Transcript Decoding” Food Labels

Older Skin is often itchy skin
Robert Grimshaw MD FACP
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"The Fifty-Year Itch"
According to Dr. Laurie Polis, Mt. Sinai & Beth Israel dermatologist,
"it’s almost as if when someone turns 50, their skin is likely to become
much itchier." She calls this, "the 50-year itch."
Why does this occur?
• Thinning of the epidermis (the top layer of the skin) with age
• Change in skin oil production
• Hormonal change
• Together, these changes cause itching and burning; if you scratch
too hard, damage occurs, and an "itch/injury" cycle begins.
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The Skin From MH Swartz, Textbook of
Physical Diagnosis,1998 p 93 WB Saunders Co.
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Older skin is more sensitive to irritants:
•
•
•
•
fabrics, such as wool
detergents & bleaches
preservatives
plastics
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And other factors irritate the skin:
• low humidity (relative humidity indoors in the
winter can be close to zero percent when it’s below
freezing outside, since the same air at 70o indoors
can hold so much more water. It’s as if you’re in the
dessert: skin then has to give up its own water to
the very dry indoor air)
• wind
• sun
• low-fat diets sometimes also decrease skin
moisture
• some medications also lower skin moisture
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Treatment:
Avoid Irritants:
• Use cotton or a synthetic against your skin instead of wool
• No fragrance soaps or detergents (there are cleansers such as
Aveeno for sensitive skin)
• Bathe in tepid or lukewarm water only - NO HOT SHOWERS
OR BATHS!!
• Regularly bathe odor-bearing regions only - daily bathing
dries out the skin
• Rinse completely after bathing to remove all soap or
detergent
• Pat lightly to dry off –don’t rub!!
• After bathing, immediately apply a moisturizing cream (such
as Nivea, Eucerin or Alpha-Keri)
• Topical anti-itch creams (such as Lanacane, others) can
sometimes help
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If There’s No Relief, We May Be Able to Help:
Some medical conditions can cause itch, including certain
liver disorders (such as hepatitis C), both low (hypo) and
high (hyper) thyroid problems, kidney failure, iron
deficiency or iron overload, nerve irritations, allergy, drug
reactions, and (fortunately quite rarely) a few
malignancies such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
And skin lesions that keep itching should get checked with a
skin specialist (dermatologist).
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