Xerosis cutis (skin dryness)

Xero­sis cutis is the medi­cal term for dry skin, a con­di­ti­on in which the balan­ce bet­ween water reten­ti­on and mois­tu­re loss is dis­tur­bed. The skin is the lar­gest organ in the human body and ser­ves as a pro­tec­ti­ve bar­ri­er. This pro­tec­ti­ve func­tion is impai­red in dry skin.

Cau­ses

Dry skin is very com­mon and affects peo­p­le of all ages, but espe­ci­al­ly older peo­p­le, as sebum pro­duc­tion decrea­ses with age. The cau­ses can be divi­ded into exter­nal and inter­nal factors.

Tre­at­ment

Exter­nal fac­tors include cold and dry hea­ting air in win­ter, inten­se sun­light and UV radia­ti­on, fre­quent and too hot washing or showe­ring, incor­rect care pro­ducts with alco­hol or an unsui­ta­ble pH value, aggres­si­ve soaps and clea­ning agents and air con­di­tio­ning. Inter­nal fac­tors include gene­tic pre­dis­po­si­ti­on with low sebum pro­duc­tion, hor­mo­n­al chan­ges during puber­ty, pregnan­cy or the meno­pau­se, dise­a­ses such as neu­ro­der­ma­ti­tis, pso­ria­sis or dia­be­tes mel­li­tus, a lack of fluids and incre­asing age. Sym­ptoms include dull, rough and flaky skin, a fee­ling of tight­ness espe­ci­al­ly after washing, redu­ced ela­s­ti­ci­ty, itching that can lead to minor inju­ries from scrat­ching, increased sen­si­ti­vi­ty to exter­nal sti­mu­li and some­ti­mes red­ness or cracks. Irri­ta­ted skin may be more pro­ne to infec­tions or rashes.

The dia­gno­sis is made by obser­va­ti­on and can be objec­ti­fied by mea­su­ring the skin’s mois­tu­re con­tent. Tre­at­ment and care is aimed at streng­thening the skin bar­ri­er and mois­tu­ri­zing: Use of lipid-rep­le­nis­hing, mois­tu­re-bin­ding creams or oint­ments with ingre­di­ents such as urea, gly­ce­ri­ne or hyalu­ro­nic acid. Gent­le, pH-neu­tral cle­an­sing wit­hout aggres­si­ve soaps. Do not show­er too often or too hot, at most two to three times a week.

Drink enough fluids, at least 1.5 to 2 liters a day. Use humi­di­fiers in hea­ted rooms. Use sun pro­tec­tion to pre­vent fur­ther skin dama­ge. In the case of sever­ely irri­ta­ted skin, spe­cial com­bi­na­ti­ons of acti­ve ingre­di­ents may be neces­sa­ry after con­sul­ting a doctor.