DRY SKIN

Dry & Severely Dry Skin

Dry and very dry skins are delicate. They require specially formulated cleansing and skincare products that will help restore the deficient hydrolipidic film.

Dry to Severely Dry Skin:   

Signs:  Dry and very dry skins are characterized by a tight feeling, stinging and sometimes scales and redness. They are irritation-prone and always dehydrated to some extent. They tend to show wrinkles sooner than other skin types.
What you observe:  Your body skin is rough and looks dull. "When I apply skincare products, my skin quickly drinks them up, then quickly  feels tight again right away". "My skin stings and itches".
Inside your skin:  When your skin is very dry, it lacks lipids and thus becomes overly permeable, which promotes moisture loss and exposure to allergens. It is no loner properly hydrated, so it has excessive reactions to external irritants. Talk to your dermatologist about it.
Why?  Dry skin results from a deterioration in the skin barrier. It may be "constitutional (i.e. genetic) in origin, and accompany certain types of atopic dermatoses. The skin barrier becomes permeable to water , it cracks and splits, enabling external irritants to penetrate and trigger excessive skin reactions. The skin becomes severely dry, inflamed and itchy. It may also due to various climatic or chemical factors.
Aggravating factors: temperature variations, emotional state, irritating substances, astringent soaps, harsh cleansers, fragrances and unsuitable products.
Dry skin can also be a secondary effect of treatment with certain medications.

A good daily skincare routine:

Cleanse without harshness: Dehydrated and delicate, dry skin must be cleansed with extremely gentle products to preserve the integrity of its hydrolipidic layer, which has already become vulnerable.
To cleanse your skin, don't use water, lotions containing alcohol or overly abrasive scrub products.
It is best to use a mild, non-irritating cleansing gel containing no soap or fragrance or a lipid-enriched liquid soap to neutralize the drying effects of hard water.
Avoid taking long baths:  If you love taking baths and simply can't do without, make sure the bath water is not too hot (less than 95°F) and don't stay in too long.

Pour a special oil for very dry skin into the bathwater to neutralize the drying effects of hard water.
Rinse carefully to remove all of the product from your skin. Dry yourself quickly, patting your skin with a towel instead of rubbing (avoid friction).
Protect your body:  When the weather is cold, wear fabrics other than wool. Repeated friction of wool against skin is a source of irritation.
To replenish your body skin and soothe the itching, opt for a lipid-restoring balm (fragrance-free, paraben-free) with an anti-irritating texture or for an emollient to restore lipids and obtain a lasting soothing effect.
Restore and protect your lips:  People with very dry skin often have chapped, cracked lips.
Always take a special lip repair cream with you or have it close at hand.
Protect yourself from the sun:  Dehydrated skin must avoid exposure to the sun. Use sun products with a very high SPF (sun protection factor).

La Roche-Posay Dermatologists answer your questions:
Why do I have dry skin?
There is no such thing as dry skin, but rather various "dry skin types" with shared functional and physical signs and other signs specific to each type of dry skin.
Amongst them:
-constitutional or genetically dry skin
-dry, atopic skin
-dry winter skin
-dry senile or aging skin
-extremely dry skin caused by poorly adapted or irritating cleansing products or by medical treatments.
Is dry skin the same as dehydrated skin?
Above all, dry skin is skin with a barrier that is deficient due to an anomaly of the lipids that compose it.
This alteration of the skin barrier leads to an increase in transepidermal water loss and thus dehydrated skin, i.e. skin with an intradermal moisture content that is lower than normal.
What is atopic skin?
Clinically speaking, this skin is rough and dry due to a constitutional anomaly of the skin barrier, which promotes transepidermal water loss and thus dehydration.
There is an enzymatic deficiency in terms of ceramide synthesis, the lipids that make up this barrier. This leads to a damaged skin barrier.
Moreover, atopic skin is abnormally irritable with a reduction of the prurigo threshold. It feels uncomfortable with itching that is often incapacitating.
My child has atopic skin. What rules should we follow at home?
A few hygiene and dietary rules can improve the daily life of atopic individuals:
-Avoid second-hand smoke
-Reduce the presence of allergens in the immediate environment: e.g. house dust mites( by airing out the house in all seasons, by disinfecting the bedding and using a powerful vacuum cleaner). Cats should be avoided if they are not already present .
-The room temperature should not exceed 19°C.
-Avoid contact with wool and synthetic textiles against the skin. Opt for cotton.
-Opt for showers rather than warm baths. Avoid water that is too hot.
-Apply body moisturizers or emollient creams as often as possible, ideally every day.
How do you cleanse dry skin?
Opt for showers rather than baths, but not more than one a day. Avoid water that is too hot.
If you must take a bath, pour an emollient oil into it.
Cleanse with a fragrance-free soap-free gel that will respect your skin and that contains rich agents.
By following these steps and remembering to hydrate your skin regularly, your skin will be more comfortable and supple than ever.