Ichthyosis or scaly skin

Today's blog is a public service announcement about Ichthyosis. Growing up, I always had really dry itchy skin in the winter. My skin would flake and look kind of scaly. The skin on the back of my shins would get so dry sometimes that they would bleed. My mom took me to specialists and everyone told me the same thing. Slather on baby oil or Vaseline. Well that was pretty disgusting and didn't make it much better, but it made me really slippery.

If I was in the sun, my skin was completely normal. Thank goodness I live in Texas and it is sunny and warm most months. January and February were always rough months on my skin.

So fast forward a decade or two. I was 36 years old and living in Grapevine. I go see this 82-year old doctor for a physical. So while I was there, I thought I'd ask one more doctor about my skin. He looked at me and said "You have Ichthyosis." WTH? 

Well that was a huge turning point in my life..,.well between that and the Internet. I came home and Googled Ichthyosis. For years, not one doctor diagnosed me and this is a genetic thing that affects 1 in 250 people. That is pretty dang common. How could none of these doctors ever heard of it?

Ichthyosis Vulgaris is one of the more commonly seen types of ichthyosis. Sometimes called Common Ichthyosis. It appears in approximately 1 in 250 individuals. Ichthyosis vulgaris often goes undiagnosed because people who have it think they have simple “dry skin” and never seek treatment.

For the past decade, I have been using a couple of different lotions that make my skin look and feel like normal even in the winter. I have to use lotion that has alpha hydroxy or lactic acids. I prefer Dermal Therapy, but you have to order it from Canada which can take a while to ship. You can pick up AmLactin or Lac-Hydrin Five at Target or CVS. At Target, they keep it behind the pharmacy counter, but no prescription is needed. I believe these lotions are also used commonly for diabetics. Market Street also keeps some generic alpha hydroxy lotions behind the pharmacy counter that are a little less expensive.

Dermal Therapy with Alpha Hydroxy

I also hear using Voda soap or soap with Shea butter is helpful, but I have not tried it since the lotions seem to work just fine.

In addition to just dry scaly skin, this condition causes you to not sweat which makes you overheat. Seriously, I can do an hour-long cycle class and barely begin to perspire.

 Itchyosis FIRST