Ask the Dermatologist: What are the best solutions for dry skin?

Welcome to 2026!

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and is finding some joy in the new year! This season of new beginnings is classically a time for making resolutions that reflect something you’re hoping to focus on in the year ahead. It can be motivating and exciting, but here in Ohio the cold temperatures and harsh winter weather can be so brutal that they really take away some of the energy you’d hope to have to start on these new goals; the many sufferers of chronic inflammatory conditions know exactly how this feels. The (good and bad) stress of holidays, along with the obligatory sugary treats, combine with cold winter temperatures to create a perfect storm of triggers for dry winter skin and flares of chronic issues. 

How can you combat winter skin issues?

There are plenty of moisturizing products available. Here are our favorites for beating the cold skin woes at this time of year:

1. Hydroxy acid and urea humectants

Humectants are a type of moisturizer that work by attracting water to the outer layer of the skin. These are essential items in a good moisturizer, but of the many ingredients that fall into this category hydroxy acids and urea are especially helpful for problem winter skin. I recommend moisturizers that contain hydroxy acids (like lactic acid and glycolic acid) and urea because they are work by exfoliating dead surface skin cells as well as boosting water content. This can be most helpful for areas of particularly thickened dry skin, like elbows and soles of feet. With routine use they smooth the texture of the skin surface, even helping chronically cracked (known as fissured) skin to heal, thereby reducing pain and preventing infections. 

Products containing these ingredients are available over the counter and from our office. 

• Amlactin Daily or Amlactin Intensive Healing

• CeraVe Intensive Moisturizing Lotion: for dry to very dry skin with 5% hydro-urea

• LaRoche Posay Lipikar Urea 10% Roughness Smoothing Lotion

• Glytone Exfoliating Body Lotion

  
  

2. Skin sealants for pain relief

Extremely dry or chronically inflamed skin can crack. This opening of the skin barrier is painful, especially if it occurs over a site of movement like a knuckle or is exposed to soap, water, or other irritants. The best way to heal this is using the products above, but there is a trick to skip some of the pain while healing. If you use a skin sealant to cover the open areas until they are healed, it will fill in for the MIA skin barrier and keep you pain free until your skin barrier is reporting for duty again. 

Over the counter options 

• Liquid bandages like New Skin 

• Super Glue (not designed for topical use, but holds up for tasks in skin areas subject to a lot of use and abuse)

  
  

3. Slugging 

If you follow Skin Tok, you may have heard this fun term before.

Slugging refers to applying initial steps in a skin care routine, then sealing everything with an occlusive ointment as the final step to boost absorption and efficacy. For winter-time dry skin, layering highly humectant and emollient moisturizers under a heavier occlusive moisturizer (for example, Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream followed by Aquaphor Healing Ointment) can be really helpful to boost and speed skin barrier repair. This is typically done at nighttime when the full face or both hands and feet need some TLC, but can be done at any time of day and to just small areas, like the base of the nose if it’s getting irritated by frequent tissue use. 

Hopefully these tips help with all your wintertime skin care needs, but don’t forget—if these solid skincare practices are not keeping you comfortable it is time to seek care. We have a great toolbox of prescription treatments to find you relief and there are some exciting developments due in 2026 for both psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Call us for any of your skin care needs, we’d love to see you!