Creating a Skin Care Regiment To Protect Against Incontinence

Try this three-part skin care regimen.

When dealing with incontinence, it is vital to consider more than just absorbent products, but also to consider the skin. Because incontinence often means the skin is exposed to urine, feces, and perspiration, proper and consistent skin care is needed in order to maintain skin integrity, and avoid irritation or breakdown.

In order to best protect skin against the negative effects of incontinence, try this three-part skin care regimen:

1. Cleanse the skin with a pH balanced cleanser designed specifically for those with incontinence. Using such a cleanser in a timely manner is essential for maintaining skin integrity. In addition, doing so can help control odor, and provide greater comfort for the individual.

Look for a cleanser that is specially formulated to gently remove all urine and fecal matter from the skin. This will help to eliminate related odor caused by bacterial contamination, and prevent irritation and skin breakdown. Learn more about great products.

Why can’t you just use soap and water? Using the right cleanser for this sensitive skin will help prevent irritation and the drying out of skin. In addition, these specially formulated cleansers have added ingredients that help to remove the dried on fecal matter with minimum scrubbing, protecting the skin from injury due to friction.

Remember to clean the skin with each change of absorbent products. Urine can compromise the integrity of the skin as much as feces can. Look for cleansers that are no-rinse and alcohol free, when shopping for incontinence skincare.

2. Provide protection against moisture, fluids, friction, dryness, and bacteria with a protective ointment. Try the zinc oxide based Lantiseptic Multi-Purpose Skin Ointment to protect the skin from moisture. An ointment such as this will be designed to protect and condition the skin, and act as a barrier, protecting skin from continued exposure to fecal matter and urine by minimizing the skin contact with urine, feces, and sweat.

3. Keep the area dry. Keeping the skin dry is the best way to protect against skin damage. This requires a combination of good incontinence absorbent products, regular changing, and using the above mentioned tactics. To find the best absorbent products for your needs, that can help wick moisture away from the skin keeping it dry, use our Incontinence Product Finder , which helps you to easily and quickly sort through more than 600 available product options. 

Watch this video: Maintaining Healthy Skin Among the Elderly Who Are Incontinent

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About The CareGiver Partnership. The CareGiver Partnership helps caregivers and their loved ones with answers to their caregiving questions, including information about home health care products and supplies, from our Wisconsin-based team of Product Specialists who are all current or former caregivers. The company’s Web site provides the largest online library of resources on subjects most important to caregivers — from arthritis to assisted living, and Parkinson’s to prostate cancer — as well as access to more than 3,000 home care products for incontinence, skin care, mobility, home safety and daily living aids. The CareGiver Partnership was founded in 2004 by Lynn Wilson of Neenah, Wisc. Visithttp://www.caregiverpartnership.com to learn more or call 1-800-985-1353.

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