“Take off the mask and breathe freely” is a beautiful vision to overcome the epidemic, but before we achieve complete victory, we still need the company of masks. Wearing a mask for a long time will bring some problems for the skin, such as aggravated acne, erythema and itching, scaling, skin indentation damage, etc. Nioshlist sorts out below skin diseases caused by wearing mask and how to take care. Wish it can help you.
The skin disease under the mask is roughly to be divided into physical, allergic, infectious skin diseases, and other types of skin diseases.
Physical skin diseases mainly refer to physical damage to the skin such as erythema, indentation, water scars, erosion and damage due to the continuous pressure and friction of the skin with the mask. In addition, because the mouth and nose are in a humid and hot environment for a long time, it can cause local skin texture to become soft, wrinkled, peeling and other manifestations.
Allergic skin disease is caused by allergy to one or more materials in the mask, such as allergy to metal nose clips, which can cause erythema, swelling, or even erosion and water scars on the skin at the contact site.
Infectious skin diseases are mainly caused by the moisture exhaled from the nasal cavity and the droplets when speaking, forming a humid and hot environment locally, which leads to the excessive reproduction of existing bacteria and waxworms in the local acne, thereby causing local skin folliculitis and folliculitis. Exacerbation of other related skin diseases. What some people call “mask acne” is actually the aggravation of acne caused by excessive oil secretion and local scorpion and bacterial overgrowth caused by the humid and hot environment under the mask.
Other types of skin diseases are mainly due to the long-term aggravation of the original skin problems on the face in the environment of wearing a mask, causing local burning, flushing, itching of phlegm, and even swelling. Commonly there are rosacea, sensitive facial skin, and seborrheic dermatitis.
For these skin problems that may occur when wearing a mask, the following protective methods and treatments are provided.
Wear a mask of qualified quality, suitable model, and appropriate level of protection. In non-essential circumstances, do not wear N95 masks with better airtight performance. Other ordinary medical masks are enough to protect and reduce facial indentation.
Take precautions before wearing a mask. For areas under pressure for a long time, such as behind the ears, a Band-Aid can be applied, and the back of the nose can be protected with a topical Vaseline emollient.
Try to keep the inside of the mask as dry as possible. It is recommended to replace it after wearing it for 4 hours. If there is condensation inside the mask, it should be replaced in time.
When you need to wear a mask outdoors, wear sunglasses, sun hats or umbrellas, depending on the weather, to protect the skin exposed outside the mask, so as not to cause “different colors on faces”.
Do a daily facial cleansing and moisturizing. People with acne-prone skin should try to avoid using foundation cream and other skin care products that can easily clog pores while wearing a mask.
Skin erythema, phlegm, itching and other problems after wearing a mask should be replaced with other brands or types of masks. When the degree is mild, calamine lotion, 3% boric acid lotion, zinc oxide oil, etc. Can be applied to the skin; when the skin is eroded, You can apply antibiotic ointment such as Biodome to the skin. If it does not improve, please seek professional medical help.