Skin Game

I know this is hardly the place you'd go seeking a recommendation for a good moisturizer but I happen to have one. For quite some time, there was a patch of skin on my leg that was so dry and scaly, you could have grated cheese on it. In fact, I was afraid to go into any low-class Italian restaurants for fear they would. I tried Neutrogena and a couple of other over-the-counter creams and noticed no difference. On a doctor's recommendation, I tried Eucerin and it did a little better. Then I tried a prescription drug which, since my health insurance didn't cover it, cost me eighty bucks…and it was less effective than the Eucerin, which cost a tenth of the price.

Recently, on another doctor's recommendation, I tried a non-prescription liquid called AmLactin XL Moisturizing Lotion, which is a little pricey…though not intolerably so if you buy it at Costco, which often carries it. (It's available on the Costco website.) It was also a lot cheaper than the prescription stuff and it had the added benefit of actually working. The rough skin went smooth on me in about five days and has stayed that way with only occasional reapplication.

I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV…and of course it's possible that what works on me will do nothing for you or even have ill effects. So don't blame me if you apply this goo and it makes your elbows bend the wrong way. But I was so pleased to find a product that did what it was supposed to do that I had to share the info here with you.