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

i have a question about skin tags, I developed quite a few very small ones in my last pregnancy (baby is now 15 days old) Will they fall off on their own? Can I pull/cut them off myself? Are there professional treatments to remove them? Will they grow back? What causes them and are they affected by diet/lifestyle?

many thanks in advance.

I developed very blushed looking skin on my cheeks and nose with both my pregnancies but with the last (ds now 18mths) it's not cleared up. The redness flairs up several times a day, and my cheeks and end of nose are permanently pimply. Makeup as a quick fix helps but it's then worse the next day. I'd appreciate any advice as it's ebbing away at my self confidence.

Tyelperion - have you tried anything with an antifungal? I used to have that cracked corners 'sad' mouth thing all the time and someone on here said it could be fungal/thrush type related. It wasn't in the end, just bad eczema, and it cleared when I changed to tacrolimus ointment. But possibly worth a try for you if it's the only bit. I also found that it was worse when I was overtired because I tended to drool at night lol. I too have pompholyx on my feet, for me I was allergic to leather dyes. It's so itchy, you have my sympathies!

tyelperion it could be angular cheilitis? (Have a google)

Dr Chris, I have tinea cruris (for about 11 years now) & nothing will get rid of it. It affects my sleep almost constantly, the Dr gave me some cream which helped for a while but not long. Is topical cream the only option? It's driving me mad.

Recently I seem to have a flair up of dry skin, just random patches on my body but the are quite sore and very ithy, I use moisturising cream which seems to work for a bit then it just comes back and I am not sure if the creams are helping at all.

What is the best way to treat dry skin effectively in the cold weather without spending a fortune on expensive creams?

Mummyabroad - did you have gestational diabetes? or borderline high blood sugar? Skin tags are associated quite strongly with hyperinsulinaemia, so strongly in fact that it is suggested they should be used as an indicator that Type II diabetes might be beginning.

So yes, they can be associated with sugar imbalances in the blood and you could try to sort them out by changing your diet to reduce refined carbohydrates and your sugar load. Eat more complex carbohydrate foods and more low GI/GL foods and try to even out your blood sugar levels.

To get rid of the ones you have, if they don't go of their own accord with diet change, they can be frozen off with liquid nitrogen (which stings a bit and they take a few days to drop off). Your GP should be able to do that for you.
Or you can try tying them off with nylon thread to starve them of their blood supply and they drop off but the freezing option is better. Do not snip them off as they do have a blood supply.

I've developed hypertrophic scarring on a long scar on the inside of my elbow following surgery. It is livid red and keeps cracking, plus is painful and itchy. I moisturise it, massage it etc and keeping silicon gel on it is impossible.
Are there any good treatments ?

lavender oil might help - it works on burns. But you mustn't put it on when the wound is open.

sorry, meant to say "when the skin is broken", not when the wound is open, doh!

Another one for keratosis pilaris - for my 3yo DS. He has it on his cheeks - it gets mostly better in the summer but goes rough again in the winter. We've tried moisturising with Diprobase and with Euricin (sp? the one with urea) but they don't seem at all effective. Its not sooo bad at the moment but I worry about him for when he gets older especially if it gets worse. Is it likely to get worse - or is it just something time will tell. Both me and my DH have it on our arms a bit but not faces at all.

thumbwitch thanks! Yes, i did have gestational diabetes - how interesting i never would have known about the connection had you not mentioned it, my doctor never commented on it.

do you know if diet change will help get rid of the ones i have or prevent more forming?

mummyabroad - a diet change should certainly help prevent more forming, but I'm not entirely sure about the ones you have now. I say this because I have one on my neck that seems to come and go depending on my sugar intake - but OTOH I had to have one frozen off a few years ago that had become quite large and was very persistent, so I can't say for sure.
Glad to have made a connection there for you :)

good to know, thanks again

The Q&A has now closed. We're sending 20 questions to Dr Chris Steele today and will be linking to his answers on this page on 30th November.

Any answers yet?

Sorry for the delay on this - Dr Chris has been ill and so it's going to be a bit longer before the archive Q&A is complete - hopefully should be up by beginning of next week. We'll keep you posted.

Again, we are so sorry that the answers have taken so long to get back to you - Dr Chris is still sick and hasn't had chance to answer all the questions. However, we wanted to get the answers up that he has sent over so here's the Q&A as it stands.

Q&A about skin issues with Dr Chris Steele

We do hope he'll be answering the others once he's recovered in the New Year and will add these to the archive Q&A and let you know once they are up.

Oh dear, that's a long time to be ill. Hope he recovers soon, and his Christmas is not spoiled.