Dry Skin: What Does It Look Like, and What Should You Do?

Snow cas­tles, hot cocoa, time with loved ones — there are plen­ty of things to love about the win­ter. How­ev­er, if you’re one of the many peo­ple who suf­fer from dry skin, this sea­son may not exact­ly be your favorite. 

Dry skin is com­mon. It is also the most com­mon cause of itch­ing, includ­ing win­ter itch. When you address dry skin first, it can often suc­cess­ful­ly ease uncom­fort­able feel­ings of itch and pain. Symp­toms of dry skin can be minor, with slight flak­ing and dis­com­fort, or it can take a seri­ous toll, lead­ing to embar­rass­ment and dis­com­fort that inter­rupts your dai­ly life.

No mat­ter how you’re expe­ri­enc­ing dry skin, it can be frus­trat­ing at the very least. 

By learn­ing about the signs of dry skin, you can start treat­ing it as soon as pos­si­ble. If home treat­ment isn’t suc­cess­ful, a Duly Health and Care der­ma­tol­o­gist can deter­mine if your dry skin is a sign of a con­di­tion, offer pre­ven­tive tips, and find the right skin treat­ment for you.

Here are some signs of dry skin and how you can keep your skin healthy year-round. 

What Are the Signs of Dry Skin?

Most peo­ple have expe­ri­enced dry skin at one time or anoth­er. From itch­i­ness to flak­ing skin, the signs of dry skin are com­mon and well-known. 

How­ev­er, dry skin can come with oth­er symp­toms, too, including:

• Fine lines
• Rough or loose skin texture
• Cracks, which can become deep and bleed
• Peel­ing skin
• Exces­sive itchiness
• Pain, sting­ing, or burn­ing sensation
• Skin infec­tions, which can look like yel­low crusts, areas of pus, or swelling

You can have dry skin any­where on your body, but the most com­mon areas are your hands, arms, low­er legs, and abdomen.

What Puts You at Greater Risk for Dry Skin?

Your skin has a thin pro­tec­tive bar­ri­er made of nat­ur­al lipids or fat­ty sub­stances. By pro­tect­ing your skin, these nat­ur­al lipids keep your skin mois­tur­ized and soft. 

If these lipids are stripped away — due to a health con­di­tion, genet­ics, envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors, or your skin rou­tine — that can cause dry skin. 

You might have dry skin because you’re:

• Wash­ing with harsh soaps
• Tak­ing long, hot showers 
• Not using moisturizers
• Mis­us­ing mois­tur­iz­ers (such as by only using them when symp­toms arise instead of every day, espe­cial­ly on damp skin)

Are you expe­ri­enc­ing very dry skin? If it’s becom­ing exces­sive and home treat­ments aren’t work­ing, it might be time to see a Duly der­ma­tol­o­gist. Sched­ule an appoint­ment today.

Some peo­ple also have a greater chance of devel­op­ing exces­sive­ly dry skin if you:

• Have a skin con­di­tion that makes you itch, like atopic dermatitis 
• Smoke cig­a­rettes
• Are in your 40s or beyond, when your skin makes less oil
• Have recent­ly spent time out­doors in the cold when less mois­ture is in the air
• Wash your hands frequently
• Have vit­a­min defi­cien­cies, such as vit­a­min D, vit­a­min A, or iron

How Can You Keep Your Skin Moisturized?

We all want healthy skin that not only looks good but also feels good. Dry skin can hap­pen dur­ing any month, but it’s more com­mon in the win­ter months. 

Pro­tect your skin from get­ting too dry in the win­ter (and year-round):

1. Use a gen­tle cleanser. When wash­ing, use a mild cleanser that’s fragrance-free. 
2. Apply mois­tur­iz­er. Use a mois­tur­iz­er after wash­ing your hands and imme­di­ate­ly after tak­ing a show­er or bath. 
3. Avoid wear­ing tight clothes. Tight clothes like leg­gings and jeans can rub against your legs. You’ll also want to avoid wear­ing any­thing made of wool or poly­ester, which can irri­tate your skin.
4. Use a humid­i­fi­er. Humid­i­fiers increase the humid­i­ty lev­el which can help keep your skin moisturized.
5. Pro­tect your skin from cold air by wear­ing appro­pri­ate cloth­ing, such as gloves. 

What Hap­pens to Untreat­ed Dry Skin?

Untreat­ed dry skin won’t get bet­ter on its own. In fact, it might even get worse. Itch­i­ness can lead to scratch­ing, which can cause infec­tions and patch­es of per­ma­nent­ly itchy skin. 

The good news is that most peo­ple see improve­ment when they fol­low a treat­ment plan. If at-home treat­ment isn’t work­ing, talk to your provider about what you can do to treat your skin and pro­tect it from get­ting worse. If you have devel­oped exces­sive­ly dry skin, one of our board-cer­ti­fied der­ma­tol­o­gists can talk to you about treat­ment options.

How Your Duly Der­ma­tol­o­gist Can Help Your Chron­ic Dry Skin

If you have been bat­tling dry skin and noth­ing seems to work, it might be time for a more spe­cif­ic treat­ment plan. One of our board-cer­ti­fied der­ma­tol­o­gists can rec­om­mend prod­ucts or ser­vices to treat your dry skin.

No one should have to suf­fer from dry skin. By being proac­tive about keep­ing your skin mois­tur­ized and treat­ing dry skin if it does occur, you’ll have healthy skin you can feel com­fort­able in all year long.