Cracking bleeding hand skin

[shootingstar]

Ever since I moved out to the prairies where the air is drier, my hands seem to acquire a small crack somewhere at least once a month - especially in the winter. Enough that my skin breaks and bleed.

I'm getting tired of wearing bandaids.

Yes, I use hand cream --twice daily at least. Does anyone have the same problem? What do you do? (Now don't tell me I have to wear mittens with hand lotioned immersed hands when going to bed.)

[deeaimond]

(Now don't tell me I have to wear mittens with hand lotioned immersed hands when going to bed.)

haha shootingstar, maybe you should. on alternate days at least? use oil/ shea butter instead of just handcream? cracks must hurt!

[OakLeaf]

Is it possible you have eczema/dyshidrosis? If it's an autoimmune issue, then reducing your overall allergic load should help, as will sparing use of steroid creams. Sun exposure usually helps too, if it's not too cold where you are.

Also make sure you're hydrating enough from the inside. It's always hard for me to drink enough water when I'm cold.

And +1 on checking the ingredients of your hand cream. If you're sensitive to an ingredient it will only make things worse; IME petroleum based creams damage the skin and get me "addicted" to them. Pure shea butter before bed works well for me, too - it's too heavy to use throughout the day if you need to be touching phone screens and/or computer keyboards, but if there are days when you're onsite using fiber-based information storage systems you could use shea butter any time.

[Blueberry]

+1 on 100% shea butter. We're packing/doing house chores for getting our house on the market and my hands were a mess last night - much better after a liberal application of shea before bed. If I actually get cracks, I use something like neosporin on them to help them heal.

I also find that I need to use a light lotion throughout the day in the winter (after washing).

[malkin]

For me the magical and beloved hand sanitizer and 'germ killing soap' is the culprit. Can't use it at all, which is a pain, because it means toting my own little soap dispenser at work.

I also avoid normal house cleaning chemicals by wearing cleaning gloves with cotton gloves inside.

It makes me feel like a complete priss, but at least it keeps my skin from falling apart.

[shootingstar]

Marni, I try to avoid using hand sanitizers. I don't work in a hospital so going around using hand sanitizers often doesn't make sense to me. I get cold/flu once a year or not even that.

Just washing my hands under the tap is great with a touch of soap.

Very interesting Murienne. Thank you for this thorough list!

[Sky King]

as I type this without using my right thumb because the crack it deep and it hurts I use liquid bandage and have a friend who uses super glue (but I think that stings too much) Muireen thanks for the tips, I will on "non soap" and other lotions

[goride]

I normally get painful/bleeding cracks on the tips of my fingers and thumbs from October through April (roughly the winter heating season). I also react badly to hand sanitizers as others here have mentioned. This season, I have been massaging a small amount of vitamin E oil into the tips of my fingers at night. During the day, I use CeraVe moisturizing lotion. It is light and soaks in so doesn't leave a greasy or oily residue. I have developed very few skin cracks this season, and they remained small, not too painful, and healed quickly. Murienn - outstanding list. Looks like you speak with the voice of much experience.

[zoom-zoom]

If you're not using a humidifier, start. Without a humidifier I will constantly have cracked and bleeding knuckles. Our house is old and poorly insulated, so the heat runs a lot and dries the air terribly. I also lotion up my hands before bed, every night.

[NbyNW]

+1 on a humidifier.

And if my skin were cracking, like what you describe, I would use a bit of antibiotic ointment on the worst areas while they heal.

[OakLeaf]

Depends on the cause, though - humidity triggers my dyshidrosis, and especially sudden increases in humidity like the beginning of summer. It could also spur growth of airborne molds and dust mites, which would stress the immune system and could make it worse. If you get a humidifier, either get one with a humidistat or just install a hygrometer and monitor the humidifier to keep indoor humidity between 50% and 60%. That's normally high enough to hydrate skin and mucous membranes but low enough that molds and dust mites won't go nuts.

[Owlie]

I have eczema, but it's stress-related rather than allergy related.

Liberal application of hand cream (foot cream is even better) after I wash my hands. And in between. I've put mini bottles of lotion in my purse, next to the bathroom and kitchen sinks, backpack, etc for any time they feel a bit dry, especially after using the evil institutional soap. What are your gloves made out of? Fleece and even Thinsulate linings suck moisture right out of my skin.

Hydration is also important. I've got electric baseboard heating (hate it!) and it dries the place out. It's like living in poorly-insulated toaster.

[Biciclista]

You need to move to the tropics!
You are a dry person (check out ayurvedic stuff) and need way way way more moisture in your diet. Lots of rice porridge, lots of drinks...

[Selkie]

Cetaphil Restoraderm Body Lotion. That stuff cleared up some eczema that I had on my neck in the summer. Since I swim 6 days a week, my skin is drier than usual. It really is wonderful---absorbs quickly and never ever feels greasy.

[soprano]

+1 on the shea butter.

It might be helpful to learn a bit about surfactants so you can pick a gentler hand soap. A lot of what is being called "soap" on this thread are really detergent cleansers, such as sodium laurel/eth sulfate. This stuff will strip the heck out of your skin if you use too much (very common with liquid hand soaps) or it's not mixed in with a good conditioner/moisturizer. SLS and a few of its related cousins are the surfactants found in most shampoos, hand and bar soaps, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, etc. It's what we all started using when we gave up lye soap. Incidentally, we didn't make that mass change because detergent cleansers are any easier on our skin, because they aren't. What detergents do better is rinse away in hard water conditions, which are very common in the US; they're easier on our clothing, plumbing and appliances.

"Real" soap, which is saponified with sodium or potassium hydroxide, had an underserved reputation for being caustic. A hundred+ years ago, this was true for most homemade soap because it was difficult to control the strength of their homemade lye. Today almost all handmade, high-end soap is made with commercially produced powdered sodium hydroxide (lye) or potassium hydroxide, which allows us to tightly control the amount of fat/conditioners in the finished soap. You really might consider trying a superfatted handmade soap, which you can pick up at just about any natural food store. It's more expensive, but if you just use it on your hands and not in the shower it'll last forever.