What a nightmare cracked, dry, flaky skin can be! When all those promising moisturisers in the supermarkets do nothing, it's time for further investigation. Little do we know that a butterfly-shaped gland in the throat could be the cause of chapped, dry textured skin.

So many women complain of the "lizard" or "leathery" texture appearing on their arms, legs, thighs and soles of the feet - all of which can be caused by a slow thyroid. An undeactive thyroid slows down metabolic function and blood circulation, causing unflattering skin you'd rather hide.

Silky skin is every woman's ambition - but the question is, can feeding this hormone with essential nutrients and vitamins, soothe the flakiness and drive away dryness for good? The answer is a resounding yes!

A good way to start is nutrition: the thyroid gland is really sensitive to the wrong foods that are processed, greasy or fried at high temperatures. Instead, the hormone gland responds to leafy green vegetables, iodine, meats and essential fatty acids from oily fish and nuts.

The thyroid hormone produced in the form of T3 and T4 regulate hair growth and skin cells. When the thyroid gland doesn't produce its hormones, it can result in hair loss or skin that feels leathery and excessively dry on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet - in extreme cases the outer ends of the eyebrows disappears.

To get your hair and skin back into optimal condition, a full endocrine blood test to check the thyroid levels is done at The Wimpole Medical Centre.