sudden dry skin

February 8, 2021 11:42 AM

After nearly 2 decades enduring cold New York winters I am suddenly getting weird patches of scaly dry skin on certain areas of my body. What gives?

I've dealt with general dry skin in winter before due to running heat in my home. I step up the body lotion after showering and all is good.

But since November, I have been experiencing something unusual: I am getting small scaly patches of dry skin on random parts of my body: my left wrist, the knuckles of my left hand, on my chest, on my nipples (sorry), and now on my right middle finger. I also have small lesions on my belly that are itchy and look a bit like mosquito bites that have been over-scratched and grow scabs. Sometimes in my sleep I unconsciously scratch the belly lesions and draw blood.

What is going on? I know YANMD and I promise I'll follow up with a dermatologist, but this is literally the first time in my life I've experienced this. My boyfriend has psoriasis and has given me some OTC excema cream that he used to use prior to getting his psoriasis diagnosis, which has cleared the chest patches but nothing else. I like to go into doctor appointments with as much knowledge as possible to self-advocate so any input would be greatly appreciated. We have not changed laundry detergents, I have not changed my deodorant, perfume, soap, shampoo, facial cleanser, or hand soap. Thanks.

posted by nayantara to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)

Well, this year is pretty different than all other years.

How have your behaviors changed because of covid? Fewer restaurants out? Different diets? Do you usually take a trip to florida that you skipped this year?

Did your office have a regular supply of water that you drank, and you don't drink as much at home?

For me, it's directly tied to water consumption and at-home humidity. If you don't have a whole home humidifier, and your office was kept to normal humidity levels, it's possible you are losing a lot more water to the air than you did before.

I recommend increasing water consumption and humidity in your domicile! Whole home is my favorite!
posted by bbqturtle at 11:47 AM on February 8, 2021 [3 favorites]

Super annoying :/ sorry.
If it's eczema, I've found stress, super hot showers, and other skin irritants (e.g. when I get poison oak) will trigger it. Eczema lotions don't really do much for me (unfortunately nor do the prescribed steroid creams). Some things that help me for this are a combination of being consistent in taking my Kirkland-brand Zyrtec knockoff everyday, consistently using vitamin E cream / aquaphor, and taking cooler showers T_T.

I think the hand is a common place for eczema to pop up due to dry skin from exposure / hand washing, and I personally get moments of it on my chest because that's where the hot water blasts me during hot showers.

Good luck!
posted by blueberrypuffin at 12:00 PM on February 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'd recommend a humidifier may help with your comfort levels and the dry skin itchiness. I'd also suggest getting a hygrometer to track the levels in your house, you'll be surprised how dry it can get with the heat running.
posted by wwax at 12:11 PM on February 8, 2021

When I had some patches of dry skin, taking flaxseed oil (a spoonful of the liquid every day) really helped.
posted by pinochiette at 12:14 PM on February 8, 2021

If you are in NYC, the water source changed recently and I have anecdotally heard a number of people complain about worsening eczema as a result (and different tasting tap water) - https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/12/14/why-your-tap-water-might-be-tasting-a-little-different-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
posted by icy_latte at 12:56 PM on February 8, 2021 [3 favorites]

Neurodermatis is another skin condition that can be triggered by psychological stressors.
posted by yeahlikethat at 1:24 PM on February 8, 2021

IANAD, but I had one of those on my belly which turned out to be some kind of fungus. It was there for months until I used some 1% hydrocortisone cream on it which cleared it up in a couple of days.
posted by mefireader at 1:36 PM on February 8, 2021

Well I can’t say what you have but I do have mild eczema and it’s totally been worse this winter. I mostly blame the dry heat in my apartment since I am spending so much more time here.
posted by vanitas at 2:16 PM on February 8, 2021

My skin is way dryer this year, and I really do think it's from the lower humidity in my apartment as against my office, but I also think that once skin has gotten pretty dry it's more vulnerable to all sorts of insults. Try Lotrimin Ultra, which is OTC and might help if it's fungal but won't hurt otherwise (just don't apply it anywhere it says not to).

But really you just need to have a telehealth appointment with Dr. Mizuguchi if he takes your insurance. He's the best.
posted by praemunire at 2:53 PM on February 8, 2021

I suddenly developed (near full body) psoriasis one extra stressful (life, work) winter in my early 30s. Got a diagnosis, got the cream (synthetic high concentration vitamin D-based?), and it got a little bit better but would keep cropping up. It was unsightly and uncomfortable (and the cream was thick, oily, sticky, smelly, and just plain sucked). Stopped using the cream and just tried to live with it.

Had it until the summer when I made an effort to intensely sunbathe (I don't burn, I toast very quickly) and... gone.

Like, on the first hot super sunny weekend spent hanging out naked on my open balcony (49th parallel late June), it was completely gone by the next weekend. Had a (very) mild recurrence the next winter but I made a point of taking 1,000IU over-the-counter vitamin D daily and it went away. But after that winter, I stopped bothering and it has never come back in almost a decade.

If you're not naturally super pale, I would explore a few sessions at a tanning salon. ymmv
posted by porpoise at 3:50 PM on February 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

I am super pale and second the tanning salon solution. I went to hollywood tans with the stand up booths (so you arent touching anything) and if i recall they had a few differnt power options. Lowest power option for 2 minutes once or twice a week really helped with winter skin dryness. I wore sunscreen on my face because im vain, but the 2 minutes wasnt enough to burn me and i burn fairly easily. I wish i still had access to them because now i live in a very cold and dry environment with a uv index of 0 and this winter i got big scaly patches on my eyelids.
posted by WeekendJen at 11:46 PM on February 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

There is a version of eczema called nummular eczema (nummular meaning coin) that is eczema but in random small roundish patches. I get it on my upper arms.

I started getting it in the winter in college. Things that seem to help are heavy duty moisturizer on the affected spots (Aquaphor when really bad), sun exposure, lowering the heating a bit, a humidifier, and reducing stress.
posted by The Librarian at 2:44 AM on February 9, 2021

My eczema has been worse this winter - dry environment is likely the culprit.

What has helped for me on my dry areas is Lano Everywhere Multi-Cream. I have to consistently apply it daily, but it really helps.
posted by bedhead at 5:33 AM on February 9, 2021

As many others have posted, I developed similar dry skin issues in January 2016. I suspect it was a combination of stress, dry air, no sun exposure / vitamin D, not moisturizing, etc. I saw the dermotologists and used some ointments that helped a bit, but the major improvement occurred once the weather warmed up. After about a month of 50*F + weather the issues were gone. They recur most winters usually in Jan/Feb in varying degrees of severity. FWIW, regular vitamin D supplementation seems to have helped this year.
posted by unid41 at 8:43 AM on February 9, 2021

I believe it's related to handwashing and less sun exposure, with both of these changing the skin microbiome and the immune system response complicating this. Both related to COVID-19 changes.
Sun exposure may help. Hand washing.... well that's a difficult one at the moment.
posted by TheGreenRye at 5:40 PM on February 9, 2021

I've gotten that this year too, under my eyes and nose and (annoyingly) inside my ears. I find applying a drop of jojoba oil a few times a day clears it up quickly.
posted by ananci at 12:01 PM on February 10, 2021