All About Rough Skin on Elbows, Knees and Ankles
Rough skin and calluses. Two of the ways the skin deals a blow that can often seam like a cruel joke. However, these conditions are designed to protect your skin from friction, pressure and rubbing. Makes sense that this would happen at the very places that get used the most to hold you up, balance you and protect your body from immediate injury, doesn't it? Your elbows, knuckles, knees, ankles, heels and balls of feet. But this roughness and dryness feels like your skin has gone haywire and isn't very comfortable. Taking care of this problem will not leave your body vulnerable, and will still make you feel a whole lot better.
It may seem that since dryness is involved, the solution must involve intense, thick moisturizers. However, this doesn't take care of the problem at all, since what we're really talking about is extreme dead skin cell buildup. The fact that the skin is dehydrated can be addressed after dealing with these dead skin cells. Besides, in the case of elbows and knees, pores can get clogged with waxy ingredients that many body lotions contain, resulting in a bumpiness that can add insult to injury. So what do you do about it?
The first order of business is exfoliation using a two-pronged approach; exfoliating gloves and AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acid). After that, moisturizer is appropriate. Follow this routine every time you shower:
1) Wash with a moisturizing body wash, preferably one that doesn't' contain artificial dyes or fragrance, using exfoliating spa gloves.
2) After drying off, apply AHA lotion on the affected areas.
AHA will also help get rid of some of the darkening of the skin around the rough areas.
