Solutions for severly cracked, dry skin?

[Janna]

My dh's hands are painful to look at and even more painful for him to use. They are so dry and cracked due to the nature of his job (which fortunately, in this regard, he will no longer have soon). The cuts are deep and constantly being reopened and bleeding. He sleeps with Bag Balm smothered on his hands then wrapped in socks (I know, not very attractive, but my poor guy is in pain). It helps for the morning, but by that evening they are back to being cracked open again. He has tons of bandaids on his hands where they will stay on.

 

Is there *anything* else he can do? I have told him to go see the Dr. but he thinks they won't have any solutions besides what he's already doing. Surely there is *something* he can do...right?

[SonshineLearner]

Crazy, I know, but unless he's allergic to soy..... put lecithin on them (available at the health food store...it'll last you forever) and mix with a little olive oil. Do the wrap in plastic bag, with rubber bands around wrist...then in socks.... Open in the morning....and if it's like me....it'll be much better. I didn't have deep cracks....but my hands bled...and this always worked. ( and still does...) I HATE the way the mixture feels at night...but love not hurting in the morning:-) (I've tried it without the plastic bags....just use the same socks over and over...not as good...but it's better than nothing)

 

Carrie:-)

[Kathy in MD]

You might try adding fish oil to his diet. It kept my skin from cracking in winter. I didn't have as rough a time as your dh is having, so I'd keep up with the intensive topical treatments. One drawback is that it takes a while to work, like weeks.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

You might try adding fish oil to his diet. It kept my skin from cracking in winter. I didn't have as rough a time as your dh is having, so I'd keep up with the intensive topical treatments. One drawback is that it takes a while to work, like weeks.

 

He inherited very dry skin from my MIL. He has been taking fish oil for the last few years and I was commenting on how his hands have never looked better.

 

It's worth a try.

 

hth,

K

[Jen in PA]

Along the same lines as the fish oil suggestion, one thing that really helps dry skin is upping general hydration levels. I have severely dry skin and am very prone to dehydration, and find that when I stay on top of hydration, the cracking and bleeding diminishes. Olive oil works really well, especially when it's sealed in with anything containing dimethicone (one doctor suggested Aquaphor, which has worked well for me, but many brands of "healing ointment" or hand lotion contain this).

[Chris in VA]

Try neosporin at night (with gloves--we use cut off socks) and a cream applied several times during the day, and don't let him go outside without gloves. It took just 3 days for dd8's hands to heal this way. Also totally agree with upping water intake and fish oil.

[lynn]

We have had success with this.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10801478

 

ETA. Vaseline is advertising a new prescription strength hand cream that might be worth a try.

Edited December 15, 2008 by lynn

[texascamps]

Try an antifungal ointment! No kidding. Often "chronic" dry skin is a fungal infection pretending to be dry skin or preventing skin to heal. A severe dry hand issue in our house turned out to be athlete's foot fungus. A week of an over the counter athletes foot lotion turned dry hands into hands as soft as a babys bottom and if you keep using it a little longer, it stays away. As good measure, use it on hands and feet....even if you are positive he doesn't have a foot athletes foot condition.

 

THe condition was misdiagnosed as dermatitis (or severe dry skin) by one doctor but a skin doctor looked at it and immediately knew what it was. She also explained that a fungal infection somewhere in the body or on the feet can cause extremities to overreact and dry themselves out, crack, peel, etc. We really thought, at first, that we just had really dry skin because of our climate and treated it with heavy duty lotions, fish oil, olive oil, etc.

 

Best advice I ever have received was from that dermatologist. First sign of "dry skin" on feet or hands and we whip out the OTC antifungal. We also use a tea trea oil spray and lotion just as a refreshing antifungal and moisturizing lotion for day to day use.

 

This recures in my ds, because he's not disciplined enough to use the ointmnent daily to get completely rid of it. BUt everyone else who had the "dry skin" issue is cured.

[Janet in Toronto]

My sister is a family physician and recommends Prevex cream to patients with dry cracked hands. It comes in an over-the-counter formulation and also in a prescription formula with a corticosteroid. It is a wonderful product that provides a barrier to irritants and definitely helps the skin to heal itself.

 

I'm not sure how it's available in the US though. It sounds like a visit to a doctor is in order.

 

Oh, and I agree with the fish oil proponents. I started to take fish oil this summer and so far this winter, my hands and feet are MUCH less scaly. I'm sure it's the oil.

[Haiku]

My son gets extremely dry skin (when he first came to us, his cheeks would bleed) and he has eczema. Here is what works for us:

 

1) Make sure he drinks enough water. This is key. Without this, the other stuff doesn't work.

 

2) Omega 3/dha supplementation

 

3) Pure shea butter (we use Now brand)

 

4) Sesame seed oil

 

I would stay away from anything made with chemicals. Even "gently formulated" chemicals can be extremely harsh for people who are sensitive for them, and they can just perpetuate the problem.

 

Tara

[Karen sn]

My dh's hands are painful to look at and even more painful for him to use. They are so dry and cracked due to the nature of his job (which fortunately, in this regard, he will no longer have soon). The cuts are deep and constantly being reopened and bleeding. He sleeps with Bag Balm smothered on his hands then wrapped in socks (I know, not very attractive, but my poor guy is in pain). It helps for the morning, but by that evening they are back to being cracked open again. He has tons of bandaids on his hands where they will stay on.

 

Is there *anything* else he can do? I have told him to go see the Dr. but he thinks they won't have any solutions besides what he's already doing. Surely there is *something* he can do...right?

 

Aveda makes a body lotion that I used to mix half lotion and half olive oil (extra virgin/cold pressed) in a bottle to have at work. (I was in Alaska and washing my hands constantly).

 

My boss had horrible hands. NOTHING worked for him. I made him some of my "special" stuff and he loved it. I was doing it because I was cheap - but turns out to be really good stuff.

 

It was soooooo good that my boss - who was even thriftier than I was - had his wife buy that expensive Aveda lotion to mix with olive oil. It really worked on his dry, cracked, bleeding hands.

[angela in ohio]

Homemade soap. It healed my severely dry hands, and dd's excema on hers. We make it, but you could just buy it online.

[mommybee]

Aveda makes a body lotion that I used to mix half lotion and half olive oil (extra virgin/cold pressed) in a bottle to have at work. (I was in Alaska and washing my hands constantly).

 

My boss had horrible hands. NOTHING worked for him. I made him some of my "special" stuff and he loved it. I was doing it because I was cheap - but turns out to be really good stuff.

 

It was soooooo good that my boss - who was even thriftier than I was - had his wife buy that expensive Aveda lotion to mix with olive oil. It really worked on his dry, cracked, bleeding hands.

 

Aveda has a new cream that is for hands called Advanced Care. It did have eczema in the label but they've since removed that for some reason. I love it because is works and it doesn't burn and sting my hands even when they are cracked.

 

Usually I have to add antifungal and hydrocortisone with the cream if my hands are cracked bad enough, but then this cream really helps in a pinch because I can use it during the day without a greasy feel.

 

**oh and sometimes I have to use bacitracin because when they are cracked like that they can become infected.

Edited December 15, 2008 by mommybee
added one last thing.

[texascamps]

I was just reminded of when my two ds's had a different case of severe dry skin. On some parts o the skin it felt like sandpaper and was really red. It hurt for them to even get them wet or put lotion on them. In this case it was a yeast infection! Over the Counter miconizole took care of it in just a few days. I can't remember where we got the advice to use miconizole, but it worked.

[coffeefreak]

I've had this problem on and off with my hands and feet (especially when I was pregnant and when they were newborns). Everything everyone has mentioned works if you catch it in time. At this point, I would still recommend going to the Dr. When my hands got that bad, the only thing that helped was a Dermatologist. They always gave me a topical and then recommended Eucerin hand lotion. Now, we use Renew from Melaluca and LOVE IT! We also have to follow these rules without fail:

 

1. No liquid soaps. Liquid soap is not natural. They are LOADED with chemicals and all of us (the girls and I) are intolerant to it. We used to carry our own soap in my purse, but the foams most public restrooms use aren't as harsh on us.

 

2. No hand sanitizer unless it's ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY (ie we go to Walmart or Chuck E Cheese):lol:

 

3. No scented shampoo or soaps until it clears up.

 

4. Always wear gloves when doing dishes. That is, of course, assuming your DH does dishes:lol:

 

Blessings!

[sjp]

:iagree:the two best hand creams i have found are kiehls (the tube with the blue printing, not the black printing), or l'occitane 20% shea butter hand cream, which costco has been carrying lately. the shea butter one works on eczema as well.

 

can he carry a tube with him and reapply throughout the day?

[Tammyla]

Antibiotic ointment, did anyone suggest this?