General Skin Care

1. Daily cleansing of skin should be done, but avoid regular use of antimicrobial soaps.

2. Skin folds or creases (groin, underarms, abdominal folds) need to be kept clean and dry. Increased moisture and warmth in these areas may act as a good environment for microbial proliferation.

3. Wear cotton clothes in summers. One should preferably use a footwear with good aeration if frequently getting foot infections or use powder prior to wearing shocks and try to remove shoes and provide aeration to feet during recces time.

4. Skin rashes can not only be due to infections, but also be caused by allergy to footwear, cosmetics, tapes, soaps, fabrics, color leaching out of fabric, jeans buttons or sometimes due to irritant dermatitis on coming in contact with irritants like certain highly concentrated disinfectants, etc whole body rashes could result from food or drug allergies or viral exanthem (viral fevers). Consult a dermatologist to ascertain the type of rash and take proper treatment. Avoid self medication as it may complicate your condition. E. G. A rash of hepres zoster may be mistakenly treated by self medication and when it does not respond one reaches the doctor late when actually the treatment should have better results when started within 72 hours, and best if started within 24 hours. The risk of postherpetic neuralgia that is pain persisting after treatment for herpes zoster skin rash is higher when treatment not started early.

5. Use moisturizing creams or ointments for dry skin. Avoid alcohol based products over dry skin as it will cause further dryness.

6. For people with urinary and stool incontinence- use good diaper and change them frequently. Change diapers immediatley on soiling with stool. Urine and stools can irritate the skin and damage the skin barrier and cause breakdown of skin- red rashes, raw areas.

7. Avoid frequent use of excessive talc powders as they can" cake up" and keep moisture in and thus promote microbial growth in folds especially over neck fold of small children.

8. Use proper fitting footwear with soft soles to avoid hardening of skin at pressure points. Regularly use moisturizer over feet at bedtime to keep the feet soft and supple. Weekly soaking the feet in lukewarm water for 20 min and pat dry and apply moisturizer at night would keep feet softer. For diabetics if they have neuropathy use plain tap water or lukewarm water should be checked by someone else to ascertain the water temperature is just warm.

9. In old people with thick nails, its easier to cut the nails after soaking in water for 30 minutes.