Why do I have dry skin around eyes? Learn more about causes including itchy, sore, red or very cases including on eyelids. You will also get insight on how to get rid of this dryness
Causes
Table of content
Causes include:
Weather condition
Dryness near the eye could be due to changes in climatic condition with both humid and hot weather being major culprits. Moreover, any extreme weather conditions or sudden changes to it may aggravate your skin’s dryness, making it worse.
Stress
This can stimulate dryness of skin. These occur when there is excessive rubbing or wearing and applying makeup. Other ways in which stress accelerate dryness are using dirty makeup brushes with accumulated bacteria, wearing Eyeshadow and/or eyeliner, or applying concealer so you can hide dark skin underneath your eyes.
Exposure to harsh chemicals
If your eyes are exposed over long times, to harsh chemicals in products you use on your face can also lead to dryness since this skin is thinner and more sensitive. This makes it naturally susceptible to this type of irritation from toxins and chemicals, including products and facial cleansers.
Dermatological Disorders
They include:
- Sunburn injury which may cause minor to serious burns to the skin of your eyes. You can also have this problem if you are exposed to a welder’s arc or sunlamp.
- Perioral dermatitis which is a chronic condition and is accompanied by the skin rash that is usually due to poor hygiene.
- Blepharitis that mostly affects the eyelids, causing these to become inflamed with dry and scaly skin
- Eczema can occur in the areas surrounding your eyes, including your eyelids. In addition to dryness, eczema causes the skin to become scaly.
Dry and itchy
Being the most delicate, if it is dry and becomes flaky, it could also be red and irritated. Dryness can could occur due to a number of reasons and could lead to itching and peeling of skin. It can be caused by the following medical conditions:
- According to National Psoriasis Foundation, Facial psoriasis can lead to this problem, most often in the eyebrows. It causes your skin to dry and flake, and scales may cover your lashes.
- Eczema can occur anywhere on the body and causes severe dry patches that can get very itchy, red and inflamed.
- Blepharitis is an inflammatory condition that affects the eyelids, due to malfunctioning oil glands. This condition causes red, itchy and flaky eyelids.
In addition, the following are some of the side effects of using cosmetic and makeup:
- Contact dermatitis occurs due to an allergic reaction to certain irritants touching it causing itching of eye skin.
- Makeup such as eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow or the tools used for applying them may have accumulated bacteria over time. This will irritate, dry it out and perhaps cause it to flake.
- The skin care products use on faces can also irritate it and dry out the skin around this area.
Red and dry
If you have redness too, the possible causes include the following:
Yeast infection
It caused by an infection such as facial ringworm. It is usually described as a ring-like red rash causes the skin to appear scaly and itchy. The major symptoms of fungal infection may not be ring-shaped but itchy dry and sometimes can cause crusting if infection symptoms severe.
Environmental factors
These are external factors such as dampness, chilling cold weather, exposure to sunlight, can trigger redness around your eyes.
Other causes include:
- Allergies triggered by atopic dermatitis.
- Psoriasis
- seborrheic dermatitis
- Rosacea
- Soaps and detergents
- Chemicals
Infants, babies or toddlers
Even in infants, it has become the major problem nowadays in the world due to this dynamic weather changes. From our discussion, certain skin conditions and infections are responsible but common causes include blepharitis, eczema, contact dermatitis and sunburn.
In order to seek for medication of your infant, it is advisable first to understand what is the main cause of eczema or the type of eczema that has developed. So, do infants develop eczema because of a “combination of their genes and environmental factors?” [nationaleczema.org]
Very dry cases
When this condition is extreme, it is usually associated with cosmetic or makeups. Dry skin needs to be repaired because it is more prone to damage, such as cracking, but it also increases the chance of eye wrinkles.
In addition, it may indicate an underlying medical condition and if it is not fixed with cosmetic products and home remedies, it may be better to see a doctor. There are several possible causes of dry, red, flaky or itchy skin around the eye:
- Cold and windy weather during fall and winter.
- Exposure to sun that makes the skin red and dry
- Psoriasis
- Dehydration
- Skin care products
Under eyes
If you’ve got this problem under eyes, causes are more or less the ones we have mentioned. The causes include:
- Climatic changes
- Eye skin stress
- Harsh chemical exposure
- Sunburns
- Dermatological disorder
With sores
Soreness in the skin is not easy to hold on particularly when it becomes dry itchy and bumpy. This seems complicated if you have allergies and apply cosmetics such as eyeliners, eyelash dye etc. or use products such as eyelash curlers.
These signs mostly appear on dry eyelids but they could be linked with skin conditions such as blepharitis. For safety and health purposes resist treatments for allergy. The best step to take is to get diagnosed. If your skin around eyes become extremely sore see your eye doctor before you seek medication.
How to get rid – treatments
How can you get rid of this skin condition? Let us explore both treatments and remedies this problem together.
Treatment
- Use Antibacterial gel for dry eyelids antibacterial gels will prevent staph infections, which are likely to worsen symptoms especially dry, flakiness around this area including the eyelids.
- Eczema is treated using over-the-counter moisturizers and lotions, but you may also need oral or topical steroids. It can also be treated with lotions and gels containing an antihistamine, antifungal, antibiotic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, or anesthetic medications.
- Use moisturizer creams for dry skin such as Vaseline jelly
Home remedies
Some of the best home remedies you should give a try include the following
Apply Aloe Vera
It does not treat the cause but is good in soothing particularly when you experience discomfort brought about by the dryness around the eyes.
Raw Milk
Apply raw milk underneath your eyes. Leave it on for a little bit before using water to wash it off.
Cucumber Juice
Apply the cucumber juice to the affected area, pat the area dry, and use a quality moisturizer.
Tea Bag dipped in cold water
This not only soothes dryness but also prevents wrinkle formation and boosts cell regeneration due to its abilities as a repairing agent.
Colloidal oatmeal paste
Apply a colloidal paste of oatmeal 3 times a day if your facial skin is irritated or inflamed by external environmental factors such as cold weather.
References
- http://www.askwomennet.com/dry-skin-around-eyes/
- https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/eye-skin-care/flaky-skin-around-eyes.html
- http://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/eyelid-contact-dermatitis/
- http://www.empowher.com/community/ask/skin-around-my-eyes-extremely-dry-what-will-make-go-away
- http://ic.steadyhealth.com/dry-skin-around-eyes-and-nose