By Maryann Mikhail, MD
Cold weather means dry skin. If scaly legs, chapped lips, and chafed weren’t part of your wish list for the New Year, read on for how to keep your skin merry and bright through the winter.
During winter, exposure to cold temperatures, wind, and indoor heaters, along with decreased humidity, leads the skin to lose moisture. Dry skin is an impaired barrier that can easily become susceptible to inflammation and/ or infection. Avoid over-drying of skin by:
Lip skin is very thin compared to typical facial skin, making it more prone to dehydration and irritation in cold weather. To protect your lips:
As freezing temperatures set in, so does hand eczema. This can be dry and itchy at first, but may then progress to blisters, painful cracking and fissuring. Involvement of the skin around the nails can result in nail thinning, peeling and breakage. To keep your hands healthy through the winter: