Extremely dry hands - pics attached

[holdolls]

My hands have been severely dry for the past 7/8 months. I've been to the gp a few times and have tried multiple creams as well as the strongest steroid available on prescription as well as countless hand creams that you can buy over the counter but absolutely nothing is helping and it might sound silly but it is seriously getting me down and I feel like it's affecting me too much. I feel like the skin is just permanently damaged at this point and I can't feel things very well certainly not in the same way I can on the other hand (which is fine, it's just my right hand). I am now waiting for a dermatology appointment but it's been months and I haven't heard anything so I am a little worried that they haven't accepted the referral or something. Just wondering if anyone has had anything similar or has any advice about it or anything I can try. The amount of cream I'm going through is crazy. I really don't think that it's something I'm allergic to because I am using the same products as I have done for years.

Another one could be the ink used in til receipts. Saw an episode of bad skin clinic where a lady was allergic to the ink. It would fit with the pattern of usually accepting a receipt with the right hand (guessing she's right handed) and it being predominantly on the thump and first 2 fingers.

The blue capped aveeno is amazing. I had 10 plus years of extreme eczema, tried every steroid cream and many different prescriptions. I've now been mostly eczema free for about 5 years!

Was coming on to say this. Try sulfate free hand washes. I tend to get mine in TK Max - there are a couple of brands but they generally have 'Provence' in the name somewhere

@holdalls
The allergy seems to have started after your baby was born.
It started 7/8 months ago you write and you have an 8 month old.
Write down all the things you come in contact with, that you have consistently used since the baby was born. I think you'll find your answer to what is causing the allergy in that list.

Vaseline, right before you go to bed.

It could easily be any cream you apply to your baby - a nappy cream etc. Do you use anything like that?

Liz Earle hand cream is fab and smells lovely.

My dd is a barista and sleeps with hand cream on her hands and cotton gloves over her hands so the cream stays on her hands.

My fingers, the tips & knuckles, used to get so dry, they'd crack wide open and bleed; same with my heels & toes. It got so bad I could barely walk. I was embarrassed for people to see my hands at places like shop counters.

I ended up going to see a Detmatologist. Have you pushed your GP to refer you to the local hospital?

Mine was diagnosed as Psoriasis. I now use DiproSalic ointment. It helps a lot, but doesn't completely get rid of it. It has salicylic acid to get through the hard, dry skin and some kind of steroid to calm the new skin underneath, I believe.

I worked as a carer between jobs for 3 months(hardest job I have ever ever done and I have had some awful jobs.. Cleaning loo etc! ) and bow down to the lovely people who make this there main job.. You are angels 😍😘❤️ it is back breaking and mind breaking work...I can't believe how low paid you are.. Bloody disgusting xxxxxxxxx

And my hands were like this due to washing and disinfecting 😢

@holdolls

Have you tried the Eucerin range of products? The larger pharmacies stock the range or you can buy online.

What I've used in the past is their UreaRepair plus 10% urea foot cream but you can get from 5% urea for facial skin and I think 10% for hand/body too.

Look up Eucerin's website or Boots or John Bell & Croyden. Also read up on Ceraben cream which does wonders for my legs and feet when the skin is flaking off. I got a huge container (475ml - a little goes a long way) from Amazon a couple of years ago and my skin just feels so much better so quickly. Good luck on your search! 🌹

I just want to update incase anyone reading has a similar problem. So I think it was definitely contact dermatitis as I went on holiday for a week (All inclusive so no cooking cleaning etc.) and my hands cleared right up. Since getting back they flared up again but I randomly came accross this on Amazon and didn't have high hopes but I have been using it for two days now and already my hands are so much better, hopefully it continues too work!

Any chance it's your washing liquid/powder? My hands look like that if I even just unload wet washing from the machine that's been washed in biological detergent, and some non bio ones too. Dry washing is mostly ok though. I wear rubber gloves to unload and hang out washing. If you are right handed you'll tend to use that hand more when doing this too? just a suggestion!

Thank you for the update OP! Do come and tell us what the culprit is when you find out!

I have eczema and have had this at times, it’s a bugger but it does go. I would -

Think of anything that’s different since the baby - baby creams, washing powders, baby powder, and change it. If you’ve had the heating up, try humidifiers next winter.

Pay for a private derm appt if you can. GPS just aren’t v clued up, the NHS wait is ages, and often a derm will sort it out pretty instantly

Use Dermol 500 as a gentle antibacterial handwash. Stay away from hot or v cold water.

Use cotton or bamboo gloves overnight - really helps cream sink in. You can get them in packs of 10 from Amazon.

The creams I find are good are O Keefes especially the overnight one, L’occitaine 25% Shea butter (but £££), people say that body shop hemp is a good dupe of the Shea butter, also La Roche Posays Lipikar cream is great as body lotion so worth seeing if they have a hand cream. You have to be persistent, because different things work for different people. Generally the cheap aqueous type creams are petroleum jelly based and useless. The gloves will always help.

I will go don’t worry.

I didn’t realise this is an old thread!

but that is good to know, haven’t tried that one.

Have you tried lanolin? I've been using up my leftover lansinoh nipple cream which is made from lanolin.

My hands get like that too, and I smother them in whichever hand cream I'm using at the time, thickly apply lanolin, pair of socks over my hands and then go to sleep.

It feels really gloopy and claggy but I go to sleep quickly and it is like magic in the morning. Sometimes I find I've taken the socks off at some point in the night without realising but still seems Ok.

It does the trick on feet as well, I get those awful deep cracks on my heels that just will not heal and since using the lanolin they've completely gone.

Did you try the hemp cream? I was exactly the same and was using steroid creams for nearly 2 years, I didn't even have fingerprints at one point as my fingers were so cracked. And then I used the hemp cream and in 48 hours my hands were fully healed. It took half an hour of stinging as I lathered it on and then repeated it every time it dried out and would leave it on overnight best I could and I've never looked back. If my hands start splitting again I just throw that on a couple of times and they are back to normal the next day.

Interesting update OP. Do you wear gloves when you're cleaning, washing up, etc? I buy the Lakeland ones that are latex free.

Thank you for the update.
I hope you find out what is causing the contact dermatitis @holdolls

I use lanolin on my hands last thing at night, sometimes with some steroid cream on top. I find different hand creams feel like they are moisturising different levels of my skin, maybe some are oil and some are water? I don't know. Anyway, I found some expensive handcreams are lighter but really help. L'occitane and Clarins for example.

www.boots.com/okeeffes-skin-repair-body-lotion-tube-190ml-10238656

Someone on here suggested this and they had previously tried steroid creams and everything else. My daughter has terrible hands like your pictures and tried this after I told her about the post and the difference is amazing. It’s the yellow body lotion, not the hand cream. It’s definitely worth trying, it’s cheaper elsewhere I just put the boots link as it was the first one.

Oh they look a lot better! My stepdad has this, they buy big boxes of disposable gloves and he uses them for lots of jobs - peeling potatoes for example, the starch really gets his hands. Definitely worth investing in a box, I think.

For general dryness I find a few creams really good: eucerin urea hand cream, aveeno, or Naf Stablehands. I do a lot of hand washing at work so I go through a lot of hand cream…!