What Causes Peeling Of Raw Patches On Elbows?

My mother has raw patches on her elbows, they look like they re peeling, but her skin isn t dry or flaky. She compares the spots to carpet burns, they re roughly the size of a dime. The only thing she did with her elbows that entire day was set them down on the table when we were eating lunch. Could someone help me figure out the cause of this?