Dry skin

I had been piling on the moisturisers on a patch of dry skin around my mouth and eventually went to the doctor as I thought it might have been connected to a streptococcal A infection in my nose which cured recently with antibiotics. Turns out doc saw that I had cracks in corner of mouth and sent me for an iron blood test. She was right and now that I am taking extra iron, dry patch has gone. Never had iron deficiency before as they test before blood donation but due to various ailments I haven't given blood for about a year.

I`m glad your problem is now sorted Ilove. Sometimes no matter what we apply to our skin, it needs a little help from the inside. My OH used to have really dry flaky skin on his face and scalp and no matter which cream I bought him, it never improved. I then convinced him to take an evening primrose oil capsule daily and his skin has improved ten fold.
I`m not a fan of people downing supplements willy nilly but there are obviously times when some form of supplement is needed. Has your Doctor discovered why you`re iron deficient ? I can`t take iron tablets because I have IBS and iron makes it even worse.

Doc hasn't suggested any reason yet nor asked me to go back but I will take the iron tablets for 3 months and then go back for to see if my iron levels have improved. I suspect that I may have a stomach ulcer caused by taking prescribed anti inflammatory medication without being given anything to compensate for them. I had started having pains in the stomach by the time I stopped taking them. I am slowly learning to research everything that I am prescribed. Over the years there have been a few prescribing errors but we are all human and make mistakes.