A skin cream is a chemical, biological or naturopathic substance that is embedded in a greasy environment and is applied to the skin as a remedy or care product. These are so-called emulsions, a mixture of two substances that are normally not mixable. Creams consist of different components.
Thus, all creams contain oily and aqueous components in a certain arrangement. Depending on the ratio of the two substances, a distinction is made between washable (hydrophilic) and non-washable (lipophilic) creams. In the former case, oily and aqueous components are present separately in approximately the same ratio to each other.
The non-washable creams contain oily and aqueous components which are dissolved in each other. In case of pathological skin flakes, the surrounding skin changes. While in neurodermatitis and psoriasis a rather dry skin surrounds the scales, the skin in seborrhoeic eczema is rather oily. The field of application of the skin cream covers three large areas:
- The care
- The therapy and
- The protection.
Creams for the care of the skin
There is an almost inexhaustible number of creams for skin care, which are sold in drugstores and supermarkets. All skin creams consist of a basic substance and additives. The basic substance usually consists of lipids and serves as a carrier into which various caring, healing or protective substances can be added.
Nourishing creams are supposed to give back to the skin the moisture lost during the day. The second major field of application for skin creams is the therapy of skin diseases. Some of the skin creams are freely available and can be purchased in pharmacies, while others have to be prescribed by dermatologists.
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 are inflammatory skin diseases or allergies.
High-dose cortisone creams are also prescribed for the treatment of neurodermatitis. For the treatment of very dry skin, urea-containing skin creams are also administered. Zinc-containing skin creams are also sometimes used to treat inflammation.
There are also a large number of additives that are added to skin creams in dermatology to treat corresponding skin diseases. 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).
Special chemical compounds can be used to achieve appropriate skin protection 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 exposure to the sun, the higher the sun protection factor should be. Furthermore, sun protection can also be achieved with creams that contain a lot of fat. The so-called high altitude creams ensure through their special composition that they protect against excessive light as well as heat radiation.
In addition, they protect against particularly strong temperature fluctuations and are therefore often used in the high mountains. Skin creams contain a large number of ingredients. Lipophilic creams usually contain glycerin as an ingredient, as well as various oils (almond, nut oil) and various types of butter, such as cocoa butter (especially in skin care creams) and waxes (beeswax etc).
Creams with a high water content have the risk of perishability and must be preserved. Sorbines and parabens are mainly used for preservation. Depending on the underlying disease or problem and the corresponding preparation, the times and duration of application also vary.
As a rule, preparations containing cortisone should not be used for too long a period of time in order to avoid side effects. Antibiotic-containing skin creams should be applied to the corresponding skin areas over a period of approx. 3-7 days.
Protective creams should only be used for as long as they are needed (e.g. only the duration of sunbathing or the length of time spent at altitude). Cosmetic and skin care creams are usually applied over longer periods of time.There are special night creams that should be applied regularly during the night. However, with all long-term applications it should be noted that the skin can still react allergically, even after long application.
Furthermore, the skin may react to excessive cream application with excessive oil and sebum production (in case of acne). Apart from medically therapeutic skin creams, which contain certain drugs and can cause corresponding side effects, skin care or protective skin creams are relatively low-risk. Nevertheless, some side effects may occur, especially in chronic and constantly repeated use.
Reddish, itchy and burning skin changes after direct application to the skin are the most likely indications of an acute allergic reaction. In this case the skin cream should be washed off immediately. The skin cream should then be avoided.
The chronic use of skin creams can cause the so-called stewardess disease, a skin disease that must be considered as a kind of overreaction of the skin to the chronic use of creams. The stewardess’s disease manifests itself mainly through scaly neurodermatitis-like skin changes on the face. In this case the cream should be discontinued and avoided immediately.
It can also happen that after the occurrence of a skin reaction to a skin cream, the skin has been sensitized in such a way that any skin products can no longer be applied. The cost of skin creams varies greatly and depends, among other things, on which additives are involved in the skin cream and where the cream is purchased. Drug-containing 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 bought in a pharmacy or perfumery are usually more expensive than those bought in the supermarket. In Germany, pharmaceuticals may not be traded through supermarkets (in contrast to the USA), and so creams containing cortisone etc.
can only be purchased from pharmacies. Nurturing creams or protective preparations as well as skin creams from the cosmetic product range can usually be bought in supermarkets. The prices generally vary between 90 cents and well over 100 EUR.
However, the prices, especially in the care and cosmetic sector, are by no means copatible with the effectiveness, i.e. even cheap products can be more effective than expensive ones. Skin creams are divided into protective, caring and therapeutic creams. The therapeutic creams belong to the medical products and are usually prescribed by the dermatologist.
Nurturing and protective creams are distributed by the cosmetics industry and have their field of application in care and protection (sun protection, lip protection at high altitudes). The chemical structure of creams distinguishes between hydrophilic and lipophilic substances, which can either penetrate the skin or form a kind of film for protection on the skin. Furthermore, skin creams contain a variety of additives that have a caring effect (aloe vera, cocoa butter etc).
The most common medical additives in skin creams are cortisone for the treatment of allergic reactions and neurodermatitis, and antibiotics for the treatment of infections. Skin creams vary greatly in price and application time. As a rule, skin care creams are used for a longer period of time, protective creams only as long as they are needed in the respective situation (e.g. sunbathing, etc.)
or as long as an infection or a neurodermatitis attack is present (cortisone, antibiotics). In some cases, the use of skin creams can lead to intolerance reactions. In this case the preparation should be discontinued immediately and replaced with another one.
But even after longer application it is still possible that skin reactions of the skin may occur. In the case of cosmetic creams, the so-called stewardess disease should be mentioned here where dry pustules on the skin occur as a reaction to a chronic cosmetic application. In addition, permanent application of skin care creams may lead to quickly greasy skin which makes it necessary to discontinue the skin cream or to replace it with another product.
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