Excessively dry skin patches on my face... any suggestions?

Go to the doc and get it checked out.

Washing your face actually dries your skin out.

Try switching to a natural soap You’re gonna have to buy it somewhere other than a regular store. Try Whole Foods or the “natural” section of Wal-Mart.
And get some coconut oil from your local health food store (organic if you can). Rub it into your skin at night before bed. The more you massage, the better. It will balance out the oily and dry areas.

I believe derms only mask the issues, not get rid of them.

I have the same problem. I find the only thing that works is to remove the dead skin physically. That means using a body mit to scrub it off. It needs to be abrasive otherwise it won’t work. Of course you don’t want to look like someone’s come at you and sand papered your face. Then put some olive oil or moisturiser on afterwards. It works really well for me.

Jojoba oil! It won’t make you too oily either, and you just need a dime size for most of your face.

This happens to me in winter. I always get an organic facial scrub to get rid of the dead skin and apply facial lotion only a lot of lotions are not good to put on your face because it has fragrances and chemicals that can make your skin worse. Dove Deep Moisture Facial Lotion For Dry Skin has worked well for me and it has SPF 15 in it.

you need to exfoliate before you moisturise. A good glycolic toner before you moisturise might help too. You also might want to get a humidifier in your bedroom at night, especially if you use gas heating.

yeah. you’re an ancient person who was probably born in the late 1700s and you’ve run out of the potion that makes you look younger than you really are.

Thanks guys… exfoliation will probably work, I’ll try that. I noticed when I flaked at it a bit, it came off but seemed to aggravate it too, so I stopped. But that makes sense.

This is going to seem weird….but try Chapstick. At least on the bottom part of the nose. That’s what I do and have done for my kids when we have had bad colds and have had to blow our noses a lot. It protected the skin.

Try coconut oil—organic. You can also cook with it.

Using anti-itch creams containing camphor, menthol, pramoxine (Itch-X), or diphenhydramine (Benadryl) may relieve you of dry skin. In severe cases, anti-histamines like diphenhydramine, chlor-trimeton, or loratadine (Claritin, Claritin RediTabs, Alavert) may be recommended.
I would suggest you to visit a doctor i9nstead of taking medication on your own, because there are chances that further complication can occur.

Try Bio-Oil. It smells good and it works great for dry skin. You can find it at Walgreens or CVS Pharmacy. I use it every night after I take off makeup. CVS has a store brand that works great.