Caring for our skin is an important part of overall health and well-being. Using the appropriate skin care products can make a huge difference in getting healthy, shiny skin.
One key thing to consider when choosing skin care products is whether or not they have cortisone.
Cortisone is a steroid hormone often added to creams and ointments to treat inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and bad rashes. While cortisone creams relieve itching and swelling in the short term, they have unwanted side effects with long use.
Choosing cortisone-free skin care products is a safer, more sustainable approach for long-term skin care.
Understanding the problems of using cortisone on the skin can help push you to make the switch to more natural, steroid-free skin care products. Let’s take a closer look at why this matters.
In this article, we’ll explore five reasons why cortisone-free creams are better for helping healthy skin.
Reason 1: Avoid Skin Thinning and Damage
When applied regularly over a long period, cortisone creams can cause skin thinning. This is when the skin becomes abnormally thin, resulting in visible veins, stretch marks, and easy bruising. Cortisone works by tightening blood vessels and stopping collagen production. The skin layers start to break down with less support from collagen and elastin fibers.
Without the thicker, spongier skin layer to protect it, the thinner skin is also more likely to have tears and lesions. This damage allows bacteria and irritants to go deeper, possibly leading to infections.
In the UK, cortisone cream is quite common for certain skin conditions. However, the side effects like skin thinning seen even with popular cortisone cream UK brands underscore why cortisone-free cream options are better for long-term skin health.
Choosing cortisone-free creams avoids these problems, promoting thicker, stronger skin over time.
Reason 2: Prevent Dependence and Disruption
Another consequence of habitual, long-term use of cortisone creams is developing a dependence on them. Cortisone helps relieve uncomfortable symptoms like redness, swelling, and itching by controlling the immune response. But it doesn’t treat the underlying condition.
Over time, the skin can stop reacting well to its natural steroids. When this steroid production is disrupted, people often need stronger doses of topical cortisone for symptom relief. If they stop using the cortisone suddenly, symptoms can bounce back worse than before.
Using cortisone-free creams avoids developing this dependence and the vicious cycle of worsening flare-ups.
Reason 3: Lower Risk of Side Effects
In addition to skin damage and steroid disruption with long use, cortisone creams also come with other health risks. Since cortisone is absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream, it impacts the whole body, not just the skin. Possible cortisone cream side effects include:
- Adrenal gland suppression – With less need to make steroids, the adrenal glands can become suppressed. This makes the body more sluggish at managing stress.
- High blood sugar – Extra cortisone can disrupt insulin control, leading to high blood sugar. This effect is especially dangerous for people with diabetes.
- Bone density loss – Cortisone impacts calcium absorption and bone rebuilding, leading to brittle bones over time. The risk increases when taken by mouth but still happens with topical use.
- Eye problems – Using cortisone creams near the eyes may elevate the likelihood of developing glaucoma and cataracts from long exposure.
Choosing natural, non-steroidal creams avoids all these other health worries beyond the already discussed skin issues. Since there is less body-wide absorption, cortisone-free products are much safer for long-term use.
Reason 4: Better Ingredient Choices
Unlike old-style cortisone creams, ” cortisone-free ” products don’t have any steroids or other harsh chemicals. Instead, they use more skin-feeding ingredients that comfort and calm skin gently without control.
Some great ingredient choices to look for include:
- Soothing botanical oils – Plant-based oils like jojoba, coconut, safflower, and avocado give hydration while calming the skin.
- Healing vitamins – Vitamins E, B3, B5, aloe vera, and shea butter are rich in nutrients, fatty acids, and antioxidants to feed the skin.
- Protective ceramides – These waxy lipids refill moisture and enhance the skin barrier to retain moisture effectively and keep irritants out.
- Anti-inflammatory botanicals – Calendula, chamomile, licorice root, tea tree, and bisabolol reduce inflammation and redness without steroids.
Reason 5: Better for Delicate Areas
The last reason for choosing cortisone-free creams is that they can be used safely on more sensitive body areas. Using old cortisone products on delicate skin areas like the face, neck, chest, or groin comes with a higher risk.
The face skin is particularly at risk as it’s much thinner than other areas. Absorbing cortisone close to the eyes for long periods raises the risk of glaucoma, cataracts, and optic nerve damage. The neck, chest, and groin areas also have thinner skin and absorb substances at higher rates.
Meanwhile, cortisone-free creams use anti-inflammatory, nourishing ingredients designed for regular use from head to toe. Even with thinner and more absorbent skin types, natural choices pose little health risk with daily long-term use as needed. Since the ingredients work together with the skin instead of against it, positive outcomes continue without causing harm.
Final thoughts
When reaching for skin symptom relief, we often don’t consider the possible problems of using cortisone creams and ointments. But as talked about here, there are many good reasons to choose cortisone-free skin care choices instead.
Avoiding skin damage, steroid dependence, harsh side effects, and ingredient problems makes natural, steroid-free creams the smarter choice. Plus, being gentle enough for the most sensitive body areas gives more flexibility to feed all skin types fully.
Switching to daily cortisone-free products ensures healthy, shiny skin that can be kept for a long time. Free of worrying about thinning skin, infections, worsening flare-ups, and other issues, comfort and confidence in skin’s texture can be brought back without depending on control.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at Blufashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2018. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
