help my hands

[bookswapper]

after washing and washing them in antibac recently (vomiting virus in my house) my skin on my hands has completely dessicated. The skin over my finger joints has become leathery and swollen. My hands are actually sore and I find it difficult to straighten them, especially my writing hand....owwww!

I have Clarins and Aveeno creams but they are not doing much good....

Anyone any ideas?

Plain old E45 cream. As often as possible. Savlon cream in cuticles and gloves on overnight.

Or (more expensive) Neutrogena. Apply generously at bedtime and wear cotton gloves overnight.

any cream, applied often enought will help.
it may sound like a silly question, but are you caucasian? if not, then, apply something oil based, wrap in something cotton, then place between two hot water bottles. the heat will help the moisturiser to work. steam, if you can manage it is eveb better.
caucasian skin tends to be more liable to damage by heat, so i dont htink applying more hat is such a good idea. iyswim . just keep applying an oily moisturiser, not a watery one. keep them covered asmuch as possible. and give it some time.

My skin sometimes goes like that from time to time and have tried all sorts including the emolliant ointments my ds uses for eczema. E45 and the like doesn't help mine at all once skin has hardened. Best thing for me is either body shops hemp hand protector or (hope remembering name right as can't find mine!) tree sap ointment (vile looking smelly thick green goo which was recommended at local herbalists but worked great)

I have a superdrug concentrated hand balm. It is fantastic, have tried lots of hand creams from expensive to budget and this is easily the best.

vaseline or epaderm

hemp cream from bodyshop. neutrogena concentrated hand cream, vaseline and nivea are good too.

my mum says palmers cocoa butter, Kamillosan, zinc and castor oil, eucerin, calendula cream, flexitol (it's meant for heels) and dream cream from lush.

i use this, it is good purepotions

yes, nappy rash creams are an excellent idea

Ordinary vaseline petroleum jelly slathered on then put on cotton gloves and wear overnight.

Vasolene overnight recovery hand cream is brilliant.

Yes nappy creams are good.

I like bodyshop hemp cream too as recommended by pp.

thanks all

I will try all of the above...funnily enough my friend drew out white gloves and socks from a secret santa for leaving on hand and foot creams overnight! How we laughed (and i made a particularly crude joke about resembling a five spot on a dice) but how jealous am I now?!

[eating words emoticon]

don't forget to report back

I think Sudocream is brilliant. I use it on any sore skin, bites,burns. At the moment I'm using it on the end of my nose as the skin is peeling and sore from a cold!

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream gets my vote too.

Only needs a tiny amount at night and hands are as good as new by morning.

L'Occitane shea butter hand cream is great

or that solid Waitrose baby bottom butter (if you can find it)

I had terrible housewife hands when DS2 was a baby, from all that manic hand-washing. They he got eczema and I had to cover him in Aqueous cream 4 times a day. My hands were loads better in a matter of days.

It doesn't rub in as well as some of the luxury creams, but you do get used to the feel of it and it is very effective and very very cheap. About £1.50 for 500gram tub from chemist.

Elizabeht Ardern 8 hr cream

good old nivea