Industrial strength handcream for sore cracked fingertips

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

Can anyone please help? Every year, I get sore cracked fingertips as soon as we move into autumn/winter - sometimes it gets so bad they actually split at the edges. It’s really painful and also ugly! I’m in Scotland and it’s already quite cold, particularly in the mornings, but not cold enough for gloves yet, so it’s begun.

I’m religious about hand cream, currently Body Shop hemp, but I don’t think the cheap nasty soap in my work loos will help any. Last year the pharmacist gave me Epimax cream which I’ve started again this weekend but it’s a huge bottle (like mayo!) so no use for keeping in my bag.

Which handcream helps your sore hands? Happy to throw money at the problem but also instinctively think I need more “medical” and less “luxe” brands!

It's most likely the horrible cheap soap at work. I have the same issue.

Carex soap is gentle, and I swear by Lotil hand cream, put it on before going to bed.

But it'll be the school soap that's the culprit.

I have this during the winter, due to hand eczema. If my fingers have already split (so bloody painful!), I apply steroid cream and tape them up for 48hrs to heal the splits. Keeping them dry throughout. If they are heading that way but not yet split, I buff off dry skin with an emery board, slap on O'Keefe's and sometimes tape the hot spots overnight. I realised that once the skin thickens up, creams won't be absorbed, so I try to smooth out the areas by filing them with the emery. I swapped hand-wash for a former, so that detergent is very diluted. Always dry my hands with a proper towel (clean every day). I never EVER use a hot hand dryer or Dyson blower. Aside from the bacterial aspiration risk, it makes my hands crack. I avoid getting my hands wet when preparing food by wearing latex gloves. Basically I try to keep my hands dry and protected. I've had prescription steroids and emollients (E45, Diprobase etc.) that didn't make much difference, so now I do what works. O'Keefe's is good stuff to slap on last thing before bed. I also really like Nursem Caring Skin fix, because it's not greasy. Great when using a laptop for work. I also use the Nursem to deal with eczema flares on my face and back. Brilliant stuff

You can get finger covers from chemists to protect badly cracked fingers called cots. My mum uses them as she suffers from really bad hands in winter.

You need to see a GP or dermatologist and get some Mometasone 0.1% ointment

La Roche-Posay Cicaplast - it's a repair cream and very good.

I've also occasionally resorted to cracked heel cream which has an almost miraculous effect but not sure if it is good on hands longer-term.

Im a nurse with sensitive skin on my hands. I swear by Garnier hand repair. Red tube, has maple leaf extract. I can go to bed with my hands in agony, and wake up with them feeling brand new using that cream

Thank you all so much. Interesting that people have mentioned the Dyson blowers which we have at work, and also the making sure hands are dry - I’m always rushing at work and often it’s a quick wee, wash with the cheap soap, and dash without drying because I have to get to a class and there’s a queue and no time. We don’t have dedicated staff toilets in most of the building and the loos can be really busy.

@CreepingCrone i have also used an emery biard, and have resorted to using clear nail polish to “seal” them if they have actually split. (Tends to be round my thumbs most often.)

I have O’Keefe cream to try tonight and have been applying it throughout the day too.

Neutrogena, the concentrated one.

Gosh that sounds miserable, @Judystilldreamsofhorses - both your school loo provision and your resulting sore hands. No dedicated staff loos - what kind of hell is that?

And through all the troubles of my life I’ve never once had to seal cracks in my skin with nail varnish. Nor even known it was a thing.

I honestly hope you find a lasting solution soon.

Dermol hand wash to use at work, and as others have said, Aveeno, O’Keefes working hands creams.

'Battles' udder cream - designed for dairy cows' teats, which can become incredibly sore, chapped and cracked, but also brilliant for human hands

CCS cracked heel repair works better for me than flexitol

It’s not a school, it’s HE, and the loos are not only mixed students/staff - they are also gender neutral 😬

Burts Bees Hand Salve and Neutrogena Norwegian formula are the only creams that sort my hands out - I have a similar experience to you @Judystilldreamsofhorses, I can feel them drying out in the last few days!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Burts-Bees-Natural-Moisturising-Salve/dp/B00063M2O8

If epimax works fill a travel size bottle for your handbag.

I have eczema on my hands and I have found 'Doublebase Once" emollient very good surprisingly as it is quite cheap ( on Amazon) for 100g.

The only way I have a chance of having hands that are manageable in the winter is to use something like epimax or epaderm ,a travel size one of which i have in my bag at all times to wash my hands with, after using soap. So I wash with soap but a small amount fairly quickly, followed up with a squeeze of cream and wash again using the cream, gently pat dry with paper towel or if necessary tissues in my bag which again I always carry , then a thin layer of the cream again. I avoid using the dryers as well

None of this helps if my hands are very sore. Then I just avoid cheap public loo soap completely and carry my own eczema hand-wash and use that, dry, then thin layer of cream.

Another recommendation for cotton gloves at night - buy from Boots. When my hands are cracked I also use either a high % urea cream or a steroid cream mixed with plenty of thick cream or balm, and wear disposable plastic gloves under the cotton ones to make my hands sweat the good stuff into my skin! Sounds gross but works a charm and really sets the healing going.

Wash with warm (not hot) water and a soap-free alternative during the day. If you have someone to help wash your hair for you too while your skin is sore, even better to avoid the shampoo.

Anything urea based like Flexitol. Udderly smooth also good

I have hand excema and would add that it is trial and error for individuals. Those of us with sensitive skin are often allergic to things that are great for others. Neutrogena and Sudocreme are two things I cannot use.

If it is cold enough in the morning to feel chilly, I think it would help to wear gloves even if it does seem too early to wear gloves.

Decant some of the epimax into a smaller pot and carry that with you. A proper emollient will do so much more than any of the hand creams you can buy that claim to help dry/ cracked hands.

If they are actually cracked and sore, you really just need a greasy emollient.

Also, slather it on your hands at night time and wear thin cotton gloves to bed.

Epaderm cream can be good too, it's also an emollient but not a greasy one, and it comes in pocket-sized bottles. You can also use it as a handwash. I carry it everywhere this time of year and I use it in public loos etc instead of the harsh hand washes they usually provide.

https://www.superdrug.com/health/medicated-skin/eczema/epaderm-emollient-cream-50g/p/453300?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18158841731&gbraid=0AAAAADp4mz80EZ5-UHw-QU7-xC1SkK6iU

Came on to say this. My partner works with clay sometimes, and swears by this.

I would definitely go back to your GP and ask for a dermatology referral or if you can afford it see someone privately.
My DH has chronic eczema and what works for him is a balance of prevention and treating the symptoms.
You don’t need to spend ££ on fancy creams IME you need expert advice.

I don't think you need a specialist for this. Just ask your GP to prescribe some hydrocortisone ointment if the problem persists. This is brilliant on really sore hands and all patches of eczema. To be honest if your hands are that bad you are likely to have issues with other areas too.

You have my sympathy as I suffered badly from cracked fingertips a while ago and know the pain well (like trapping your fingers in the car door). I suspect you may be beyond the handcream stage, although the thickest, unperfurmed, lanolin-free cream you can find put on at night with cotton gloves on top won't ever hurt. I had prescribed diprobase from the GP for handwashing and an allergy test with the dermatologist but nothing helped till I incidentally used dead sea salts in my bath and noticed a signfiicant improvement. I targeted on this and routinely soaked my hands in basins of the stuff. Not an overnight miracle but it was still a quick process to recovery and although I still have a dry skin, the split fingertips have not returned. I got the salts from my supermarket, unperfumed, and I suspect Epsom salts would also do.

Genuinely no other part of my body has issues - and I don’t even think it’s eczema, it’s just the tips of my fingers/thumbs. I’ve never seen a GP, which is akin to winning the Hunger Games round here anyway, just the pharmacist who said it is caused by cold air. I walk everywhere, so just to and from work is an hour round trip in often very cold temperatures.

Last night I used the foot cream (CC something?) I had knocking around which has urea in it, then a big dollop of the O’Keefe’s over it. Things are already looking better.

I struggle with this too. I no longer have fancy handwash, instead I have a pump tub of cetreban by my sinks. You can wash with it and then when hands are dry use it as a moisturer Cetreban

I also use Weleda Skin Food, I had it in an advent calendar once and it’s a revelation. I actually smear it over my nails and tops of my fingers in thick swathes and it absorbs really nicely. Weleda Skin Food