Skin cream

definition

A skin cream is understood as a chemical, biological or naturopathic substance that is embedded in a fatty environment and applied to the skin as a medicinal or care product. These are so-called emulsions, a mixture of two substances that are normally immiscible.

Skin creams

Creams consist of different components. So are in all creams oily and watery Find shares in a certain order. Depending on the ratio of the two substances, a distinction is made between washable (hydrophilic) of non-washable (lipophilic) Creams. In the case of the former, oily and aqueous components are present separately from one another in approximately the same ratio to one another. The non-washable creams contain oily and watery components that are dissolved in each other.

With pathological formation of Dander the surrounding skin changes. While at Neurodermatitis and psoriasis a rather dry skin surrounding the scaling is seborrheic eczema rather greasy.

use

The area of ​​application of the skin cream includes three large areas:

1. the maintenance
2. the therapy and
3. of the protection.

Creams for skin care

There is an almost inexhaustible abundance of creams intended for skin care and sold in drugstores and supermarket chains. All skin creams consist of a basic substance and additives. The basic substance usually consists of fat and serves as a carrier in which various caring, healing or protective substances can be added. Nourishing creams are supposed to give the skin back the moisture it lost during the day.

Particularly in winter, when dry room temperatures are available due to heating and constant temperature changes between warm indoor air and cold outdoor air, nourishing skin creams are used. Skin creams that are used for skin care are mostly lipophilic. After application, they quickly penetrate the top layers of the skin and reduce skin evaporation. This will minimize the amount of fluid that has evaporated and more fluid will remain in the skin. As a result, the skin doesn't dry out as quickly either. (Read also dry skin) For the treatment of very oily skin, mostly hydrophilic creams are used, which increase the skin's ability to bind water.

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Creams for the therapy of skin diseases

The second major area of ​​application for skin creams is the therapy of skin diseases. Some of the skin creams are freely available for sale and can be bought in pharmacies, and some of the skin creams have to be prescribed by a dermatologist. Therapeutic skin creams usually have antibiotics as additives, which are applied to treat superficial skin diseases and must be used regularly. There are also a variety of skin creams that contain cortisone. The main areas of application here are primarily inflammatory skin diseases or allergies. High-dose cortisone creams are also prescribed for the treatment of neurodermatitis.
For the treatment of very dry skin, skin creams containing urea are also administered. Skin creams containing zinc are also sometimes used against inflammation. There are also a large number of additives that are added to skin creams in dermatology in order to treat relevant skin diseases.

Creams as a protective factor

The third pillar of skin cream use is protection. Skin creams or lotions are used in the protective area, especially for sun or light protection (see sunburn). With special chemical compounds, appropriate skin protection can be achieved after applying the sun cream. The effectiveness of the skin cream is indicated by a sun protection factor. Depending on the composition, very high sun protection factors can be achieved (50) or less high factors.The stronger the solar radiation that you expose yourself to, the higher the sun protection factor should be. Light protection can also be achieved with particularly fatty creams. Thanks to their special composition, the so-called height creams ensure that they protect against excessive exposure to light and heat. In addition, they protect against particularly strong temperature fluctuations and are therefore often used in high mountains.

Ingredients of skin creams

Skin creams include one large number of ingredients. Lipophilic creams mostly have as an ingredient Glycerin, also different oils (Almond, nut oil) as well as various Types of buttersuch as cocoa butter (especially for nourishing creams) and waxes (beeswax etc). Creams with high water content have the Risk of perishability and must be preserved. Above all, they are used to preserve Sorbine, parabens related.

Application times

Depending on Underlying disease or problem and corresponding preparation The times and duration of application also vary. As a rule, preparations containing cortisone should not be used for too long periods of time in order to avoid side effects.
Skin creams containing antibiotics should have one Period of approx. 3-7 days be applied to the appropriate skin areas. Protective creams should only be used for so long as long as they are needed (e.g. only the duration of the sunbathing or the length of the stay at altitude). Cosmetic and nourishing creams are usually used over long periods of time applied. So there are special night creams that regularly at night should be applied. For all long-term applications, however, it should be noted that the skin can still react allergically even after long-term use. Furthermore, it can happen that the skin with excessive fat and sebum production (with acne) can react to excessive use of cream.

Side effects of skin creams

Apart from medically therapeutic skin creams that contain certain medicinal substances and can trigger corresponding side effects, nourishing or protective skin creams are relatively low-risk. Nevertheless, there can be some side effects that come to light especially with chronic and constantly repeated use. Reddish, itchy and burning skin changes after direct application to the skin are the most likely signs of an acute allergic reaction.
In this case, the skin cream should be washed off immediately. After that, the skin cream should be avoided. With the chronic use of skin creams, the so-called stewardess disease can occur, a skin disease that must be viewed as a kind of overreaction of the skin to the chronic use of cream. The stewardess disease is mainly noticeable through scaly skin changes similar to neurodermatitis on the face. In this case, the cream should definitely be discontinued and avoided immediately. It can also happen that after the occurrence of a skin reaction to a skin cream, the skin has become so sensitized that any skin products can no longer be applied.

Cost of a skin cream

The cost of skin creams varies greatly and depends, among other things, on depends on which additives are involved in the skin cream and where the cream is bought. Medicinal skin creams are generally more expensive than skin care creams. Cosmetic creams, on the other hand, are usually more expensive than skin care creams. Creams that are bought in the pharmacy or in a perfumery are usually more expensive than when creams are bought in the supermarket.

In Germany, medicines are not allowed to be sold through supermarkets (in contrast to the USA), and so creams containing cortisone etc. can only be obtained through pharmacies. Nourishing creams or protective preparations as well as skin creams from the cosmetic product range are usually available from supermarkets. The prices in general vary between 90 cents and well over 100 EUR. The prices, especially in the care and cosmetics sector, are in no way compatible with the effectiveness, i.e. Even cheap products can be more effective than expensive ones.

Summary

Skin creams are used in protective, nourishing and therapeutic creams assigned. The therapeutic creams are medical products and are usually prescribed by dermatologists. Nourishing and protective creams are used by the Cosmetics industry distributed and have their field of application in care and protection (Sun protection, lip protection at great heights).
A distinction is made between the chemical structure of the creams hydrophilic from lipophilic Substancesthat can either penetrate the skin or form a kind of protective film on the skin. Furthermore, skin creams contain a Variety of additivesthat have a nourishing effect (aloe vera, cocoa butter, etc.). The most common medicinal additives in skin creams are cortisone for treatment allergic reactions and the Neurodermatitis as well as antibiotics to treat infections. Skin creams vary greatly in their price and duration of use. As a rule, nourishing creams are used longer, protective creams are only used as long as they are needed in the relevant situation (e.g. sunbathing, etc.) or as long as an infection or an atopic dermatitis attack is present (cortisone Antibiotics).
In some cases it can occur with the application of skin creams too Intolerance reactions come. In this case it should Product discontinued immediately and exchanged for another. But even after prolonged use, skin reactions of the skin may still come to light. In the case of cosmetic creams, this would be the so-called Stewardess sickness in which there are dry pustules on the skin as a reaction to chronic use of cosmetics. Long-term use of nourishing skin creams can also lead to oily skin, which makes it necessary to stop using the skin cream or exchange it for another product.