Tips for Dealing with Dry Skin

Dry skin most often occurs on the shins, hands and sides of the abdomen. It is more common during the winter months, when humidity is low. Some people also have a genetic, or hereditary, tendency to develop dry skin. In addition, elderly people tend to have more trouble with dry skin due to the natural changes in skin that occur with age.

Treatment is important because extensively dry skin can lead to eczema or other forms of dermatitis.

Dry skin may be prevented or treated by:

- Taking lukewarm baths or showers (instead of hot ones)
- Limiting baths/showers to 5 to 10 minutes
- Applying a moisturizer right after drying off from a shower or washing your hands
- Using a moisturizing body soap and hand soap
- Using heavier creams or ointments during the winter months and lighter lotions in the summer

How Do I know if I Have Dermatitis?

Dry skin is defined as flaking or scaling -- which may or may not be itchy -- when there is no evidence of dermatitis, or inflammation, of the skin. Some flaking along with redness, however, may be a sign of an underlying dermatitis. There are different types of dermatitis that may cause dry, itchy, flaking skin.

They include:

- Seborrheic dermatitis. This type involves a red, scaly, itchy rash on various areas of the body, particularly those areas that contain many oil glands. Seborrheic dermatitis can occur as scaling on the scalp, eyebrows and sides of the nose.

- Allergic contact dermatitis. This occurs when the skin comes into contact with a substance that causes an immune reaction, such as poison ivy. Allergic contact dermatitis of the hands often causes scaling on the fingers.

- Atopic dermatitis. Also known as eczema, this is a long-lasting type of dermatitis that often runs in families. It also may cause excessively dry, itchy skin.

- Athlete's foot. In many cases, athlete's foot, a fungal infection, shows up as dry flaking on the soles of the feet. [Source]

As winter approaches, BORBA offers luxurious skin care products specifically formulated to combat dry skin.

Study: Vitamin C May Slow Skin Wrinkling

You've heard the old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Perhaps there is a new saying on the horizon...

According to a recent study "an orange a day may keep the wrinkles away."

In one of the first studies to examine the impact of nutrients from foods rather than supplements on skin aging, researchers reported that people who ate plenty of vitamin C-rich foods had fewer wrinkles than people whose diets contained little of the vitamin.

Diets rich in the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid were also associated with less skin aging from dryness and thinning, while higher-fat diets and those higher in carbohydrates were associated with more wrinkling.

This, of course, goes hand in hand with the inside-out approach to skin care. BORBA's drinkable skin care products have high levels of antioxidant vitamin C.

Sneak Peak: BORBA Drinkable Skin Care Face Lift

As some of you know, BORBA and Anheuser-Busch recently announced an agreement granting Anheuser-Busch responsibility for the distribution and marketing of BORBA Skin Balance Waters in the United States and in countries around the world. [press release]

Included in this effort was a Skin Balance Water face lift which took our bottled skin care from this...

To this ...

Our new bottles will be hitting stores nationwide in the coming months.

Well, what do you think!?

Study: Smoking Breaks Down Skin Collagen

Have you ever noticed how smokers tend to look older than their non-smoking counterparts? They often exhibit wrinklier skin and a grayish pallor.

But why? What is going on internally that would cause this effect on smokers' skin?

Scientists think they may have discovered the answer.

A study by dermatologists, published in The Lancet, shows that smoking activates the genes responsible for a skin enzyme that breaks down collagen in the skin.

Collagen is the main structural protein of the skin and keeps it elasticated.

When this starts to disintegrate, skin begins to sag and wrinkle.

Professor Antony Young and his colleagues from Guys, Kings and St Thomas' School of Medicine, in London, measured concentrations of the gene MMP-1, which breaks down collagen.

...

"Smoking tobacco activates this enzyme that breaks down the skin collagen.

"We did not know that before, we suspected it from studies done in the test-tube, but this is the first proof."

Of course there are skin care products designed to promote your skin’s natural smoothness, elasticity and nourishment.

But we all know the best way to reduce these effects is to quit smoking - or better yet, never begin.