Looking after your skin is important for everyone, but it’s even more so for people living with diabetes. Diabetes can accelerate the natural process of your skin drying out as you age.
Why your skin is important
The skin is the body’s largest organ and performs several important roles in protecting your health. Your skin acts as a barrier between the dry and potentially dangerous outside and the venerable inside mechanisms of our bodies. Glands associated with hair follicles produce the oils and sweat that maintain the barrier. The nervous system controls these glands and if damage occurs and the skin dries out, small cracks can occur which signifies the barrier has been broken. Moisture from beneath the skin can then leak out and lead to more cracking, which can increase the risk of infection and skin discomfort.
As we get older, we gradually lose the individual nerve fibres in our body which means that our skin cannot protect us as well and we are more susceptible to damaging factors from outside, such as dryness.
Dry skin
Damage to the small blood vessels and nerves commo