Really dry, itchy skin

Itching is a form of mild pain. Aspirin or some pain killer helps it in severe cases. You can also ask your doctor, as well as try that Eucerin.

Has anyone mentioned Eucerin yet?

I've heard it's good.

My mate had this problem for years, and it stopped almost overnight when he used aloe vera lotion. He used the expensive stuff with high aloe vera content, but says it was worth every penny,

I think it is fragrance free which I think is a plus. Look for a body lotion and a jar of cream for your heels and ankles. Happy shopping.

Hmmm. I could give that a try, too, but I'm hitting Walmart tomorrow anyway.

Okay. No heel problem, but plenty around the calves and ankles.

I have suffered from dry itchy skin and occasional eczema around my ankles and lower legs for about 5 years. The doctor prescribed Dermol (an antibacterial soap-free washing lotion), Balneum (a cream containing urea), and for bad flare-ups, Mometasone (a steroid ointment). These barely kept it at bay, and I was using a lot of Balneum which was staining my clothes, bed sheets, etc. (These are UK names).

At one point about 2 years ago it got so bad, severe itching, bleeding, etc, I called the doctor's office for an appointment. He was on vacation and I was seen by a different doctor who suggested I try a product called Aveeno, an oatmeal based cream made by Johnson & Johnson. I was a bit skeptical but I had nothing to lose. The results were amazing! I would say my skin improved after around 2 days and kept on getting better as I used it twice a day. Instead of my whole leg from the knee down being angry red, there is a little patch at the back of my calf and that is itch free most of the time. Now I am down to once a day and the steroid ointment hasn't been out of the cabinet for 6 months. Quite a few people with dry or flaky skin that I told about it have had good improvements, notably my boss's elderly father. You can buy Aveeno without prescription, and my wife steals quite a lot of mine because she likes it so much.

Can you see this picture? This is what I use, there is a whole range of products under the Aveeno name.



Having read the above it sounds like I work for Johnson & Johnson. I promise I don't!

Thanks, and I don't for a minute think you are repping for J&J. I may track it down in a few days, but am going to give the Eucerin a shot when the stores open. What you describe sounds like my condition. If the Eucerin doesn't give good and quick results, I'll be back to check on the spelling of that stuff. Oatmeal sounds kind of weird, but if it works, well, it works.

It's spelled AVEENO. Dermatologists often recommend oatmeal-based creams and body washes for patients with exzema, psoriasis and other skin conditions. My mother used to make oatmeal masks for her face. Some people say you can get good results using oatmeal baths e.g. like this:



There are lots of web forums specializing in skin complaints, and products like Aveeno get plenty of favorable comments, especially for babies and children.

Believe me, I am the last person in the world to be convinced by health-shop hokum or herbal remedies, but I cannot deny the improvement I have had. You can get little tubes of Aveeno so you could try it out for a small cost.

Some Eucerin branded products contain urea, which is like the Balneum Plus which I first used, which actually made my itching worse (urea can do that to some people).

Four out of five doctors . . .


. . . is not a statistically significant sample.

Aloe products work well for almost any source of itching. The healing properties of aloe vera are truly amazing. I once got a small but bad burn on my leg from a very hot copper pipe. Less than ten minutes later, i arrived at a friend's house, and she went out into her kitchen, pulled a spike from an aloe plant and squeezed the juice onto my leg. The blister went down immediately, and it healed within two days without a scab and leaving no scar.

we are believers in tea tree oil. Its an emolient and a natural anesthetic ,and its antibacterial. I am always getting bramble scratches and chigger bites. Tea tree will "coat" the critters little "chimney and dissolve it and tret the skin and itching is but a few hours inconvenience.
I carry a spray bottle in my field pack for scrtches, insect and spider bites, and for weight loss >(well, I lied about the weight loss)

If you talk to people from the subcontinent, they wax rhapsodic about neem oil. It's in the same family as mahogany. It also has the kind of properties you refer to, and is claimed to be very anti-bacterial. Most trees have antibiotic properties--they are are subject to diseases, too and have evolved defense mechanisms, usually better than those animals possess.

Back in the 80s, people got all worked up over wooden cutting boards, and claimed that plastic boards are superior. Some health departments even began insisting that restaurants use plastic cutting boards. Then somebody actually did some controlled studies. The grooves in the plastic cutting boards from the action of knives would fill with food residues and provide environments for bacteria to culture. Wooden cutting boards have the antibiotic properties of the parent tree, and are much less likely to culture bacteria. I don't know if anyone decided which wood was best. You still have to be careful, though. The wood and fruit of the neem tree, for example, can cause encephalopathy and ophthalmopathy from too much exposure. One is advised not to eat the fruit.

Mother Nature really does know best.

Teatree oil did it for me back in the day, wot wiv all dem stitches and healing processes.

Ten times the strength of bleach, so my visiting District Nurse said, yet not corrosive.

I just noticed this tag:
Xerotic Rogering

In DEED!

I've been using shampoo with a good amount of tea tree oil. It gets rid of dandruff and itch dry scalp better than anything else I've ever used.

roger, Eucerin is the brand name for an entire line of skin care products.

http://www.eucerinus.com/

I've used the repair formulas and been happy with the results. I've never had a problem finding Eucerin products at CVS.

The above link will also help you locate stores in your area, beside Walmart, that carry this line.

Hope you find relief for your problem soon.

Found it - I used and liked a lot Eucerin Calming Body Wash instead of soap, for showers.

I'll try anything Eucerin. Didn't know Walmart carries it. Alas, Walmart is now my new grocery store, since our more local store suddenly shut down and is gone, gone, gone.

Surprisingly, I just happened to have a bottle of tea tree oil on the shelf. I'm using my left arm as a test bed as we speak.

Probably a Brit. I wonder which one.

I've used tea tree oil (****, I used to have a tea tree in my yard) to get rid of skin fingers, or whatever you call them. It worked. My memory is that tea tree oil is quite expensive.