Friday, November 8, 2019

If This Is Aging, It's BS

Seriously, what in the everloving hell is happening to my face?  I've had oily skin for so long that even when it stopped being such a grease factory, I almost never had to use moisturizer because my face had enough of its own.

But over the last month my skin has become so dry.  I have patches of really dry areas along with an overall dry feeling.  Could this be a side effect of the Gabapentin?  That seems unlikely considering I've used it since April and I've been tapering off of it over the last five weeks.  And it's not because of having the heater on; I think ours only kicked in for a few hours last weekend when the temps dropped to freezing.

I'd love to know if there is a cause behind this, other than aging.  I have a feeling that if I went to a dermatologist, I'd get the standard "well as you age you skin does too" answer, which to me is akin to going to the doctor for a broken arm when you're overweight and him saying "well if you'd just lose weight this wouldn't have happened" and yes I realize I'm exaggerating but anyone who's been overweight has probably heard something like that from their doctor.

I keep trying different products but so far not much has changed.
When it first started happening, I switched my normal-to-oily skin CeraVe face wash to the little tube of Drunk Elephant, and then when that didn't help I bought the Aveeno Ultra Calming wash.  No help.  Now I'm bringing in the big guns (well, in terms of cost) - Cetaphil PRO for dry skin.  I've only used it twice so I don't know if it will help, but it's the most I've ever spent on face wash in my life - $15 - so I'd like to think throwing money at this will be effective.

Then there's the moisturizers.  These are all tiny sizes because I rarely needed to use anything in the past.
The little bottle of Cetaphil lotion was my go-to if I felt like I needed to use moisturizer.  When my face first started hurting I used the little pot of Cetaphil moisturizing cream.  Then I switched to the Clinique moisture surge, which helps most of my face except for the dry patches.  That's when I slather on the La Rouche-Posay balm, which helps but doesn't fix it, if that makes sense.

Am I delusional in thinking that this is not right?  I know I don't see myself for the age that I am, but geez louise, is this what it's like for a woman in her mid-fifties?  I'm calling bullshit.  Any help/advice out there?

21 comments:

  1. Your not alone with your dry skin on your face issues mine is all over not in patches though. I am 55 now, and I use Oil Of Olay gentle face wash, to wash my face with then I use Ponds cremas to moisturize. I buy these products at Walmarts and have to use them daily. I wash my face at night then moisturize. Also I know some people have a routine for day time as well. I do believe our face gets drier as we age. On the blog Wardrobe Oxygen search on it for her routine she does both a daytime one and night and has lovely skin. Of course it goes w/o saying if your outside to use sun screen etc.
    I'll be interested to read what people use in the comments.

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    1. Thanks for the tips and I'll definitely check out Wardrobe Oxygen!

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  2. Not an expert, and not going through this yet(I'm still a grease-factory at 47), but the fact that you've got patches makes me think it is eczema?

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    1. I am not familiar with eczema but I googled it and holy cow. You may be onto something. One of the places they list for getting it is the inside of the elbow and I noticed about 10 days ago that I have this weird red rash there. Thanks so much for the alert; I never would have thought about that.

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    2. my daughter gets flare-ups; hers are triggered by seasonal allergies and swimming in a chlorinated pool.

      A dermatologist can prescribe a steroid cream (Elidel) to help clear it up.

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  3. Okay, my face was never a grease factory. Its always been a little bit dry. But here's what I use. Neutrogena ultra gentle hydrating cleanser, creamy formula. And then Lubriderm daily moisture normal to dry skin fragrance free. I tried Cetaphil a long time ago and didn't like it. I get them usually at Walmart. Occasionally Costco has the Lubriderm on sale.

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    1. Creamy formula sounds very appealing to my face right now - I'll have to check it out.

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  4. I'm a creature of humidity. When the humidity drops my lips, face, hands...it all gets dry. I up my water intake. I use Burt's Bees cleansing oil; dollar store witch hazel as a toner--toner, a habit I cannot break; and then slather my face with a $1.50 cocoa butter stick from the dollar store. Yes, straight up, no additives, cocoa butter stick. Love the chocolatey smell of the cocoa butter stick.

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    1. I like hearing that you don't have to break the bank to keep your skin in line - seriously, I waffled at Target with that $15 cleanser for quite a while before finally deciding to buy it!

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  5. I like the Oil of Olay stuff - their regular old stuff for day and the regenerist cream for night. I buy it at Costco so the price is pretty good, although even at your local store they aren't super expensive. And I have super dry skin.

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    1. See, I forget about Oil of Olay, which to me is the OG of moisturizers. I'll see if I can find a little sample to try.

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  6. I don't do anything to take care of my face (so bad, I know) but I do know people my age who have a routine with a lot of different things like this. So that part is normal, but the fact that your skin changed so randomly doesn't seem to be! I would think it has to have something to do with the meds too!

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  7. My face is still pretty oily, but I do occasionally use the oil of olay active hydrating cream. And wash daily with noxzema classic clean moisturizing cleansing cream.

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  8. Yup, I'm sure your dr. will attribute it to your skin ageing ( like the rest of our body). Is it just your face that feels dry or do you have dry patches other places, say on your hands or elbows? Maybe it's the change in seasons too.

    I don't have dry skin, but over the past few years I have been obsessed with creams for aging skin! I don't want to look back and think " I should have started using something when I was younger", Not that I am "young" now, but you know what I mean. -M

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    1. I don't think you can be too young to take care of your skin, that's for sure!

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  9. My skin is much, much drier than it was before menopause but not to the point of nothing working. More likely than eczema would be rosacea. I'd see a derm so they can prescribe something to calm it down. Someone above in the comments suggested protopic--works great!

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    1. Interesting - what with the two internet diagnoses, I made an appt to see my doctor tomorrow. Curious as to what this could be...

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  10. I was once told by a esthetician (sp?) that my skin was dehydrated, which is a bit different from dry. The key to hydration is exfoliating so that moisturizers can actually sink in and using products with hyaluronic acid in them. I very highly recommend Derma e products...they have a hydrating line with the hyaluronic acid in it. I used the exfoliating cleanser daily in the shower (it's gentle), a generic witch hazel toner, and then the day/night creams by Derma e. The products aren't horribly priced if you buy them on Amazon!

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    1. Thanks for the info - I can see the dehydrated skin as something because when I don't drink enough my hands look really weird, so that would make sense that the face would, too.

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