How to get rid of rough, weathered skin

By Dr. Hannah Sivak | March 30, 2022

Warning! Don’t go too far, not even when dealing with your feet.

Calluses have a function, and that is protection. So unless you are planning to change how you treat your skin, including socks, sandals, high heels, leave your skin alone, you need that rough skin. Now, if you decided that it’s time you let your skin heal and recover from past mistreatment, then by all means: you can use physical (abrasion) or chemical means to eliminate the rough, most superficial layers of skin.

You can even treat your legs, but only if you promise (!) that after abrasion or proteases remove the top layers of skin you will start protecting your skin so that it doesn’t dry into a thick, opaque layer. Start taking good care of all your skin as you do with your face and hand. You can use the same fine, effective Skin Actives products. You can also improve on your body cream by adding a few active ingredients.

For abrasion, you can use a number of tools. Tools that remove hair also remove the top layers of the skin. Even sandpaper will do the trick.
Or, instead of abrasives, you can use proteases. Skin Actives has an enzymatic exfoliant.
You can also use chemical peeling. Alpha hydroxy acids, at a low enough pH, will be sufficient to remove the upper layers of the epidermis.

There are some products out there that are VERY basic, alkalies, basic in the chemical sense, in other words, have very high pH, and use very concentrated potassium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide is often the main active ingredient in chemical “cuticle removers” used in manicure treatments. You may have also read real crime stories about the use of potash to dissolve the evidence (sorry!). This is not my preference. The skin takes a long time to become “rough and weathered”, please take some time to take it back to smooth, normal skin. There is no rush; when you rush you can get hurt, especially when using strong acids or bases.

Why not take your time? For your feet, maybe use a combination of physical abrasion plus some alpha-hydroxy acid serum. You can also use abrasion in combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, with the added bonus of antioxidation). After rinsing well, use a very emollient cream and put on some socks so that you don’t slip.