If you’re living with dry skin, standard moisturizers and skin care products might not be enough, especially during the cold months. You may apply store-bought moisturizers frequently, only to notice flakiness or cracks reappearing in short order.
Medical-grade moisturizers can help manage your symptoms on a day-to-day basis, locking in hydration. This will go a long way toward preserving the moisture barrier and improving skin healing. Read on to understand what sets medical-grade skin care products apart. Plus, get a few recommendations for some of the best medical-grade moisturizers to manage dry skin and other conditions.
What Are Medical-Grade Moisturizers?
Also called barrier creams, many medical-grade moisturizers use a thicker consistency to help achieve longer-lasting hydration. These solutions further act as skin protectants to better retain existing moisture. Formulated with ingredients like petrolatum, dimethicone and zinc oxide, these products can be used on a day-to-day basis for managing moderate-to-severe dry skin, protecting the perineal area from exposure to bodily fluids, for guarding against pressure-related injuries and, in select cases, assisting with wound care.
Why apply a medical-grade moisturizer?
- Your skin is the body’s first defense mechanism against outside substances. Skin with a damaged moisture barrier can’t fully protect against these intruders and may take longer to heal. Especially in conjunction with a condition like diabetes or incontinence, breakdown leading to pressure ulcers is a possibility.
- If standard moisturizers haven’t been working for you, medical-grade skin care products may provide better hydration and reduce the frequency of application. Furthermore, you may find that symptoms related to dry skin, like burning, itching and irritation, are less noticeable.
- Medical-grade skin care products are frequently free of synthetic fragrances and offer gentler, less-irritating formulas that can be used by a wider range of patients.
Recommendations for Medical-Grade Moisturizers
Sween® 24 Once a Day Cream
This dimethicone-based medical-grade moisturizer delivers hydration and relieves symptoms for up to 24 hours, is free of fragrances and can be applied as a skin protectant. This solution can be applied to both the skin and lips and is gentle enough for neonates.
AMERIGEL® Care Lotion
This non-greasy, hypoallergenic moisturizer is absorbed quickly to offer a deeper level of skin hydration. This helps reduce irritation and redness, accommodates sensitive and diabetic skin, won’t cause maceration, and offers a solution to prevent breakdown. Along with delivering sufficient moisture, this medical-grade skin care product helps with softening and sloughing off corns and callouses and reducing the appearance of bruising and venous stasis dermatitis.
Resta™ Creme Moisturizer
Locking in moisture for up to 12 hours, Resta Creme provides hydration down to the cellular level and offers a hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic waterproof formula that’s ideally applied right after washing and won’t irritate sensitive skin. This medical-grade moisturizer helps manage and improve hydration for severely dry skin.
Lantiseptic® Dry Skin Therapy
Using 30% lanolin, Lantiseptic delivers moisture to delicate, vulnerable skin to preserve barrier function, relieve minor irritation and guard against breakdown risks.
Eucerin® Moisturizing Cream
This emollient-rich, fragrance-free moisturizer provides all-day hydration for severely dry skin. This combination helps manage ongoing symptoms and preserves the moisture barrier, so that skin conditions can effectively heal.
Sources:
https://medicalsupplygroup.com/collections/medical-grade-skin-care
https://www.woundsource.com/product-category/skin-care/moisture-barriers