Chafing

Chafing Affects Inner Thighs Mostly

Summer is the season to show off your trendy wardrobe attire-sleeveless crop tops, mini skirts that reveal your toned legs and shorts that give you the sporty look gear up your entertainment quotient with family, friends or colleagues. Along with all the fun and frolic, you are attacked by an irritating skin problem, chafing, that might spoil your entire mood and offset your joy.
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Addressing Dressing Concerns
Chafing is a very common skin problem mainly due to skin surfaces rubbing against each other (for example, obese people find their thighs often rubbing against each other), irritating fabric or moisture. Repetitive or continuous rubbing on the skin can end up in a rash, burn or even lead to swelling, bleeding or crusting. Thighs are the most commonly affected sites of chaffing while groin, nipples, feet, armpits or buttocks are also vulnerable ones.
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Skin is the largest organ in the human body which plays a critical role in safeguarding our body against outside factors such as germs, dust, heat and physical harm. Our skin needs to be neat, clean and dry to protect us and prevent chafing. Skin is like every other organ in the human body whose cells breaks up after reaching its maximum limit. Despite protecting ourselves from dust, heat and chemicals, what more factors prevail which can harm our skin and cause chafing?

Excess Weight: Being overweight/obese increases the chances of skin-to-skin rubbing, especially very easy for your inner thighs to rub against each other. Reduce your weight and keep your body toned by meeting a registered dietitian nutritionist at www.firsteatright.com.

Nursing Infants: Breastfeeding increases the chances of chafed nipples due to bras or pads

Sports: Endurance sports such as biking or running are two of the most common sports activities that can cause chafing due to repeated movements, excess sweat or clothing. That’s because biking and running calls for speedy movement of our thighs either to pedal or run faster which creates enough chances for skin-to-skin rubbing.

Clothing such as skirts: Wearing dresses such as skirts or saree that do not have a protective layer of clothing that prevents thighs from rubbing against each other can cause chafing in humid weather.

Diapers: Babies usually suffer from chafing due to continuous use of diapers that can cause rashes. Urine or feces that are left for a prolonged period without removing the diaper can lead to chafing. This is also called as diaper rash.

Ill-fitting Clothing: Wearing clothes that don’t fit properly on your body can rub repeatedly and irritate the skin. For example, your sleeves, bra straps or waistbands are some clothes that often irritate all of us sometime in life.

Sweating: All of us sweat but some of us sweat badly. Dried sweat can leave a layer of salt on the skin that can irritate us and worsen chafing.

Compression Shorts Inside Skirts Prevents Friction while Playing

Lend A Helping Hand to End Friction
Every problem has a solution. You cannot prevent sweating, stop feeding or end your sports practice to prevent chafing. All you can do is take preventive measures to safeguard yourself and decrease the severity/frequency:

1. Wear the right type of clothing while exercising. This includes properly fitting, fast-drying fabrics (preferably nylon, spandex or polyester) that help your skin to breathe. It is always better to wear compression shorts to prevent inner-thigh chafing while exercising.
2. Moisture triggers chafing and it’s up to you to stay dry using powder and antiperspirant deodorants on areas that are most common victim of chafing. Ensure to get out of wet/sweaty clothes as quickly as possible.
3. Keep areas that are prone to chafing lubricated to minimize friction and to ensure that surfaces glide against each other smoothly. Petroleum jelly, oils and lotions are the commonly used lubricants.
4. Add a second-skin layer using a soft bandage to prevent chafing, especially on your inner thighs, nipples and feet.
5. Nursing women must take extra care to keep their nipples clean, dry and avoid wearing fabric that can cause irritation. Breast-feeding bras come along with soft pads that ease discomfort. You can even use disposable pads to reduce moisture.
6. Plan your schedule according to the weather outside. During summer, plan your exercise schedules either early in the morning or late evenings to avoid excess sweat.
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Despite all these preventive steps if you find no relief or the areas show signs of infection, it is better to meet your physician who can prescribe a topical antibiotic or corticosteroid. 

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