Flakey skin on face

[DPN]

I have flakey skin on my face. It's on my forehead and eyebrows and it can appear on my nose and chin.

It used to be worse due to not washing my face often. That wasn't planned just being busy. I am washing my face now more often. I am aiming to wash it every day but I failed this week due to some very long hours at work. I am washing it maybe every second day now while I am doing a neverending stint in work.

This is a picture of my face right now.

Is there anything that I can try that will help this. Currently using a cream wash and a cream with urea. Another moisturer I have is hdyronical acid (spelling, I don't know).

I washed my face yesterday evening and applied cream and a while later applied another cream.

Now this morning there's loads of flakes and dryness over my face. I was hoping that would be enough maybe until tonight.

My schedule is never going to allow me to wash my face twice a day. This flakiness and dryness is horrible. I need something that will be able to sort me out for 24 hours at least.

There was a similar thread to this a few weeks back and I'll say the same thing here: this doesn't look like flakiness due to dry skin; this looks like flaking due to inflammation of some kind - this level of flaking generally happens when your skin is trying to rid itself of an irritant.

If you can make a doctor's appointment to talk about this, please do. In the meantime - the cream wash you're using might be making it worse (I have dry skin that occasionally goes bananas and I react very badly to urea when it does). I'd recommend trying taking antihistamines for a week or two to see if that brings any of this down, and switching to something like Doublebase Gel - you can buy it over the counter in pharmacies and it's basically the mildest of the mildest skin emollient.

I had similar and it turned out I was allergic to one of the constituents of nail varnish. I stopped wearing nail varnish 😥and it got better

That's mad. How did you find out it was nail varnish causing your issue? Its not like you are applying nail varnish to your face. It goes on the nails.

That's for letting me know that an allergic reaction can cause something like this. It's not nail polish causing this for me for sure because I don't wear nail polish.

Thabk you for your reply.

I will start on the antihistamines and order the stuff you recommended in your post.

So an irritant is the suspicion. I don't think it's the face wash because this was happening no matter what I used on my face. I used a few different cleansers over the past few years. This happened no matter what I used.

How do I establish what's causing this? I will stop with the hand sanitisers for now to see if that's causing an issue and go from there.

I know!

I had those little patch tests on my back. I went to a dermatologist privately about my skin as it was annoying and my eye lids were sore.

I'd tried lots of things first. No make up, new make up, new moisturisers, new sensitive shampoo and conditioner.

I suppose I touched my face with my nails/hands, and I wore nail varnish 24/7. It was always a little itchy on my fingers when I first out it on (when I thought about it).

I also had nail polish allergies which resulted in skin inflammation on your face - yes, you paint it on your nails but then (like @Mosaic123 says) your fingers touch your face, even when you don't think about it.

To try and figure out the allergen: you can cut out every skin product you're using at the moment - including the things like shampoo and conditioners, and re-introduce them one by one to see what makes a difference. Washing powders can also be a suspect, especially 'biological' ones. Has the rash being going on long? You might be able to pinpoint it to a time when you started using something new.

If it's really bad, you can see if the doctors can refer you for patch testing at the local dermatology department - I found out that I had a pretty bad dust mite allergy then, which really changed how I lived (and cleaned!).

Do you suffer from rosacea OP? The difference in skin tone between the t zone area and the eyelids is quite prominent.

I find hyaluronic acid moisturiser makes my skin drier and needs to be used properly (on damp skin, a good water based moisturiser on top of it) if you have any chance of it helping.

The Eucerin 5% Urea cream works wonders for me. What % is in what you are using? At higher %'s it becomes an exfoliant rather than a useful emollient. I was with Liz Earle cleanse and polish and have always found that good but The Ordinary Squalane cleanser or an oil cleanser are both good cheaper options, removes gently with a hot cloth or flannel.

Antihistamines are worth trying to see if that brings irritation down but the only way to ease the flaking is proper moisturisation I think (as someone who suffers)

It looks to me like Seborrheic Dermatitis which is caused by an excess of a normal yeast found on the skin.
I suffer from this on my scalp and in my ears but I have also had this in my eyebrows. I use ketocinazole shampoo (can buy over the counter) approx every 4 weeks to keep on top of it with Head and Shoulders in between. I occasionally wash my face with Head and Shoulders when I am washing my hair in the shower. I would speak to a Pharmacist and ask their advice.

This also looks like seborrheic dermatitis to me.
I cleanse with squalene oil or cetaphil wash, gently rub flakes away with a towel, apply hada labo hyaluronic serum as well as cosex snail mucin (my skin loves this!), then cerave moisturising cream.
I finish with vaseline on top of seb derm areas to keep the flakes away and soothe.

I wash my face with nizarol shampoo now and again which helps.
I also use fungal safe make up and skincare and since changing everything, rarely have a flare up.

I use sezia.co/ to check ingredients and this helps immensely.
Seborrheic dermatitis is a total pain and even a lazy skincare day can lead to redness, tightness and the dreaded flakes. Fighting the fungus, learning about your skin and maintaining it is the key.

Thank you so much for all of your replies.

I always thought I experienced him dandruff until a hairdresser said this year was dry scalf.

This issue with the flakes went out of control last winter. There was so much dryness and flakes on the scalp. As soon as I finished washing my hair I felt my scalp tightening and then looking in the mirror and there would be flakes embedded on the skin. My forehead and temples were out of control.

I was able to improve the conditions in my scalp this year when the hairdresser recommended dry scalp and I stopped using head and shoulders and tgel and other dandruff shampoos.

My face is still troublesome. I am not ever intentional when I neglect facecare and hygiene. Sometimes my work is far too demanding and I am getting sick more easily with migraine due to work related stress and long hours. I wish there was more balance to my days instead of work all the time. Today is my 6th working day. It's far too gruelling. I am utterly depressed.

This is a picture from last winter

I don't think I have rosacea but my mother has it and I am somewhat careful with my skin in that I don't use exfoliate washes.

Lots of sympathy, OP - this types of inflamed skin conditions are so painful and horrible. Eczema must be one of the least glamorous conditions out there, and stress only aggravates it.

Again, it's worth checking in with your doctor to see if seborrheic dermatitis might be a possibility. If it is, you'll be able to get some topical steroids prescribed - there are several steroid scalp applications I've used which are great for clearing up something when it's inflamed and angry. Would agree too about seeing if you can get Nizoral shampoo. Once this outbreak is cleared up, you can start exploring ways of managing it in the long term (which might also include patch testing etc). It's such a pain but it really is total systems management to figure out what sets it off, what calms it down, and how you manage the outbreaks when they come.

Further to my post upthread, I agree with another poster. Buy some Nizoral shampoo over the counter, follow the instructions and leave some of the lather in your ears and on your eyebrows for several mins ( I leave it on for approx 10 mins) just before rinsing, rub the lather onto your face and then rinse face and hair. You might need a few applications to get on top of it but if it works you will feel so much better.
It is very similar to "cradle cap" in babies

The more I hear and see, the more I'm convinced it's seborrheic dermatitis.
My scalp also sounded like yours OP.
Read up on it and you can hopefully heal your skin quite quickly.
There is no magic potion unfortunately and you will have to do a bit of trial and error.
Squalene oil and MCT oil will soothe and add moisture but not feed any yeast, and really help the scalp as well as the face.
Definitely try using nizarol as well.

If my skin is really inflamed I might use a dab of hydrocortisone to help heal it, but until you bring down the flare up no matter how many times you apply moisturiser, the flakes will continue to appear.