Cracked fingers

[SewingAndCakes]

I've started to get cracks around my fingernails and on my finger joints. They start off small but then widen and bleed. It's making everyday things difficult as they're really painful. I'm pretty sure it's caused by the cold and lots of hand washing as I've had sore, dry and itchy hands during winter before, but I can't avoid washing and I wear gloves outside.

Has anyone experienced this, and is there anything I can do to prevent it happening?

I get it, I try to avoid using most types of handwash & soap where possible (ie stick to a brand I know doesn't make it worse, method handwash for example). When the skin cracks I um.... superglue it.

I'm fairly sure there are other options too

I've had this for the first time this year.i had a split on my thumb joint which was very painful, especially when I had to sew name tags on. I found some old lanolin nipple cream and tried it. it was the best thing and quickest thing to heal it. Now it's just dry but no longer sore. maybe worth trying if, like me, you have tubes of random stuff hanging around off the point but I've also had a persistent red sore area around my nose this winter. nothing would shift it then I tried some cradle cap cream (don't ask me why! ) cleared it up in couple of days.
Other suggestions are to always wear gloves in this weather, rubber gloves for washing up, vase line and cotton gloves for a deep moisturise overnight.

Thanks, I'll have a think about sticking to a certain soap. I hate it when my hands get this bad. I've tried every hand cream but they're not working.

I have complete sympathy for you, as I currently have the same thing. It's hideous and ridiculously sore. I wash my hands a lot as have a 6 mth old and I the constant washing ( I am a bit OCD which doesn't help matters) clearly makes it worse. I would recommend lots of emollient type cream- oilatum helps after each hand wash. My Gp prescribed me Zerobase after I had Ds, as I had really dry skin all over. I'm currently using that and applying copious amounts and frequently. Hope that helps you x

eachpeach thanks, I need to be stricter with myself about washing up gloves. I'll try the nipple cream too!

Thanks too, Teanbiscuits, it's really really painful isn't it?

Hideous........eating salt n vinegar chipsticks whilst typing this is clearly not helping !!

Hope your fingers heal soon x

ouch to salt and vinegar chopsticks! I find that normal hand creams make my skin worse at the moment. than biscuits suggestion of oilatum is good too.
I'm not very good at wearing gloves to wash up either. I never bother for those 2 min jobs, hence my hands are horribly lined and wrinkly already
hope you find something that heals them quickly.

Myself and DH suffer from this (both work outside). We find using cracked heel cream as a hand cream works well.

Just reapplied the Zerobase!

Another thing that I sometimes do when I really can't cope with the pain and am doing dinner etc, as oily greasy hands aren't really an option then, is to put a few dabs of sudocream on the cuts and then cover them with a plaster for the time being. At least then they aren't getting knocked etc and I'm not yelping in pain each time I touch something and catch my fingers. It's only a stop gap but I find it helps me in that situation.

It really is hideously painful and actually woke me up last night so I totally feel your pain:(

X

I have this, it's really sore. I saw a dermatologist and he advised washing my hands with emollient cream (something like diprobase) instead of soap and prescribed Nutraplus cream to be applied hourly, which is very effective. You can buy Nutraplus for about £7.50 a tube, it sinks in quickly so doesn't leave a greasy residue on everything you touch! I'm not great at using the cream instead of soap, but it does help if you can do it.

OP - do you use Carex at all? Only I know that this (plus knuckles that look as if I have been punching walls) happens very quickly indeed to me if I use carex even a couple of times.

Without carex, I still have the hands of an 80yo in the winter, and need to be obsessive about gloves, and try and remember to use hand cream (aveeno works best for me), but my skin does stay in one piece.

Wow thanks for all the replies, it's good to know that it's not just me! I will be heading off to the shops for some of these things later.

I do use carex at home, so I'll stop getting that and see if it helps. Not really consistent when it comes to brands so it makes it hard to pick out a culprit. I work in healthcare too, so after washing my hands at home a lot, I go to work, wear gloves, but then wash my hands again... I'll start to take my own soap in to work too as the stuff that's provided is probably harsh.

Thanks everyone!

CD and I can only use Dove liquid hand wash, anything else makes our hands so sore. Lanolin nipple cream is very good, Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream is great but a bit pricey. I've recently discovered Waitrose Pure balm at less,than £2 a tub and its not bad. Wearing latex/vinyl gloves would make my hands worse.

I get this too, thanks for all the advice. I currently have an open crack at the top of my thumb which I am drowning in Savlon to help it heal.

I get it too, so painful. I normally use Elizabeth arden 8 hour hand cream but it's not working so well this winter. I'm going to try some of the other suggestions.,

I use Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream also, the protectant one, its orange coloured, very greasy and smells, but very good. I put it on overnight for a couple of nights, wearing some cotton gloves over to protect bedding and it works wonders.

Put a dabof Lansinoh nipple cream on the crack before bed, put on a plaster to immobilise the skin, wake up and it's healed. A miracle. And yes to ditching the Carex and other liquid soaps with SLS in, I use bar soap or SLS free liquids, much better.

Try a more natural hand wash if you can with less harsh chemicals in that can irritate skin. DH used to suffer badly with cracked hands but we use Ecover washing up liquid (marigold and camomile as citrus can set him off) and their lavender and aloe hand wash. Plus Weleda Skin Food cream is amazing. Hope it gets better, I know how horrible it was for DH. Yes to lanisoih though, I have an old tube I use on m!y lips in the winter.

Dr Bronner's soaps are very good, liquid or bar. I'd imagine the lavender would be good for sore skin.

Slight x post with WhoKnows try and avoid SLSs and SLESs can be very bad for the skin. this site gives good info on SLS free products.

You've all inspired me to take the plunge and spend a little bit more on products that won't ruin/will help my hands

Dd gets this. We use Vaseline and plasters for sensitive skin (she's only 3yrs). The plasters stop her sucking her thumbs at night. She cries if I use any other creams but Vaseline doesn't hurt her.