Elderly Personal Care Includes Skin Care: Tips to Enhance the Health of Aging Skin

It’s not an aspect of elderly personal care that’s as commonly discussed as other tasks, but is crucial to keeping seniors healthy nonetheless. Aging skin care issues can cause a wide variety of distress for seniors, including discomfort, bruising, dryness, itching, and more.

The home care professionals at Hired Hands Homecare work hard to keep older adults safe and healthy from head to toe, and that includes healthy skin. We’ve outlined below some of the more common skin difficulties in aging, and some suggestions to help.

Dryness

According to Medscape, an overwhelming majority of adults over age 65 are troubled by dry, flaky, itchy skin, which results from a reduction in sweat and oil glands.

How to help:

• The senior should take less frequent showers or baths, using warm (not hot) water, gently dry the skin, and apply moisturizer
• See if “dry bath” products work for the senior; these clean the skin and hair without the use of water
• Try using more mild soaps and shampoos, such as those with Nizoral for seniors who have special skin conditions, and always apply sunscreen before going outside
• Make sure the senior drinks plenty of liquids and uses a humidifier to rehydrate the skin
• Steer clear of:
  • Perfumes
  • Smoking
  • Stress
  • Too much exposure to the sun

Bruising

Bruising is a common issue for older adults, resulting from thinner skin and a reduction of fat and connective tissue that can contribute to a weakening of the support surrounding blood vessels.

 How to help:

• To reduce the inflammation and overall size of a bruise, place a cold compress over the bruise for approximately 20 minutes
• Try to keep bruised areas elevated as much as possible
• Encourage the senior to get plenty of vitamin C, which increases collagen
• Help the senior quit smoking, as smoking decreases collagen production

The elderly personal care team at Hired Hands Homecare of Marin, Sonoma, Napa counties and the Tri-Valley is experienced in helping with aging skin care needs, and we’re here to provide assistance to your senior loved one through bathing/moisturizing, inspecting for changes in the skin, avoiding bed sores, and more. Give us a call any time at 866-940-4343 or visit us online for more information.

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