Anyone got any ideas how I can sort my hands out?

[MuddyPuddlesAndPrettyBubbles]

Hands are soooooo painful they're red, cracked and swollen. An antihistamine has helped the itching but no cream has helped the dryness and flaking. I did have a steroid cream a while ago for pomphylox eczema but that's long gone. What can I do to fix them?

@womanaf - thanks , I will give a bleach bath a go. I’ll try anything! I’d agree Diprobase is a lovely cream, I use that in the day.

You should be able to get a prescription over the phone, especially if you've had a certain cream before. I had to for antibiotics from the dentist last week.

I’ve just ordered pure potion aka skin salvation and the black soap. Will report back (and sit with my hands in a bowl of bleach til then...)

Just wanted to chime in and say I suffer from contact dermatitis and the constant hand washing has triggered my hands as well. My neighbour is a GP and recommended (from a distance!) hydrocortisone cream. I’ve ordered it online but it hasn’t arrived yet. She said once I’ve tried that for a while, next step is to contact GP and they can give you a prescription for steroids over the phone. I feel for anyone suffering from this - this is nowhere near the worst I’ve ever had it. I can’t sleep at night from scratching.

I hope the black soap works for you. When my eczema is bad I can't use any eczema creams on it as my skin feels like it's burning so I was very reluctant to try the soap but it's amazing stuff - the first thing I've found that works.

Aveeno make a more specialist range called Dermexa which is very good including hand cream. I'd use a weak hydrococortisone underneath, sparingly
My DS1 has similar issues

I too have pompholyx eczema.
This is my approach, after living with it for the last 15 years:

1. Something to stop the itching.

I use prescription antihistamines (fexofenadine 120mg) and antihistamine cream (anthisan - found at chemist and some supermarkets - this is my lifesaver cream!) which I use when I desperately want to itch my hands to the point of rawness. It nips the itching in the bud within a couple of minutes.

1. Help with healing.

Ideally using prescription steroids until healed, followed by thick moisturising cream about 10 minutes after the steroids. I like the dark blue pots of Nivea cream, but any kind of parrafin based cream is also very effective (although horribly greasy) it's best if you put this cream on thickly last thing at night and wear cotton gloves to really help with mositurising your hands

1. Prevention strategies.

Stop using soap. Sodium laureth sulphate (SLS) is your enemy (it makes soap foam) as it makes pompholyx eczema much worse. Parabens are also unhelpful. I highly recommend using Dermol lotion to wash your hands. You can buy it from the chemist, but it's cheaper to get on prescription with a pre-payment certificate. Another option is QV wash (another prescription soap substitute) but it isn't as good as Dermol. Dermol is also antibacterial and anti-itching. Work out if you have any other triggers for your eczema - I have loads, especially alcohol based products, fruits/veg and flour. I use powder free, latex free gloves to do most things in the kitchen. My hands very rarely flare up now and certainly never get in the state they used to. My hands were just like yours for about 10 years, but now they are under control.

My child has pomphylox eczema too and is riddled atm.
Don't burst the spots.
Though I do find my child get some intermittent relief from savlon under a plaster over the worst areas.
Soaking their hands in water for an extended time also helped this year (under guise of very warm paddling pool).
Cotton gloves with emollient.
Fuicide may also work.
We've now stopped the spread as it was like wildfire, but left with incredibly hard, leathery, sore patches

My ecczema has also flared up from all the handwashing but it is not the usual type I get, instead full of little bumps and extremely itchy. Usually Eumovate cream works for me, but not on this. The only thing so far offering relief and some level of healing is aloe vera gel. Soothes the itching and slowly healing it.a bit, but still quite bad.

That looks like.parts of my hands do sometimes at the moment
The hydrocortisone cream you buy at the chemist does not work for.me. I have tried it many times. Get a prescription for a steroid cream from the go or from an online pharmacy as linked to above.

I also used epaderm cream ( available from Amazon) and as well as moisturising with it, I sometimes use it instead of soap for.washing my hands ( when at home). I use soap if washing them when I come in from outside.

Using the steroid cream to treat small patches that flare up for 2-3 days at a time and using epaderm cream all the time seems to be keeping it under control.

I used an expired tube of eumovate last night which worked enough to let me sleep - have ordered more from boots online.

I took an antihistamine this morning, soaked my hands in diluted bleach - not stingy! - and saw the chemist who thinks it's a fungal infection (grim). So I have epiderm, cotton gloves, hydrocortisone cream and antifungal cream. Its not just as painful and swollen as last night. Thanks everyone for the tips, much appreciated.

Great news @MuddyPuddlesAndPrettyPuddles - fingers crossed - looks better. I am off to supermarket tomorrow to buy some bleach.

Really thick hand cream at night and then socks on your hands.

This does work, amazingly!

Please try pure potion skin salvation

Holland & b is where I get mine

It's my saviour