Peeling skin: What Causes Skin to Peel or Slough Off?

Peeling skin: What Causes Skin to Peel or Slough Off?

A Patient Asked:

My breasts, butt and belly peels. Can u tell me what would cause that?

Answer:
There are many causes of peeling skin. Do you have any weight loss, rashes, fevers?

Below is more information to help.

Sandra Lora Cremers, MD, FACS

References:

Your skin is regularly exposed to environmental elements that can irritate and damage it. Eating a good green leafy veggie diet fully of Omega 3’s that is low in inflammatory agents like gluten and sugar, drinking plenty of water (at least 64oz per day) can help keep your body and especially skin looking fresh and shiny. Years of sun, wind, heat, dryness and excessive humidity can take its toll on your skin. Repeated irritation or inflammation can lead to skin peeling. In babies born past their due date, it’s not unusual for them to experience some painless skin peeling.

Skin peeling can also result from a disease or condition, which may start someplace other than your skin. This type of skin peeling is often accompanied by itching. Conditions that may cause skin peeling include:

Poor diet: see https://drcremers.com/2016/04/low-inflammatory-diet.html
Allergies
Infections, including some types of staph and fungal infections
Immune system disorders
Cancer and cancer treatment
Genetic disease, including a rare skin disorder called acral peeling skin syndrome that causes painless peeling of the top layer of skin

Specific diseases and conditions that can cause peeling skin include:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/peeling-skin/basics/causes/sym-20050672