Extremely dry skin - what are you using on yours? (a little survey) and can I ask how bad yours gets?

[foxinsocks]

I wanted to ask about what you are using on your skin at the moment (if you get dry skin).

I use Epaderm but get fed up of putting it on so sometimes use the Simple Intensive lotion (for very dry skin).

If I don't put this on, by lunch time, my skin is starting to flake off. Sorry if this is TMI, but if I am wearning black trousers to work, when I take them off at the end of the day, it's almost like I have shed a whole layer of skin . Do other people get this?

Not this year I'm afraid. I have gone full time at work and we will be flat out over Xmas . Also am taking my sister to Paris for her 40th- so the coffers are bare!

foxinsocks is it just on your legs.
Does your skin look like crazy paving?

hi aly, nah it's all over and just general peeling/dry skin I think!

Can I ask what you wash with in shower/bath? I have started using only aqueous cream and it's blooming marvellous. Have washed my face with it for years but as I get older, rest of my skin is getting drier. I don't use any soap at all now except in foaming hand wash (so only a tiny bit) and I'm thinking of quitting that.

there is a condition called ichthyosis which can be all over the body which causes excess peeling as you describe ,i too have it on my legs and thighs and my black trousers look the same at the end of the day.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosis_vulgaris

thanks aly, that's very interesting. I don't think I have it as my skin doesn't crack the way it describes there but it's worth looking at definitely.

At the moment I use simple in the shower but when my skin is v bad, I use the epaderm (despite me feeling like a slippery bar of soap for a few hours afterwards! you can't quite wash it all off!)

I use Shea Butter, which costs about £8 a tin but lasts for months. I also use Waitrose Baby Bum Butter, which is about £3.50. I'm not good at comparing and contrasting as there are too many variables, so I don't know which is best. I like things on my face which are quite greasy so I don't drag my skin around too much when I rub my eyes.

the doc gave my salicylic acid 2% cream and it has really helped with the dry skin

I'm interested in your thread, I get terribly dry fingers and hands in winter time. It's got to the point where I put plasters on my fingers to hide them when I'm going out. They itch, peel and crack open at the knuckles. I once mentioned it to the doc and he wasnt sympathetic. it's so sore. I use eight hour cream on it, also elemis hand cream. I need to wear gloves to wash dishes or clean otherwise I'm in agony.

fairybubbles,

I have this problem as well with my hands in the wintertime.

I bought some hand cream by Kiehl's and it did wonders for my dry hands. Infact its the only cream that has worked.

Aveeno - expensive but its the only thing that works for me and ds2 (he was born with mild excema and I developed it while pregnant with him - we're a medical mystery apprently). Anyway, it has colloidal oatmeal in it and you can get a body wash. Its expensive but well worth it. O and you can get it on prescription

Fairybubbles,
I have exactly the same problem. I use Rituals Hand Therapy daily. It's a scrub (I know, sounds painful but bear with me) that leaves a protective layer of oils on your hands after you've rinsed it off. Nearly a tenner for a tube but it's really helped.

ooh fairy you poor thing

can you see another doctor? that sounds quite similar to aly's skin thing.

Thanks all for the sympathy and suggestions.

Where can I buy these creams? Does Boots sell them? If so I'm making a wee trip there later. I need to think about a travel sized cream, when I out it harder to keep hands moisturised. I hate the soap in public toilets. I have to be careful with these alcohol gels, great for killing germs after nnappy changing on the go but they make my hands sting.

It sounds like this is actually a really common problem.
foxinsocks I think I will see another GP if it doesn't improve

x

Aveeno, nothing else works