ONE CURE FOR DRY SKIN IS TO WATER IT FROM WITHIN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 16, 1993                   TAG: 9303160221
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jane Brody
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long
ONE CURE FOR DRY SKIN IS TO WATER IT FROM WITHIN
By now your skin has probably had it with winter. Assaulted by hot and dry indoor air, cold and dry outdoor air, wind and, yes, sun, it has become dry, shriveled, flaky, perhaps even cracked and sore and, worst of all, itchy, especially when you try to get a restful night's sleep.
Take heart. There are solutions to your problem that will neither wreck your budget nor consume very much time. Nor do you have to feel like a greased pig to protect that outermost layer of your body, which is supposed to be protecting you.
If your skin could talk, it would yell loud and long for water, cool, clear water. For the problems skin has with winter all start with dehydration, both external and internal. And the solutions involve keeping the skin in the hydrated state it would have if you lived in a warm, humid climate year round.
A Clarkson University chemist who has conducted an in-depth study of the outer layers of skin, the stratum corneum, has challenged some common assumptions about the skin and skin-care products and may have developed a new way to keep the skin smooth and soft.
The chemist, Stig Friberg, realizing that the secret of soft, pliable skin is to keep it laced with water, looked into what happens to the stratum corneum's structure when it is well hydrated. Then he tried to create the effect of hydration with an externally applied substance.
He showed that good hydration maintains the wiggliness of long hydrocarbon chains of lipids, or fats, in the stratum corneum. But without enough water, the lipids become rigid and the skin becomes dry and flaky and feels as if it would tear if stretched.
Friberg believes the rigidity of lipids in the skin explains why some people's skin is more susceptible to winter dryness than others' and why dry skin runs in families. Some people, he says, are genetically programmed to produce lipids with hydrocarbon chains that tend to become locked into a rigid chemical structure when the skin's water content is low.
To counteract this he developed a substance based on soybean oil that, when applied to the skinexternally, penetrates the stratum corneum, where it mixes with the lipids and prevents them from lock- JANE BRODY ing together. The result, he says, is a more flexible structure that is better able to resist cracking and flaking associated with dryness.
His theory has been incorporated in some cosmetic products as the ingredient listed on the labels as "maleated soybean oil" or "modified soybean-oil product." It is known commercially as Ceraphyl GA.
Contrary to what many people think, moisturizers do not add water to the structure of the skin. They simply lie on top of the skin where, to varying degrees, they reduce the loss of water from the skin surface.
There are only two ways to add water to the skin from the outside. One is to live in a climate with an extremely high humidity; humidifying your household air is only minimally effective, and unless the humidifier is designed to prevent fungal growth (for example, by boiling the water) and is cleaned regularly according to manufacturer's instruction, it can spew harmful organisms into the air.
The other way to add water from without is to soak in a tepid bath (without oil or gel in the water) for 20 minutes to get your skin water-logged and then grease up your wet body with a thin layer of an oil-based cream or ointment like Vaseline or Aquaphor.
Then pat the skin dry to trap the moisture. Bath oils, often advertised as moisturizers, should be added to the water only after you have been soaking for 10 minutes. (Keep in mind that bath oil can make the tub slippery and dangerous.)
Skin is most effectively moistened from within by the water you consume. You may not notice evaporative water loss (i.e., sweat) in winter, but you do indeed lose a lot of water from the body's surface and through the moist air you exhale.
"The skin reflects the whole body's water content," Dr. Rachelle Scott, a dermatologist at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center, pointed out. "If total body water is insufficient, the skin and mucous membranes feel dry, which is why people often wake up with a stuffy nose in winter."
The obvious solution is to drink lots of hydrating fluids throughout the day. These include plain water (hot or cold), mineral water, seltzer, diluted fruit juices, herb teas, decaffeinated tea and coffee and artificially sweetened drinks.
Counterproductive are dehydrating fluids like alcoholic beverages, caffeine-containing drinks and sugary or salty drinks; they either increase water loss through urination or increase the body's total water needs. Strive for eight 8-ounce glasses of hydrating fluids each day.
Contrary to what you might guess, bathing often dries out the skin. Excessive exposure to water is the main cause of "dishpan hands." Our national cleanliness fetish calls for a daily bath or shower, yet in winter a total body cleansing every other day is more sensible.
On alternate days, Scott suggests a sponge bath in which only the groin area, underarms, hands and feet are washed. Those who spend a lot of time swimming in winter would be wise to "oil up" before plunging in.
Scott also recommends the use of soap substitutes like Cetaphil, Oil of Olay and Moisturel liquid cleansers or Basis (a bar), which do not remove as much of the skin's natural oils as soaps containing detergents.

Jane Brody writes about health issues for The New York Times.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB