OT - dry, cracked skin

toypup wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
,
more importantly, hurts like h*ll. I've tried various hand creams
(including that Neutrogena one that's meant to be for Norwegian
fishermen or something) but nothing really seems to work and I'm
starting to get a bit hacked off with it now. Anyone have any
suggestions?

When my hands get so dry they crack, I use Liquid Bandage or something like
that on the cracks. It works great.

That's a great suggestion, thank you. I've never used anything like
that before but I'll get some next time I'm in the chemist. As you'll
know, once the skin has cracked, there's not a lot you can do but wait
for it to heal but when you're still having to change nappies and wash
your hands in the meantime, it gets a bit nippy, so hopefully this will
help me to soldier on during the healing process

Thanks again,

Helen

Jeanne Clelland wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:

Helen,

Here's an extreme answer for you: I had really bad eczema, often
including cracked skin as you describe, on the fingers of my right hand
for several years, getting worse after each pregnancy. No cream or
lotion did much good beyond temporary relief. What finally made it go
away was when my acupuncturist told me that she was certain I was
allergic to wheat and dairy. I was a bit flabbergasted by this, but
agreed to try giving them up for a week. After that week I felt so much
better that I never went back: the rash on my hands got maybe 90%
better, my digestion improved, and I just felt better than I had in
years. I eventually ended up going completely off gluten (the protein
in wheat, as well as in rye, barley, and oats), and that took care of
the last 10% of the rash.

Like I said, it's extreme, but when I accidentally eat something I
shouldn't and the rash comes back, I can't believe how I lived with that
itching and cracking for all those years, and how it's finally GONE!

Thanks Jeanne but it would have to get a lot worse before I could
countenance giving up toast and butter

I have had VERY good luck w/ Zimm's Crack Cream. I'm sure you can goggle it
to find some near you ... or to order.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

This may not be the most relevant place to post this query but I'm
hoping someone else may have gone through the same thing and can give
me the benefit of their experience.

Basically, the skin on my hands has been really dry for about a year
now and I'm starting to wonder if it will ever get better. It started
just after I gave birth - my hands, feet and ankles became really dry
and a bit flaky (sorry if anyone's eating right now!) and I figured it
was a reaction to my fingers and ankles being so swollen while I was
pg. I also guessed that having to wash my hands so often from changing
nappies, wiping up spills, etc, wasn't helping but that it would get
better relatively quickly. The trouble is, while my ankles and feet are
a bit better, my hands are still terrible and the skin is actually
starting to crack around the top of my nails which looks horrible but,
more importantly, hurts like h*ll. I've tried various hand creams
(including that Neutrogena one that's meant to be for Norwegian
fishermen or something) but nothing really seems to work and I'm
starting to get a bit hacked off with it now. Anyone have any
suggestions?

I should come clean up front and admit that I don't religiously put the
cream on *every* time I wash my hands, simply because I don't always
have the time - oh, and I've also had some allergic reactions to some
brands of soap and babywipes, which is probably also contributing to
the problem. Do I just need to bite the bullet and basically keep my
hands submerged in hand cream at all times, even if it means the baby
squirts out of my hands like a bar of soap?

Cheers

Helen

I don't generally have a problem with dry hands, but when I do, the
first sign is what I call 'hangnails'. This is usually a little
triangular point of skin beside the nail that gets sore and inflamed.
(Not sure if you call them the same thing in the uk) When I was a kid
these would get infected and a couple of times I had to have them
lanced. So now, when I have a sore hangnail, I put a bandaid on that
finger and keep it there until it heals. I guess this might be a
problem if you had them on all your fingers so toypup's solution of
liquid bandages might be better.

wrote:


wrote:
You probably should consult your doctor - this could be a form of
exzema. My middle child, a 12 year old boy, gets this on his hands and
feet terribly in the winter - and its NOT from being in soapy water.
Because his skin is so sensitive, he only takes one or two baths a week
in the winter - and you should see his poor feet - they are peeling all
the time, big dry cracks in the skin etc.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear about your son: I guess my problem is
nothing to what some people have to put up with. I'm not sure if it's
eczema, simply because this is the first time it has happened like this
and it's so localised - it's just at the sides of my fingernails at the
top, mostly on my thumbs. It's the part of your thumb that gets put
under pressure a lot when you're doing everyday things like opening
bottles, doing up zips, etc, and I'm thinking that it's just that my
skin's inelastic because it's dry and so it's just cracking when it's
put under pressure.

What works is greasing up his feet at night and making him wear socks,
plus with the doctor's support, the occasional application of steroid
cream (sometimes you can moisturize all you want if its gotten bad and
you can't get it to clear up, but a couple of days with the cortisone
will knock it right back and it will stay gone for months).

Yes, that's my problem, I think - the moisturiser is all very well
*before* the skin cracks but once that happens, it doesn't really help
it to heal. I'm not sure if psoriasis is related to eczema (although my
dad also used to use cortisone on his psoriasis) but I'm also wondering
if there's an underlying cause between this happening on my hands and
the other flare ups elsewhere (mostly on my scalp but I'm now getting
little patches on my arms and back.) The psoriasis isn't sore at all,
though, it's just red and rough to the touch.

You might want to start wearing gloves to clean and wash dishes, and
try moisturizing and wearing cotton gloves to bed to see if it helps.

Yes, I do make a point of wearing rubber gloves to wash up (and
hopefully I'll get my dishwasher back in commission soon, yay!) but I
think I will try the gloves overnight thing, as a few people have
suggested and if it doesn't heal up soon I'll take myself off to the
doctor to see what she can suggest.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply!

Cheers

Helen

grandma Rosalie

Rosalie B. wrote:
I don't generally have a problem with dry hands, but when I do, the
first sign is what I call 'hangnails'. This is usually a little
triangular point of skin beside the nail that gets sore and inflamed.

Yes! That is exactly what I'm trying to describe!

(Not sure if you call them the same thing in the uk) When I was a kid
these would get infected and a couple of times I had to have them
lanced. So now, when I have a sore hangnail, I put a bandaid on that
finger and keep it there until it heals. I guess this might be a
problem if you had them on all your fingers so toypup's solution of
liquid bandages might be better.

Yes, I think that might be the way to go. I also have a bad habit of
picking at the skin when it starts to get dried out, so if I covered it
with something it would stop me making it worse (or at least give me
something else to pick at!).

Cheers

Helen

Rosalie B. wrote:
I don't generally have a problem with dry hands, but when I do, the
first sign is what I call 'hangnails'. This is usually a little
triangular point of skin beside the nail that gets sore and inflamed.

wrote in message
Yes! That is exactly what I'm trying to describe!

Ah, I get those too and I use just plain Vaseline (boy I guess I could be
the market girl for Vaseline, lol) on my cuticles each evening before bed
and that does help with those little hangy things.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)