sk:nsiders guide to seasonal skin triggers

By Ash 14th October 2021 Category: Advice
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Dr. Daron Seukeran, Group Medical Director at UK’s leading skin clinic sk:n, provides insight into seasonal triggers for a range of skin disorders, what seasonal changes cause flare ups and how to counteract them.

There are a number of common skin conditions that affect many of us to a certain degree, from acne to eczema and rosacea. What many people don’t know, is that many of these common conditions are affected by seasonal changes and can become more pronounced under certain conditions.

To help, Dr Daron Seukeran, Group Medical Director at sk:n identifies these seasonal skin changes and provides his top tips on reducing their impact.

Seasonal triggers for common skin conditions:

Rosacea is a long-term skin condition that mainly affects the face. It’s more common in women and people with lighter skin, but symptoms can be worse in men.

Most common symptoms include redness (blushing) across your nose, cheeks, forehead and chin that comes and goes and a burning or stinging feeling when using water or skincare products. However, people can also experience dry skin, swelling (especially around the eyes), sore eyelids and thickened skin.

Seasonal triggers: “The good news is, at this time of year, Rosacea symptoms should start to subside as it is heavily affected by photosensitivity and exposure to the sun! That being said, other triggers include alcohol, spicy foods, caffeine and hot drinks – consumption of which tends to increase in the colder months, so where possible, avoid!”

Acne is a common skin condition that affects most people at some point in their lives (to different degrees of severity). It causes spots, oily skin and sometimes skin that’s hot or painful to touch.

Acne most commonly develops on the face but in more than half of people, it will appear on the back and for about 15% of people it will develop on their chest. Blackheads and whiteheads are the most common and well-known forms of acne but there are also papules (small red bumps that may feel tender or sore), pustules (similar to papules but with a white tip at the centre), nodules (hard lumps under the skin that can be painful) and cysts, the most severe type of acne spot.

Seasonal triggers: “There are individuals with whom their acne improves in the sunshine. In these individuals as their skin starts to see less exposure to the sun, it’s likely to flare up during the colder months. The UV rays from the sun can reduce the back inflammatory activity associated with acne – though I still wouldn’t recommend exposure to the sun without at least an SPF30 sun cream”.


NHS – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/acne/

Eczema is the collective name for a group of skin conditions that cause dry, irritated skin. The most common of which is Atopic Eczema, whereby the skin becomes itchy, dry and cracked.

Some people only have small patches of dry skin, but others may experience widespread inflamed skin all over the body. Inflamed skin can become red on lighter skin, and darker brown, purple or grey on darker skin. Although atopic eczema can affect any part of the body, it most often affects the hands, insides of the elbows, backs of the knees and the face and scalp.

Seasonal triggers: “Winter is a particularly difficult time for eczema sufferers as the condition can be greatly affected by central heating. Due to the lower humidity and increased heat, the skin will lose its natural moisture more quickly. It’s not just the inside environment that can aggravate your eczema, it’s also known to be affected by exposure to cold and damp weather”.

Dr Daron’s top three tips for staving off acne and eczema this winter!

    1. Cleanse skin twice a day

Cleansing in the morning will remove the overnight sweat and oils, whilst cleansing in the evening will eliminate makeup and dirt accrued during the day. Even if you’re not wearing makeup as much during winter, your skin will still be affected by dirt and oils accumulated during the day. It’s also important to use a cleanser that matches your skin type.

    1. Keep your skin hydrated

Firstly, drink plenty of water as you’ll be losing more water in general. Secondly, apply moisturiser to the skin to keep it hydrated and replenish any water loss.

There are a wide variety of moisturisers available to choose from but in general a greasy ointment or cream will be beneficial for people with dry skin and a light lotion or gel will be useful for oily skin.

    1. Protect your skin from UV rays

The sun might not be out as often, and you may be indoors more, however many of the sun’s UV rays are present all year round and can even penetrate through glass windows. Therefore, sunscreen or a moisturiser with SPF 30 should always be applied. As well as harmful UV rays, the sun can also cause skin ageing and hyperpigmentation.

If you’re worried about your skin and would like to book a consultation for more information, please visit www.sknclinics.co.uk or call 0330 162 6320, for more inspiration, follow us on social media @sknclinics.

For more information, please contact the sk:n press office on:
[email protected] or 0117 973 3300

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

sk:n is the UK’s leading medical skincare clinic group offering world leading dermatology expertise on the high street. With over 100 doctors at 53 state-of-the-art clinics nationwide, sk:n provides more highly medically trained staff than any other chain of clinics. Offering more than 200 clinically proven treatments ranging from laser hair removal to anti-aging injectables, acne solutions to tattoo removal and traditional dermatology treatments, sk:n offers world leading expertise that you can trust.

For more information, please visit: https://www.sknclinics.co.uk/

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