Winter Itch and Other Serious Skin Conditions

Winter Itch and Other Serious Skin Conditions

Old man winter created the beauty of snowflakes that float so gracefully to the ground. But some winter “flakes” fail to be so graceful or beautiful — especially those caused by dry skin. Winter can wreck havoc on one’s skin and during winter months, the cold air outside in conjunction with the dry heat inside deprive skin of needed moisture that keeps it from becoming dry and scaly. Dry skin often causes itchiness, resulting in a condition commonly referred to as “winter itch.” Winter itch can occur at all ages and in people with or without skin problems. However, dry skin can also aggravate more serious skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. The following are tips from the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, to prevent “winter itch”:

Wash with warm water. Although washing one’s hands under hot water feels comforting and relaxing for the moment, that feeling fails to prevail. Hot water removes the skin’s protective natural oils, causing irritation. Lukewarm water is better because it traps water in the skin.
Avoid soap. Soap should be used minimally and only when and where it is needed, such as in the groin area or under the arms. Soap tends to be worse than hot water because it softens up oils and fats so that they can be washed away. However, plain water followed by a moisturizer is a great benefit for dry skin.
Moisturize. Apply a generous amount of moisturizer within three minutes of taking a shower in order to seal in skin’s moisture. Buying fragrance-free and lanolin-free products is important to avoid sensitivity to these ingredients.

Types of Eczema and Psoriasis

What can be worse than winter itch? Having a severe skin disease. Eczema and psoriasis are severe skin conditions that get worse in the winter. Although eczema is more prevalent in children, it also affects 10 percent of the adult population. Eczema can be described as skin that is itchy, dry, scaly, red, crusty, inflamed and sometimes oozing.

There are three main forms of eczema:

Irritant Contact Dermatitis. People who fail to moisturize or wash their skin too frequently can easily irritate it. Skin becomes red and dry and anything including water and baby shampoo can distress it.
Atopic Dermatitis. This is an internal chronic inclination towards eczema and it tends to flare in the winter. This form usually starts in infancy and affects those who have a family history of allergies, asthma, or dry, sensitive skin. Many children grow out of it as they get older but it tends to flare up again when they are adults.
Allergic Contact Dermatitis. This form is less common and occurs after an allergic reaction to a substance such as rubber, nickel, lanolin or a fragrance. This type of allergy develops over time and your skin could develop an allergy to something that did not irritate it in the past.

Other less common forms of eczema include seborrhoeic eczema, which affects the scalp and eye-lashes as a severe form of dandruff; and discoid eczema, which causes circular patches of eczema over the body.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a genetic, non-contagious, lifelong skin disease that results from skin cells multiplying too quickly. According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis. Although the problem becomes worse in the winter when skin is the driest, it actually improves in the summer with sun exposure. The most common form, plaque psoriasis, can be recognized as elevated, red patches or lesions with a silvery white buildup of dead skin cells, called scales.

The following are the five different types of psoriasis:

Plaque is the most common form of the disease;
Gluttate appears as small red spots on the skin;
Inverse occurs in armpits, groin and skin folds;
Pustular is white blisters surrounded by red skin; and
Erythrodermic appears as redness over large areas.

Sources: The Cleveland Clinic Health Information Center; The National Psoriasis Foundation.