Why are my hands ageing so quickly?

[Frazzled193736]

For about 2 years now my hands have been terrible. It started when we had a lizard and I used a lot of hand sanitizer. And of course now having to use hand sanitizer again.
My hands changed overnight from nice youthful skin to dry, wrinkly, dehydrated skin.
I am 35 years old. I apply hand cream multiple times a day and before bed. I have tried all different sorts.
When I pinch my skin upwards it goes back down very slowly, takes about 10 seconds! My husbands returns to normal instantly!!!

I absolutely hate it. Any advice? The photos don't show how bad they look in real life

Loss of elasticity in the skin is a sign of dehydration !

You could try fillers in your hands? I’ve heard it’s a thing!

Spf
Moisturise
Erm plastic surgery??

(I'm the same age and my hands are wrecked, I think, from pushing a pushchair around practically every day for the past 5 years and being exposed to the sun!)

I was about to say the dehydration thing! Are you drinking enough water op?

Could it be dermatitis on your hands they do look really dry try aquaes (sp) creAm or e45

Your skin looks massively dehydrated. Are you drinking plenty of water?

Do you use perfumed cream ?

I make sure any excess SPF face cream goes on my hands. I also do the O'Keefe's Working Hands overnight thing, which really helps mine. The biggest thing, as others have said, is staying hydrated.

Neutrogena Norwegian 24 hour wotsit. Tiny tube has 300 applications. It's amazing.
Then start to take your skincare onto your hands, just wipe any excess across them.

I'm using o keefes working hands at thr moment. They will be ok for about an hour then go back to how they were

Exfoliate them. If you use it as a face wash

Anything you put on the outside will have little effect if you're dehydrated on the inside.

OP that is not ageing hands that is dermatitis!

I had the exact same thing last year and it freaked me out. The skin on my face is still quite youthful and I couldn’t understand then why my hands were wrinkly. I mentioned it to the DR when in for something else and she said straight away that it was dermatitis. I never had any type of skin condition before so I was quite surprised at this. She prescribed me cream and the difference in skin texture was almost instant! My hands looked identical to yours and now they are smooth again.

My hands look at least 10 years older than the rest of me (I am 39). I think it must be because they are outside all the time, I do a lot of cycling so they are quite often sticking out at the sun, and I never wear suncream on them.

As PPs have said, moisturiser with SPF as hands get exposed to sunlight. Avoiding dehydration. Finally, healthy diet with omega 3, green leaf, antioxidants.

Good luck.

I always drive with my windows open and I've noticed my right hand is ageing far worse than my left! I think its because my right hand on the steering wheel is exposed to the sun more than my left. Its the only explanation I can think of?

I don't like diagnosing by thumbnail picture but Glitxeryone's post might have merit. Might be worth a call to your GP if you've been moisturising.

Are you still using a lot of hand gel or washing hands lots? Mine were very dry and somewhat wrinkly at the start of lockdown as was using hand gel multiple times a day and washing hands constantly. Now I've been at home more I'm not doing that so hands look fine again. I wouldn't say it's aging, they'll probably revert back to normal once you're not required to be quite so hygienic Oh and carex antibacterial handwash was most drying, now I use a cheap non antibacterial handwash, either Palmolive or Sainsbury's. Some hand gels have moisturising agents in too, though I'd wash the hand gel off as soon as you're able to.

Stop using alcohol gel and swap your liquid hand wash for bar soap (preferably a vegetable one). Keep on with the moisturiser.

They don't bleed and don't crack, and it's only on the back of my hands. Not my fingers or my palms.

Gosh, they do look quite bad. I'm a decade older than you and use quite a high SPF just about every day, unless I'm wearing gloves, although from what some people are saying it could be dermatitis and not sun damage.

Your hands (and fingers) also look really quite swollen - not sure whether that is connected?

When you washed and dried your hands you need to use moisturizer straight after not randomly. That's because there is still a bit of water on them for the moisturizer to lock in. Also use a decent cream like a PP indicated either a thick handcream Norwegian Formula, a thick lotion like E45 or even something like Diprobase.

Aqueous cream is crap for moisturizing - I use to use it to wash my body before moisturizing with something like Diprobase to deal with my dry skin on GPs advice.

Also stop using alcohol based gels as they irritate skin that's already dry. They actually say on them not to use them if your skin is irritated.

I wear (cloth for warmth) gloves 8+ months/yr. DAMN but my hands look young, I presume due to lack of sun exposure. Believe me, my face doesn't look young! Do you have to use hand sanitiser, OP, perhaps for work? That stuff isn't good for skin.

@UnaCorda I'm just fat

Calendula cream (you can get it at Holland and Barretts or various other places) is very moisturising, as is Jojoba oil, although as with everything, check for allergies. The nurse in this household is now ecstatic about a lovely home-made comfrey ointment we got online from a little shop in Yorkshire. I'm not sure what the base is but I suspect it might have a little bit of beeswax in it (I'm sure you can get soya variants if you're a vegetarian). She has actually said she prefers it to Working Hands, which was her previous go-to.