I’m of a certain age, and I’m wondering if a blood thinner could make my skin a little less dry than it had been, especially in my lower legs and feet. The older I have gotten the more I have had a tendency to noticeably dry skin in those areas, and since starting on a blood thinner (about 3 months ago) the dryness seems noticeably reduced.
Which is a good thing, and I’m thinking how nice to have a pleasant side effect of a needed medication, for a change.
Which blood thinner?
I’ve been on Warfarin for over eight years and haven’t noticed any difference, n = 1. I need to look at the package insert and see if a side effect is silky smooth skin.
What an interesting observation! I have been taking blood thinners for some years now, at different times either Brilinta (ticagrelor) or Plavix (clopidogrel). Technically these are anti-platelet agents, and are taken with low-dose aspirin. I used to get dry skin on the tops of my hands in winter, when the air is very dry, sometimes quite badly. Interestingly, the symptom has totally disappeared in the last few years. I thought it might be just some systemic change from aging, as indeed it might be, but it does coincide with roughly the period that I’ve been on blood thinners.
I’ve been using blood thinners for about 15 years. Warfarin for the first ten and eliquis (apixaban) since then. It is true that my hands are not as dry in the winter as they used to be, but I used to walk 4 miles to my office 4 days a week and now I don’t.
Just a thought: Part of the reason for dry skin is reduced circulation, which in turn is largely due to narrowing of the arteries, which in turn is almost solely due to plaque buildup on the inside walls of the vessels. Blood thinners (which is really a misnomer because they don’t actually thin the blood in the usual sense of that word) make the blood less able to clot, which helps prevent further plaque buildup. This allows you endogenous plaque cleaning systems, which heretofore were being edged out or neutralize by buildup happening at the same time, to catch up or at least gain ground, and so there is a net reduction in plaque, which then improves blood flow.
This was my thought (although my thoughts were not as extensive as yours). Another improvement I am seeing is speed of healing skin – my normal dry skin leads to itching which often leads to scratching which can result in broken skin. In recent years these relatively minor wounds have taken a much longer time to heal than they used to. Now, they heal pretty much as quickly as they did when I was young (plus I don’t have nearly as many). I have assumed that faster healing is also due to improved circulation.
Nah, that’s the nannites.
I’ve been on plavix for about five years (brilinta didn’t agree with me). I can’t say I’ve noticed a change in dry skin, but I didn’t have a chronic issue with that anyway.
I started plavix (clopidogrel) a little over three years ago.
After a year or so, I started noticing dry skin (which I never had before), especially in the winter. But it was mostly concentrated on my legs and feet.