Dry, irritated, red skin: Around eyes, front of neck, inside of elbows....
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?
