Fighting Dry Skin: 10 Tips for Beating the Itch of Winter

Winter is a great time of the year for feeling toasty warm, wrapped up in a blanket by the fireplace. But frigid temperatures, low humidity, and furnace-blasted dry air can leave your skin feeling flaky, dry and itchy.

“With each change of season it is important to consider how the new weather will affect your skin,” says Dr. Kenneth Beer, a dermatology professor at the University of Pennsylvannia School of Medicine and a board-certified dermatologist practicing in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“As the humidity drops from cooler temperatures outside one should add more moisturizers and milder cleansers into the daily skin care regimen,” Beer tells Newsmax Health.

“If you are taking medications to lower cholesterol, winter can be even tougher on your skin.”

Here some tips to keep your skin soft and smooth:

Moisturize after showering. “Apply your moisturizer within three minutes of toweling off after a shower,” advises Dr. Anthony Youn, a leading holistic cosmetic surgeon and author of “The Age Fix,” a book that offer tips on how to look younger without plastic surgery. “This locks in the moisture and keeps your skin from getting dry and itchy.”

Choose lotion carefully. Apply hand moisturizer — not body moisturizer — to your hands. Specially formulated hand moisturizing products can withstand a couple of hand washings unlike body moisturizers which wash off more quickly.

Use a humidifier. If you have a home humidifier that comes with your heating system, make sure it’s turned on. Otherwise, buy portable units at Home Depot or Lowes. The extra humidity they put into the air will be absorbed by your skin and hair, says Youn.

Try vitamin E. Apply vitamin E oil to your body after you shower to retain moisture and rejuvenate the skin, says Dr. Febin Melepura, of NYC’s Stanford Pain Sports Medicine.

Go with oils. Use an oil-based moisturizer. Ointments or heavy creams seal water into the skin and preserve moisture better when the humidity is low.

Clean up the smart way. Frequent bathing or hot showers or baths can strip your skin of its natural oils. Avoid deodorant bars, antibacterial soaps, perfumed soaps, and skin care products containing alcohol. Instead, use warm water and a mild, fragrance-free soap or moisturizing body wash. Limit your showers or baths to no more than 10 minutes, pat dry and moisturize your skin while it’s still damp.

Slather on sunscreen. Even though it’s winter, apply a moisturizing, broad spectrum sunscreen with at least SPF 30 to any exposed area of the skin. Sunscreen protects against the sun’s harmful UV rays and helps maintain moisture in the skin.

Treat dandruff. Dandruff seems to flare up exponentially during the winter months. Dandruff flakes appear when skin cells on the scalp rapidly reproduce and peel off. The flakes are often accompanied by itching and may appear on your nose, eyebrows, ears, armpits, and groin — not just on your scalp.

Switch to an over-the-counter dandruff shampoo, and if the situation becomes severe and bothersome, ask your doctor for a prescription shampoo. You may also need a corticosteroid or antifungal medication. Your best bet is to see a dermatologist if the dandruff has become embarrassing and uncontrollable.

Watch out for rosacea. Rosacea can also be exacerbated by cold, dry weather. Rosacea causes small blood vessels in your face, scalp, neck and ears to swell, making the skin look flushed. While rosacea never goes away, you can fight the inflammation with prescription antibiotic or retinoid creams and light therapy.

Before braving the cold, protect your face with a soft scarf and use a soothing cream to create a barrier on your skin to help reduce dryness, roughness and discomfort.

Treat eczema. Eczema risks increase with low temperatures and low humidity levels. If you are prone to eczema flare-ups the skin on your palms skin can look like severe dishpan hands during the winter months complete with dryness, blistering and cracking. Moisturize your hands and slip on gloves before heading outdoors.

Make sure you remove the gloves if you become overheated because sweating can make the itching worse. A widely available product called Aquaphor is a great healing ointment and works wonder for dry, cracking skin.