Healthy family!

By: Laura Flynn McCarthy
The weather outside is still frightful, and, alas, your family's skin is vulnerable. If everyone seems to be itchy, have dandruff and/or suffer chapped lips and hands, try these ideas to get your family through winter's end with rosy cheeks and healthy skin all over.

Problem: Dry skin, winter itch, eczema

Why Now: Drier air inside and out during cold weather pulls moisture from your skin.

Best Solutions: Take only short baths or showers, using soap (choose a superfatted one like Dove, Oil of Olay or Basis) only where necessary and minimally on arms and legs. Pat skin dry and apply moisturizer while skin is damp. Look for cream and lotion ingredients that trap moisture in the skin, such as urea, and those that attract moisture to the skin, such as hyaluronic acid and lactic acid. If eczema runs in your family and worsens in winter, you may need prescription cortisone creams. Choose a mild laundry detergent (like Dreft or Ivory Snow) and use the smallest recommended amount. Avoid wool and other itchy fabrics. Use cool-mist humidifiers in your bedrooms.

Problem: Chapped, cracked hands and nails

Why Now: Drier air, use of harsh soaps and frequent paper handling strip moisture from skin and nails.

Best Solutions: To heal skin cracks and fissures, apply antibiotic ointment or 1 percent hydrocortisone cream and cover with a bandage. At night, massage a heavier hand cream or petroleum jelly into hands and nails and cover with lightweight cotton gloves for sleeping. Trim nails short in winter to minimize breakage. Moms and daughters, wear nail polish in winter months to seal in moisture; remove it no more than once a week with a nonacetone polish remover.

Problem: Chapped lips

Why Now: Dry air and cold winds.

Best Solutions: Avoid licking lips; salt in saliva dries them. Give your kids their favorite flavored lip balm and suggest they apply it whenever they're tempted to lick. Petroleum jelly (like Vaseline) also works well.

Problem: Dandruff (seborrheic dermatitis)—greasy flakes on the scalp and sometimes the eyebrows, ears and nose area

Why Now: Less sunlight (sunlight is thought to minimize this condition), drier air, increased growth of yeast on skin.

Best Solutions: Switch to a dandruff shampoo at least twice a week. Ingredients including tar, zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide and the prescription ketaconazole all work well. Work the shampoo into the scalp and let it sit while you finish your bath or shower, then rinse. For nonscalp dandruff, apply 1 percent hydrocortisone cream to reduce inflammation.

Problem: Sunburn, windburn

Why Now: Time spent on ski slopes (high altitudes mean closer sun exposure and winds) or outside play.

Best Solutions: Apply a sunscreen with SPF 15 for everyday use and one with a higher SPF if you're hitting the slopes.

Problem: Frostbite, which causes skin to turn red, then white, and produces tingling and stinging in the skin

Why Now: Exposure to cold temperatures

Best Solutions: Keep circulation strong by moving arms and legs when outdoors. Wear layers of clothing. Get inside at the first sign of redness, tingling or stinging; warm the skin slowly, running the affected area under warm, water, not hot.

Source: D'anne Kleinsmith, MD, dermatologist, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oaks, MI