interest whatsoever in a boring, general, non specific skin issue that I guess they know there is no cure for. i understand there is ^no cure but I'm sick of it. I want smooth, pretty skin .

Is there anything I can do?

I would be interested to know if anyone has advanced in the treatment of keratosis pilaris. I've had it all my life, and I'm less bothered now by it than I used to be, but my 4yo daughter has it really badly, and I would love to know if there's anything I can do to improve it for her.

I would love to know if there's anything I can do to help the skin on my legs. I have really pale, really sensitive skin. As soon as I go outside bare legged, my skin turns purple, it's horrible! Also when I shave I get a horrible shaving rash - doesn't matter which products I use, I get raised red bumps.

Any advice would be great.

yellowraincoat, mad notion I know, but have you tried shaving just using water and no products at all? I know, it's MAD. But it worked for me.

Eek, I haven't. Sounds terrifying, but maybe I'll try it on a small patch.

Thanks for the advice.

Make sure it's a nice quality razor though. Not a BIC.

Ugh, skin problems. This has been my blight since I had DS3.

I have neck acne. My face is clear but my neck is a constant battle. I am on dianette and take strict care of my skin. My hair is washed daily so it's not grease residue

Is there anything I can do to help this? It affects my confidence so much :(

My daughter has bad eczema. If I use emollients, she gets rashy all over and scratches until she breaks the skin. I have tried everything, it's not an allergic thing (have tried most available on prescription, including 50/50 type and just plain vegetable oil!) but it seems to be an occlusive thing. The more occlusive, the more she scratches. Even the lightest lotions break her out. However, her skin is so dry that if we use nothing, she also scratches and breaks out too. She also has very stubborn patches of eczema on her knees and hands which my GP will not prescribe her anything stronger than Eumovate for, and on for 5 days use at a time which does nothing at all to tackle them.

I'm at my wits end what else to do for her. I have had chronic eczema a lot of my life, treated by hospital daily for considerable periods of time, and have various allergies. So I'd like to think I'm clued up. But I have no idea what else to try and dermatology nurses and GPs just tell me to slather her in creams/ointments several times a day which just makes things worse (but they refuse to believe this!).

Could it be a food allergy thing? Would tacrolimus be suitable for her? (she's almost 5 yrs old) It's the only thing that comes close to working for me but I worry about it's safety and my GP just keeps giving me more emollients when i ask!. Thankyou.

Just an idea for the keratosis pilaris sufferers - if, as it generally is, it is a result of hyper-keratinisation, this has been linked to insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia - so a low GI/GL diet may assist with it.

Ditto the acne rosacea, but only from personal experience - if I reduce my alcohol and sugar intake, my rosacea all but disappears - and as soon as I increase alcohol and sugar consumption past a reasonable point (I have chocolate ishoos) then it comes back. I hate the rosacea. :(

My three year old son has what looks like little flesh coloured bumps about 3mm across on his face and hands, most are fine and slowly going but there is one on his eyelid and one just under his eye that he is picking at. They feel a little as if they have a pea in but are completely smooth and mark free. He saw an Opthalmologist for a general eye test who said to leave them as they were not big enough to remove. The problem is the picking, the under eye one is now red from that. As far as GP in concerned, Opthalmologist has said they are OK. Any advice? Thank you.

I get really dry, scaly and painfully tight and cracked skin around the corners of my mouth - I used to get it just in the winter but I've had it almost all the way through this pregnancy (now 37 weeks). It's just the corners, not the rest of my lips or my face, and in fact almost always just the right corner, the other corner is fine. It doesn't seem to respond to any lip salve, vaseline, lansinoh, bio-oil, drinking more water, eating more iron, light hydrocortisone...the list goes on of things I've tried that have made no difference.

I don't wear lipstick, lip salve (except to try to cure this) or makeup around my mouth.

Only other skin issue is that I've got very mild pompholyx eczema on my feet, don't know how relevant that would be.

Any idea what it could be and how to get rid of it?

I grew up in Florida and in my teens/early twenties was really stupid about sun exposure. I now have loads of sun damage and a great deal of moles. I think my GP is sick of me going to him to look at this mole or that one. What sort of moles should really concern me?

Yep, another one wondering about keratosis pilaris. It developed after the birth of DS three years ago, then died down a bit but definitely not completely, and now has come back having DD two months ago. I'm using urea cream and exfoliating, as per advice on the MN beauty boards, but is there anything else I can do?

Cheers.