What causes skin irritation?
What are the primary symptoms?
- Reddened skin caused by the dilation of blood vessels- the most common symptom of a skin problem.
- Stinging sensations or itchiness that occur when the skin’s nerve endings are stressed
- Peeling: when your skin is very dry, your stratum corneum can lose compactness and begin to peel
- Edema, spots, rashes, vesicles: these are symptoms of more serious problems and should be evaluated with a visit to a specialist
What does irritated skin look like?
Itchiness, reddening, and skin pain can result from pathological causes, or from momentary alterations of the skin.
The pathological causes are primarily skin diseases such as dermatitis, psoriasis, inflammation, allergies, acne. However, they can also be systemic diseases. You must consult a dermatologist for a correct diagnosis.
There are also non-pathological causes, such as:
- external stressors such as the cold, wind, or high humidity.
- exposure to irritant chemical agents
- mechanical stress, such as from shaving, depilation, consistent use of a mask over the face, and so on.
- incorrect or excessive exposure to the sun or tanning beds
- the use of allergenic cosmetic products, or cosmetic products that aren’t right for your skin type
- Food intolerances
Even in these cases, a visit to a specialist should be the first step towards knowing what has caused the irritation and how to treat it.
How to soothe irritated skin: our tips
To soothe and make your skin comfortable again, it’s important to firstly treat symptoms directly. Thus, you should:
- Avoid the substance or behaviour that caused the irritation.
- Apply specific products with highly soothing active ingredients.
- Restore the skin barrier by applying cosmetic products based in fundamental skin lipids
- Cleans your skin with gentle products, avoiding cleansers that contain aggressive surfactants
Once you’ve restored your skin barrier, it will be useful to follow certain precautions to protect your skin’s wellbeing and avoid the problem repeating itself. Thus, you should:
- Not use cosmetic products with potentially allergenic ingredients (such as fragrances, dyes, and metals)
- Always protect your skin from the sun properly throughout the year and avoid exposing yourself to the sun during the central hours of the day.
- Use only cleansers and cosmetic products free of fragrances, alcohol, and preservatives that can cause an allergic reaction
- Keep the temperature at home and in your work environment moderate.
- Not smoke
- Follow a balanced and varied diet
The above information is not medical advice. It is given purely as an indication and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice.
