Dry Flakey Skin

Dry skin is a very common skin complaint, resulting in redness, itching, flaking and cracking of the skin. Whilst the causes or triggers of dry skin can vary, the underlying biological reason for dry skin is water retention. The outermost layer of skin named the strateum corneum is composed of dead skin cells which are fixed together to form a protective shield over the living skin cells underneath. The strateum corneum typically has the same surface area as the skin layers beneath it resulting in a healthy skin appearance, however when water levels are low, the strateum corneum layer shrinks making the surface area less than the layers underneath, this causes the outer layer to tighten leading to dryness, cracks and flaking skin.