Winter can make dry skin especially irritating. The December issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter offers tips to relieve winter itch.

Soak in the tub: Keep the water lukewarm. The temperature shouldn’t be above 90 F. Adding bath oil to the water may help retain and replenish the oil in your skin.

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Dry skin very commonly produces itching, which can be severe and interfere with sleep and other daily activities. Repeated rubbing and scratching can produce areas of thickened, rough skin (lichenification). Dry, thickened skin can crack, especially in areas subject to chronic trauma (e.g., hands and feet), causing painful cracks in the skin (fissures). Dry skin and scratching may result in a dermatitis when the skin becomes red (inflamed) in addition to dry and scaly. Round, scaly, itchy, red patches scattered over the legs, arms and trunk (nummular eczema) may also appear. The appearance of yellow crusts or pus in these areas indicates that a bacterial infection is developing. This would require specific antibiotic therapy from your dermatologist or family physician.

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The low humidity common in many parts of the United States during winter can cause dry, irritated skin. When skin becomes dry and irritated, eczema can flare. Here are some tips to help skin feel more comfortable during winter or anytime the air is dry:

1. Use a humidifier. With the heat on and the windows closed, the air inside can become very dry in the winter, making the dryness and itching of eczema even worse. Use a humidifier to place moisture in the air. If you don’t want to invest in an expensive humidifying system, smaller, relatively inexpensive humidifiers can be obtained at a local drug store. Placing two or three of these around your home will help to humidify the dry air. This can keep skin from drying and becoming cracked and itchy.

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Regardless of individual skin type, it is critical to moisturize our skin on a daily basis. A wide selection of moisturizers on the market provides us with a great opportunity to choose the product with the best ingredients for our skin’s particular needs. Choosing the best moisturizer for our own skin type elevates the benefits a moisturizer delivers to thirsty skin.

Mature skin may benefit best from moisturizer products containing alpha-hydroxy acid, a wrinkle fighter also present in milk and fruit. Special lines of anti-aging products may also contain selenium and Tropoelastin, a precursor to human elastin that prevents the onset and appearance of wrinkles.

Those who reside in four season countries are more prone to skin damage than those living in the tropics. This is because people of two seasonal climates only need to adjust to two kinds of weather patterns, the summer and the rainy season. This is not the case with those who had to experience summer, winter, spring and fall. Since their skin is exposed to more weather changes, and abrupt changes too seeing as how climate change has altered the standard passing of seasons nowadays, a more intensive skin regimen would be required of them. Hydration is the key for these individuals, as well as sun protection, so that translates to moisturizer and sunblock. During the winter season, people are still advised to wear both because the dry cold could actually burn our skin. For these instances, it is advised that one wears a sunblock mixed with a moisturizer to survive the cold dry months. Without this, skin will peel off from the dry cold and you will also develop mild ice burns.

It starts around November. Winds pick up, temperatures creep down. Furnaces kick on making the inside of our homes crackle with dry air.

That’s when the itching begins. Some people live with dry, scratchy skin all winter, until spring when the furnace clicks off. For others, it’s a year-round penance of living in a desert.

“Dry skin is worse in winter. Here, (there’s) no humidity,” said Dr. Julia Ai of Bella Dermatology in Sparks. “It’s worse in winter here because homes have dry heat.”

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You may already have a moisturizer that works well for you during the spring and summer, but your skin care routine should change with the weather. For the winter, it’s better for you to use an oil-based, ointment moisturizer rather than a water-based one. The oil creates a protective layer on the skin which will retain more moisture than lotions or creams.
However, do be careful when choosing oil-based moisturizers as some of these may not be appropriate for your face. Shea or butter oil, for instance, may be great for the rest of your body but not for your face because they clog up our pores. When choosing a facial moisturizer, look for one that contains oils that are non-comodogenic, such as mineral oil, avocado oil, or almond oil.

During winter, you’ll probably notice that your skin is dry and flaking at certain parts of your body. This is your body reacting naturally to the skin cells that died, but don’t worry – the ugly flaking can be controlled through exfoliation. Exfoliating your skin regularly not only washes away dead skin cells; it also promotes the growth of a new layer of skin. Brush your skin with a body brush to remove flaky skin before getting in the shower. The best way to scrub your skin is when it’s dry; apply the scrub to your dry skin before turning on the water. For best results, massage your skin with the scrub for five minutes.

Although this is an excellent way to combat dry skin, you should only exfoliate in moderation; if you do this twice a week, it may lead to skin irritation, depending on how sensitive your skin is.

Our skin is one of the most sensitive parts of our body we have to take care of if we want to maintain our overall grooming and beauty. For women, dry skin can be a drag and using humidifiers and the usual skin care products may be a good way to combat these problems.

Women are quite particular about dry skin. The air and some things like makeup are factors towards drying up the skin, particularly the face. Try to use some cleansers or wash your face frequently. Leaving these things on may become irritating and harmful to your skin.