dry skin?

I'm 3 weeks out from a TAH (kept both ovaries) and I've noticed that my skin has dried out terribly. Especially my breasts and legs. Now we all know that it's not exactly lady-like to walk around scratching ourselves and I thank God that I'm home where I can scratch! Between the dry skin and the pubic hair growing back from where they shaved me, I'm starting to feel like I have fleas! ROFL!

Is it normal for the skin to dry out? Does anyone know why?

Thanks!
Jackie

Hi Jackie,

I don't know if it's normal, but the skin on my belly, where I guess they must have "prepped" me for surgery, was unbelieveably dry. At one point, even putting lotion and baby oil on a few times a day didn't seem to help. I thought my skin might just flake away down to the bones. And then suddenly the dry skin was gone and I was back to normal. I don't know what happened, only that I was very grateful not to be itchy in the swelly belly area. That was at about four weeks. My suggestions include showering or bathing in warm, not hot, water, rubbing baby oil on as soon as you get out of the shower and THEN dry off gently, putting on lotion in the affected spots several times a day, drink plenty of water (moisturize from the inside out) and maybe wear loose clothing that doesn't rub up against the affected areas constantly.

Other than that, I don't know what to do. Scratching only irritates the skin more so, obviously, if you can avoid that, it would be wise to do so. Oh, something else I just read last night but haven't tried yet - take vitamin e capsuls (another moisturizing from the inside-out trick), and maybe instead of baby oil, try olive oil. I don't know why, but they say it's better than baby oil - for adults - not babies.

Good luck

Candy

Hi Jackie! My surgery was the day before yours and I too had a TAH, kept ovaries. I had terribly dry skin for the first 2 weeks, like it was winter time. I think the anesthia, pain pills, and ovaries "waking up" have a lot to do with it. The soap you use may not help. Two things I use that have been wonderful:
Aveeno body wash (fragrance free) which I use on my face and Aveeno body lotion (fragrance free). It is made with oatmeal, which is a natural ingredient, and since it's fragrance free you don't get that oatmeal smell. I think Aveeno also has some facial moisturizes, but I haven't used them. I use neosporin on my incision area, only after the doc ok'd it, which helps with the itch that comes from healing/over-dryness.

These products can be found in any drugstore, large discount store such as wal-mart. They're not overly expensive, but they're not cheap either. Each body wash and lotion costs me about $6 each, but they are worth it for me.

In my case I had the same terrible dry skin, but now at six weeks, it seems to have resolved and is much more normal! Thank GOODNESS!!

I had TAH/BSO and not on horomones but taking Vit C 1000 mg a day and calcium.

I experienced flaky skin on my legs and hands from 10 days post op. It bothered me at first cause the skin just kept flaking and my legs looked kind of scaly (hands not so bad). Thank God that 2 to 3 weeks down the road, the flaking just stopped and it is back to normal. I mentioned earlier about vit C cause I do not know if that makes the difference to the healing.

So just hang in there.