:(

Big hugs for fuzzy bean and her flaky skin!

Oooh poor Fuzzbean :(

Hope your dermatologist can find a solution and get your skin to stay there!

I'm having a similar problem though I'm sure not as extreme as I wouldn't describe mine as "falling off" but more of a "arid eruptions of scales." I'm seeing someone tomorrow about it.

I hate winter.

Let us know what these dermatologists say, please, because something weird, scaly and terrible is happening to my shins as well. I thought I was just mutating but maybe it's a solvable problem and my legs can be seen by humanity again.

I hope whatever it is gets sorted out. I have psoriasis, it's not too bad at the moment but last year, OMG, it was horrendous. I felt like I had the plague.

Aw, good luck y'all.

I made a Derm. appt. in January, and the first availablility I could find - checking multiple practices - was May!

Article from Dermatology Online. You will not regret clicking this link. Scroll down for pictures.

I am so not reading or looking at that ej.

The best stuff for stopping hard core topical itch is veterinary use sprays containing lydocaine (lydocane?). I think they are starting to use it in people sprays now, but probably not as strong. I still have product hoarded away. Derma-cool, this one is called. Go to the pet store and read the labels till you find something. Really.

ej, that is both disgusting and totally cool.

It's okay to click, rainbaby. I've seen it before here; it's amazing, but not gross. Essexjan is not at it again ;^)

I have a co-worker whose face was always red and peeling, her skin was always flaky and dry. She was going back to her doctor three times a year for cortisone shots (or something like that). A customer walked up to her and told her she has a corn syrup allergy. She was skeptical, but stopped eating things with corn syrup in it. (She says you'd be surprised at what you find that in) Her face is perfectly clear now, radiant in fact. No more dry skin, no itch. I've never heard of such an allergy until she told me about it.

Due to some weird glider-related strangeness, I have been looking like a leper recently. Still, the course of antibiotics I'm on seem to be having an effect (or is that affect?). Hopefully in a few days I'll stop looking like a freak. Well, my skin at least.

redvixen, a surprising amount of people are allergic to corn (and therefore corn syrup) and don't even know it.

Jan, that is fascinating and weird as hell!

Fuzzbean, I'm sorry about your owies.

Squick alert, do not click!

Remember, it could always be worse.

rainbaby's right about the lidocaine spray.

other thing it's good for is scrubbing out roadrash *shudder*

for what it's worth i had a weird ongoing peeling / breakout / rash / bumpy skin cycle scenario going on with my face and upper back for about 18 months.

the cure for me, in order, was:

1) aloe vera gel for the itchy bits
2) tons and tons of water (internally, not externally)
3) quit using any/all scented and herbal soaps/scrubs/exfoliants - turns out a lot of people, myself included, are sensitive to the herbals in this stuff. sure, it smells good, but things like tea tree, peppermint and citrus oils are irritants, not pallitives, to itchy skin.
4) i switched to only using Cetaphil cleanser (the super cheap generic grocery store version, it works just as well)
5) Stop. Goddamn. Picking. At. It. no, seriously. turns out most of my problem was related to mild OCD.

It's excema, which is just what my GP said. Got a whole passel of new creams and instructions to move out of the house with cats (which brings up a whole new set of issues, but so it goes).

I've always had mild excema, and that doesn't bother me that much. But I've got gross patches over a substantial portion of my skin and tiny blisters on my fingers that just...HURT.

And yes, a switch to Cetaphil *everything* is about to happen.

Merfle merfle goddamn cats.

(Incidentally, why is it that my body decides to fall apart as soon as I switch to an insurance plan where I have to pay for things? I also need to get my eyes checked out, see a podiatrist (low priority), and possibly see a GI guy. Grrrr.)

Eideteker I so regret clicking on that. But then you did warn me...

Thanks for the spelling help on lidocaine, lfr.

Seriously, it is strong enough to get through mild psychological itch issues - lfr mentioned OCD, I've had a fairly mild self-injury thing since adolescence that comes and goes, and the lidocaine will RELIEVE THE DAMN ITCHING.

Ok. Don't put it on your face or anything near something that could be internal. It's topical, and I'm nervously advocating an off-label use, because the best stuff is from the pet store, but still. Just be sensible.

I cannot wait to be able to buy Cetaphil when I come to NY in June. I've looked everywhere for it in England.

Cetaphil and peroxide toothpaste (banned in England) will be my big NY shopping extravagances.

I wonder if it was her podiatrist who examined her breasts (re: jan's link).

I've read of extra nipples on torsos; but nipples on feet? That's a new one.