April 2006

Don’t Gloss Over Flaking Skin

Going after dry, flaky skin may require an inner-outer approach.

One of the simplest things you can do is curry your horse.

Flaking is the skin’s natural response to irritation of any kind, from sunburn, to drying, to topical irritation for any reason, including infections. Obviously, it’s a natural thing for damaged skin cells to die and flake off, just as our own do. However, the skin also steps up its rate of skin-cell production and flaking as a way to get rid of any irritations on its surface.

To complicate matters further, the skin may be more sensitive to external irritants, or prone to skin infections, because of drug use (e.g. corticosteroids), disease states (Cushing’s, hypothyroidism, food allergy) or a number of nutritional deficiencies. Any number of factors could combine to…