I have a horrible problem with getting severely dry skin around my eyes, on the front of my neck just below my chin, and on the insides of my elbows. It doesn't matter how much lotion I use on those areas, my skin is still dry, flakey, sensitive, and reddened. It also gets so bad that is cracks, and it itches so badly that I often end up with sores from scratching so much. After a bad episode, my eyes always look extremely aged and have bags underneath. Any advice to what type of condition I could be suffering from? It is local and only affects those specific areas. Haven't been to a doctor, as I have had no health coverage since 2001 and can't afford to make an appointment. This has been going on for at about 8 years. Also, I am a 27 year old male, in case age/sex might help with diagnosis of a problem, and family medical history includes that my mother has had skin cancer, and a brain tumor, and many of her family members have had multiple types of cancers and tumors. My father has a rare kidney disease, Polymiysitis, and a rare kidney disease. I know that with this type of genetic pattern I am not in the best of luck as these things are generally genetic. Could my skin affliction be a symbol of an underlying disorder/disease?
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Q: Dry, irritated, red skin: Around eyes, front of neck, inside of elbows....
Hello, I don't have an answer to your question but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone on this. Yesterday I noticed that my inner elbow was itchy and I was scratching it occassionally I eventually pulled my sleeves up and noticed a redish rash and I really got worried because I had earlier noticed rashes on my neck which eventually dried up and left my skin scally and rogh to touch. I asked my sister who is studying to be a doctor and she suggested that it could be as a result of the change in weather. I am in Nigeria and the weather is in the process of making a transition to the dry season and at the moment, the weather is very humid and can really get hot. Also I am trying very hard to stop smoking as I recently got very used to it, so I was thinking my skin is reacting to whatever is in the cigarettes. So I would suggest you check your environment and you recent activities.
I started getting these same symptoms a few years ago (as an adult), and here's what I've found.
1. The dermatologist said it's eczema. She gave me triamcinolone cream to put on the insides of my elbows (and I also have it behind my knees).
2. Since the skin on your face and the front of your neck is so much more delicate than elsewhere on your body, she said using triamcinolone on the face and front of neck -- for long periods of time -- is not recommended. She said I could use the triamcinolone cream on the front of my neck for 7-10 days but that if the eczema persisted beyond that, I really needed to use Elidel on face and neck instead.
3. And since neither triamcinolone nor Elidel can be used near the eyes, she gave me a third medicine (thankfully she had a sample of this, and since I use in on such a small part of my body, I haven't yet had to fill a prescription for it). This medicine is called Protopic. It sometimes stings a little (it does so more when I don't put it on at the first signs of a flare up and wait until the sensitive skin on my eyelids is already quite irritated). But, all in all, it's worked great for me.
If you have eczema (do you have any other personal or family history of allergies? that predisposes you to eczema), the good news is that triamcinolone, Elidel, and Protopic can be very useful! (The bad news is that they are three different prescriptions, and that, of course, costs some money up front. The triamcinolone, by the way, is very cheap. Yea.) But I think those medications have been well worth the costs and the trip to the dermatologist. Good luck!
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