What is sensitive skin

Some people have sensitive skin. If they are not careful, they may suffer from skin allergies, followed by a series of symptoms. This is definitely very bad for patients. Patients will often feel some red spots on their skin. The most important thing is that it will be accompanied by a very obvious tingling sensation, especially at night. This symptom will be more obvious, which will make people's sleep quality very poor.

There is no consensus on the exact meaning of sensitive skin. It is generally believed that sensitive skin is a highly intolerant skin condition, a multifactorial syndrome that is easily irritated by various factors and produces subjective symptoms such as stinging, burning, tightness, itching, etc. The skin appearance is normal or accompanied by mild desquamation, erythema and dryness.

Sensitive skin and "skin allergy" are two different concepts. Skin allergy is an allergic reaction. When the allergen enters the body, it prompts the body to produce corresponding antibodies, triggering an antigen-antibody reaction, which manifests as clinical objective signs such as erythema, papules, and wheals, often accompanied by itching. Sensitive skin usually has reduced tolerance to stimuli and exhibits a series of abnormal sensory reactions, most of which lack objective signs. Although its occurrence mechanism is not very clear, it is generally believed that it is not accompanied by immune or allergic mechanisms.

Clinical manifestations

Patients with sensitive skin often experience itching, tingling, prickling, burning, and tightness. The severity varies from person to person. After using cosmetics, the discomfort becomes more severe, and some people cannot even tolerate any skin care products. It can appear within minutes, hours, or even days after use. Dry skin, facial erythema, and fine scales may sometimes be seen. The face flushes easily. Clinical types can be divided into:

1. Environmental type

It is common in fair, dry, and thin skin, and mainly reacts to environmental factors, such as sensitivity to cold, heat, and rapid temperature changes. Facial flushing may occur frequently.

2. Cosmetic type

Reactions mainly occur to cosmetics.

3. Very sensitive

Severe reactions may occur to exogenous factors such as cosmetics, environmental factors, and endogenous factors.

examine

It belongs to the skin chemical detection test, including lactic acid test, sodium dodecyl sulfate test, chloroform-methanol mixture test, dimethyl sulfoxide test, acetamide test, water wash provocation test and capsaicin test. There are two representative methods of lactic acid tests: ① Apply 10% lactic acid aqueous solution to the nasolabial folds and cheeks with a cotton swab at room temperature; ② Let the subjects sweat thoroughly in a small room at 42°C and 80% relative humidity, and then apply 5% lactic acid aqueous solution to the nasolabial folds and cheeks. The degree of stinging pain was rated on a 4-point scale at 2.5 and 5 minutes. It is worth noting that individuals who test positive in the above tests do not necessarily have sensitive skin.