I don't do this often, but some things have just got to be stated.
If you have Atopic Dermatitis and you're looking for a moisturizer, here's a really important tip. Make sure the moisturizer you're about to buy (and possibly pay ridiculous sums of money for), does not, I repeat does not contain Urea, or Uric Acid.
I repeat once again. Be extremely careful with products with Urea or Uric Acid. If possible, just don't use them. (Those two are not quite the same thing; but they have the same effect anyhow.)
Why such an outright negative reaction, you ask?
The answer is simple - painful experience.
Many pharmacists hear about your dry skin and recommend products that contain Uric Acid, or Urea (I'll just say Urea from now on). Even (unknowing) doctors will sometimes recommend such products. They do so because Urea, which is actually a product of urine, can do wonders for extremely dry or chapped skin.
What they (and you) may not realize is that Urea may have a devastating effect on your atopic-sore skin. A small dab of a cream containing Urea on the skin can send an atopic patient into a small, personal hell. It creates a burning sensation (sometimes very extreme) in the area that may last for several minutes. And due to the slightly delayed action of the Urea on the skin, you may manage to cover large areas with the cream before realizing the pain involved.
As far as I understand it, this burning sensation is caused when the Uric Acid meets the atopic skin, that is not just dry, but actually contains dozens of miniature cracks that may not be visible, as well as open wounds, cuts, and lesions. For all these, the Uric acid acts like alcohol or saltwater on an open wound - it burns, with a vengeance.
So be cautioned - read the label well before starting a new cream.
And with all new products for your skin, test them on your skin in a small area first, see how it reacts (even overnight), and only then move on to larger areas.
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I have to disagree with you on this one. My personal atopic skin is very dry most of the time, are the fastest way to make your skin look normal again and not all pealed and chapped is using a cream with lactic acid. I use Lactofil which is a body lotion and contains a very small percent of lactic acid. The percentage is important, the size of the area and sometimes the burning feeling is tolerated in small places... It's worth it, it really peals the skin. Another advantage is that you don't have to put it on wet skin, after shower, you can use it everywhere, anytime. Urea and lactic acid are different ingredients, I think that the burning feeling come from the salicylic acid peals the skin, it's usually added to products from this kind.
Hi Violet,
Thanks for the comment. I don't have that much experience with lactic acid, but I think it is slightly different from uric acid, though am not sure of the exact effects of each.
I agree that the burning is a very subjective experience and it might be possible that different people may be able to tolerate different levels of the burning sensation. But at least it's important to be aware in advance that it may occur...
It's sigal, by the way...
Here some more information:
http://www.talkeczema.com/webpages/features/feature_benefits_urea.htm
You might like these products.
They are free of color, perfume and parabens. Specially designed for the very sensitive skin of eczema/dermatitis
http://www.exederm.com
My hands have had severely chapped skin for years. I have found that there are several products that provide relief, but just about all of them leave the skin so soft that the skin absorbs water when I wash them after applying them.
Urea is a notes exception, which heals the skin but doesn't render it oversoft.
Gout is as puzzling as the rest of purine metabolism and probably comes from a bunch of causes. Until relatively recently, it was considered a disease of "overindulgence," and blamed on consumption of too much rich food and drink. Many of these are rich in purines (beer and organ meat such as liver are two examples every biochemistry book seems to cite), and a purine-limited diet seems to help some sufferers, but metabolism is rarely so simple. Some gout sufferers make too much purine de novo (i.e., not from food), some have trouble excreting it. Online pharmacy ratings to save money.
For anyone running a google search on urea based creams burning, it's true. My hands are sometimes very dry to the point of chafing. I failed to mention this to my dermatologist who prescribed 40% urea cream for an unrelated dry skin condition.
I used my hands to apply the cream to areas that were dry (legs, feet). It seemed to work very well on my legs and feet etc.
Moments after, I rubbed my hands together to spread the cream to my dry knuckles, back of hands which had shown what I thought was dry skin.
The pain was immediate, I couldn't stop the sensation. It felt like I was being burned. Washing my hands was so painful but I did it repeatedly to get this stuff off. Took around 15minutes of hell for it to pass.
This is a real side effect, I'm aware of this products acidic components but to me this was still billed as a body cream for dry skin. Some caveat is in order for these situations and more than something buried in the "white sheet" of product information.
Or maybe I'm being hyperbolic, histrionic even but in layman's terms THIS SHI* HURT
(I deleted the previous comment as my name was not posted)
Pain or no pain, Uric acid based moisturisers are amongst the best treatments on the market for severely dried and splitting skin.
Yes, it stings, but so does iodine and many other antiseptics out there, but you do not see people telling everyone not to use them.
My 4-year old son's feet dried and split so badly after a couple of days of typical summer exposure to water they looked as if someone had taken a knife to them; the only treatment that healed the wounds was Uremol 20% moisturiser cream. Did the cream hurt? Perhaps, but he never mentioned it or complained. His feet were healed after 4 days of 2x/day treatments.
Because of this, Uric Acid/Urea based moisturisers are the only ones we use for extremely dry skin.
Creams containing Uric Acid or Urea are one of the best, I repeat One of The Best, treatments for severely dry skin - and yes, it will sting. Live with it. It will only be for a short while.
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