In the depths of winter is the time of year when many of us have had to resort to medications or have upped our vitamins to cope with winter bugs and lack of sunshine and outdoor activity.
However, to add to the misery, many common medications such as antibiotics and statins and everyday vitamins such as B vitamins and Vitamin A while helping to improve your symptoms, can have some adverse effects on your skin. Thankfully most skin reactions to medications or vitamins are temporary but can still be very uncomfortable and are best treated swiftly to avoid any escalation.
Dermatologist Dr Eva Melegh takes us through some of the most common medicines and vitamins that can cause certain skin issues and what to do about them.
Antidepressants - itchy dry skin
Certain types, including SSRIs, can cause dry itchy skin as a side effect.
How to treat it
If you start to develop dry itchy skin after starting to take anti-depressant medication, make sure you try and treat the skin issues as soon as possible as they can disturb restful sleep which will slow down the positive effects of the medications.
Shower in lukewarm water before sleeping, wear natural cotton bed clothes, avoid synthetic clothing during the day next to skin, wash off any excessive sweat on the skin such as after exercising and use an anti-inflammatory and hypoallergenic skin salve am and pm on the patches of skin most irritated skin. Salves are better than cream for patches of dry ad itchy skin as they are more intensive and stay on the skin longer. Try Hydrosil Turmeric Butter & Milk Salve , which contains a natural plant-steroid that has an immediately relieving effect on itchy skin and also contains anti-inflammatory turmeric and hypoallergenic donkey milk.
Antibiotics - bumpy sensitive skin and UV sensitivity
A common skin reaction caused by certain antibiotics is hives which appears as an itchy red bumpy rash. As several sites on the body. Antibiotics for UTI’s and respiratory infections can also cause the skin to become more sensitive to UV rays causing blistering and peeling.
How to treat it
You need to treat both the rashes and the sensitivity. For the hives focus on relieving itching and swelling with cool baths or showers, loose cotton clothing and avoid triggers like scented and chemical-heady skincare or cosmetics, heat, excessive sweating and alcohol. You can also apply and desensitising base cream to the affected area to reduce the ski’s reactivity. Try Kalme Undercoat which contains a specific ingredient that dampens down the ski reactivity response while also being perfume free and chemical free. For the UV sensitivity wear a daily SPF in all weathers. I favour mineral SPF’s are they are less likely to trigger reactions in very sensitive skin. Zinc oxide is the least reactive mineral SPF. Try Kalme Day Defence, which contains anti-redness and sensitivity ingredients and a pure zinc oxide SPF40.
Vitamins B – jawline acne
High doses of Vitamin B6, B12, or D can result in raising testosterone levels which can trigger acne, especially along the jawline and on the lower face.
How to treat it
Higher testosterone can cause the skin to produce excess sebum (oil). This increased oil production, mixes with dead skin cells, causing contamination and clogging pores and leading to inflammation and acne.
Drying up the sebum or drying to black it only causes the body to produce more sebum. They key to dealing with hormonal excess sebum acne is not focus on keeping the sebum pure rather than trying to reduce it. Try Clarol Sebopure uses a patented ingredient derived from wild mustard leaf oil that has been scientifically proven as an active sebum purifier, allowing it to pass out through the skin pore without pooling and clogging.
Diuretics - dry eyebrows and dry scalp
Prescribed for high blood pressure, these flush excess water, leading to overall dehydration and dry skin, especially on the face, eyebrows and scalps as well as the hands.
How to treat it
Avoid exfoliation and cleansing of the face with any anti-grease chemicals present in most foaming facial cleanser. For the same reason also avoid make up removes which contain solvents to break down cosmetics. Instead switch to a water-free cream cleanser with moisturising agents that will clean both the dirt from the skin and cosmetics. Try Kalme Cream Cleanser, which doesn’t contain perfumes or chemicals. For dry flaky eyebrows try Hydrosil HydroBrow which is a clear brow serum that contains a skin prebiotic to help rebuild brow barrier to lock in moisture and reduce dryness, itching and flaking.
For dry scalp try Hydrosil Scalp Shield Tonic, which is a nongreasy leave in scalp tonic with a skin prebiotic for repairing scalp barrier function and reduce flaking and a natural plant-steroid to reduce itching.
Protein Powders – open pores
Protein powders, particularly whey, are linked to acne breakouts because they increase insulin and IGF-1, which can trigger acne-related inflammation and stretched pores.
How to treat it
Switch to a plant-based protein powder such as pea or soy and switch to a pore minimising toner for cleansing to help reduce inflammation and close pores but without damaging the skin through chemical exfoliation. Clarol Birch Water Pore-Minimising Toner is a bioactive skin toner containing two Nordic plant extracts, Nordic Birch Sap and Wild Red Clover, that help to minimise open pores and cleanse and clarify acne-prone skin without damaging the skin barrier.
Vasodilators - rosacea flares
Vasodilators, a common class of blood pressure medications that open up the blood vessels, have been linked with triggering acne rosacea due the vasodilating effects of the blood vessels below the skin’s surface.
How to treat it
Cut down on alcohol, especially white wine or fizzy alcoholic drinks, avoid spicey food and beware of sudden temperature changes from cold to hot (or vice versa) environments such as overly heated car sin cold weather or hot showers. Switch to skincare designed specifically to reduce redness with low chemical content, simplified ingredients and no perfumes such as Kalme Skincare. The range also makes a treatment concealer that can conceal as well as treat redness.
Statins – dry tight skin
Cholesterol-lowering drugs that can sometimes lead to very dry and flaky skin because these drugs affect the lipids in your skin, which may cause your skin to feel more dry and tighter than usual.
How to treat it
Skin tightness can be very uncomfortable and is best treated using ultra hydrating skincare and avoiding hot water on the skin as much as possible. I favour using hydrating serums for tight skin as they penetrate the skin better and can carry more ingredient in their suspension than creams. For tight skin, a skin serum can be layered under any cosmetics or suncreams during the day and also at night under any other skincare products. Try Kalme TeQ Serum which contains an extract of Mexican agave that is more hydrating than hyaluronic acid and also acts a skin prebiotic to help repair a weakened skin barrier function.
Antihistamines - dry itchy eyelids
Used for allergies, these can reduce moisture in the skin, in particular around the eyes and on the eyelids.
How to treat it
Often allergies can cause itchy swollen eyes and eyelids. However, although antihistamines can help dampen the allergic reaction they themselves can also cause a reduction in moisture in the skin, in particular around the eyes. Once the skin on the eyelids and around the ayes gets too dry it can become itchy and inflamed and very uncomfortable. However, steroids, often used for atopic reactions, are not suitable for use around the eyes and there are not many alternatives that can bring instant relief to itchy and inflamed skin around the eyes. Try Hydrosil Dry Eye Gel which is a light and absorbent gel that contains a plant-steroid that mimics the effects of chemical steroids but it safe for use around the eyes and on the eyelids and can be used as often as is necessary and can be worn under cosmetics to help prevent further skin reactions on dry itchy eyelids.
Collagen - purge acne
When you start taking collagen, your body might begin repairing tissues and flushing out toxins that have been sitting under the surface. This process can speed up cell turnover, meaning your skin starts shedding dead cells faster than usual. As a result, you may experience temporary acne breakouts, also known as a skin purge.
How to treat it
During this kind of skin purge it can help to exfoliate your skin more often, but you want to make sure in doing so you don’t damage the skin barrier at the same time to you need a gentle daily exfoliant that also protects the skin’s integrity as the same time. Try Clarol Silver & Birch Exfoliating Wash with natural birch bark that contains natural equivalents of both salicylic acid and methyl salicylate. These two synthetic chemicals commonly used in anti-acne products.
Birch Bark detoxifies and cleanses the skin but does not dry or damage it like many chemical treatments do. Birch Bark also contains betulin to help reduce inflammation in acne-prone skin. It also contains MicroSilver ™,a smart anti-bacterial agent that kills off bad acne bacteria while feeding good skin bacteria. It effectively re-balances skin flora and leaves acne-prone skin clearer and stronger.
Vitamin A – itchy scaly skin and itchy lips
Taking high doses of this vitamin might be the reason for your itching. Symptoms of high doses of vitamin A can include itching and a scaly skin as well as itching, chapped lips.
How to treat it
Scaly skin is caused when skin cell production increases, leading to raised itchy and scaly patches of skin. Simply moisturising these scaly patches often isn’t enough. Psoregon Skincare is a range that contain an extract or Oregon grape root that is proven to dampen down skin cell production to reducing scale build up.
Itchy and chapped lips can trigger a cold sore in the 50% of people who carry the herpes simplex virus so protecting lips from chapping from high dose vitamin A intake can help prevent a very uncomfortable skin issue.
Try Lip Q Liquorice Balm , which is a natural and neutral odourless lip balm that contains highly concentrated glycyrrhizic acid which specifically targets the genes that are required to maintain the cold sore virus in its latent state by interfering with the production of special proteins that feed the infected cells and has been proven by the Herpes Virus Association to reduce the intensity and frequency of cold sore outbreaks.
