FSB Author Article
Get Your Skin Ready for Winter
By Debra Jaliman, MD,
Author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York
Dermatologist
Most people suffer with winter dryness and itch to a greater or lesser degree. It's the combination of cold weather outside and dry heat inside that affects the skin. A common mistake is for people to put off treating their dry skin until winter is here in full force and they are really suffering. What they should do is be proactive and begin preparing their skin for winter in the autumn. The following tips are adapted from by my new book, Skin Rules, which St. Martin's Press is bringing out in March, 2011.
Start Now!
Start coating your skin with a protective cream, lotion or oil
now, before dry patches start to appear. There are some extremely
effective and inexpensive products that work just as well as the
pricey ones. I always tell my patients to get a big tub of Aquaphor
Healing Ointment for their bathroom cabinet, plus a smaller tube for their
bags. It does an excellent job of protecting the skin barrier,
and, by the way, it's just as good for preventing dry, chapped lips. Put
some on your hands before putting on your gloves and going out. A note
about gloves: some people react to lanolin without realizing it. Use
leather or synthetic material gloves and mittens instead of wool.
Two other top-notch products in the drugstore are Aveeno Active Naturals Stress Relief Body Moisturizing Lotion and Vaseline Intensive Rescue Clinical Therapy Skin Protectant Lotion. For those who want the simplest possible approach and don't mind smelling slightly like a good salad, extra virgin olive oil left on overnight on the body and the lips also works. I have patients who use a salad oil mister to spray themselves all over. If you have very dry skin, ask your doctor to prescribe Hylatopic Plus emollient foam and start applying it now. I particularly recommend it for anybody with eczema or very sensitive skin. It has no steroids, so patients can use it as long as they like.
Change Your Routine
Change your shower or bath routine. Ditch the scented and
deodorant soaps which tend to dry the skin and use superfatted soaps or
moisturizing body washes instead. Avoid prolonged baths and
showers and don't towel off completely. Make sure to apply all creams and
lotions while the skin is still damp to bind the water to your skin.
Exfoliate
Gentle exfoliation removes dead skin and allows moisturizers to
penetrate better. Those cheap, ruffled nylon poufs sold
everywhere, even dollar stores, are useful things to have in the bathroom for
body exfoliation. For the face, gadgets such as the Clarisonic skin
cleanser machines and Olay's Professional Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System
are nice to have, but you can also exfoliate with a gentle cleanser
and a cotton pad. If you use a washcloth, remember to use a fresh one
every time you wash your face, which should be twice a day; the prospect
of doing so much laundry is why many turn to cotton pads instead.
Invest in a Humidifier
A humidifier is one of the best investments against dry skin, but
don't wait until December to get one -- start using it now. One caveat:
humidifiers have to be cleaned regularly and without fail, I'd say
every couple of weeks. People who have radiators can use a safer
and cheaper method: just put a bowl, freshly filled with water, on the
radiator every day.
© 2011 Debra Jaliman, MD, author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist
Author Bio
Debra Jaliman, MD, author of Skin Rules: Trade
Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist, is a board certified
dermatologist with a private practice in New York City.
Internationally recognized for her research and work in clinical and cosmetic
dermatology, Dr. Jaliman has a reputation for using cutting-edge
technology and the latest in skin care, as well as for being the
"last stop" doctor, the one who fixes what others can't. She is an
assistant professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a
member of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery. She is a
spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology and is regarded as an
authority in her field by journalists and cosmetics industry, appearing
frequently on television and in publications such as the Wall
Street Journal, the New York Times, Allure, Glamour, Self, and InStyle.
For more information please visit http://www.drjaliman.com/ and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter