Finger cracks

Once more I'm suffering with these on several of my fingers. Its got worse as I've got older. I've tried lots of things but would love to know what others have done that actually heals them and/or prevents them.

I no longer do any washing of anything - milk buckets, dishes, bathroom, etc. - without wearing gloves. I bought a box of Nitrile milking gloves and use them over and again until they get holes or disintegrate. They're thin and flexible and don't have powder, just a very smooth inside surface, so are easy to re-use. Otherwise the wetness was causing splits in my skin to a painful degree. Funny how our skin can't cope so well as we age.

For me it was milking in the midde of winter, cold and wet that caused them, it didn't seem to matter if I wore milking gloves or not. Not milking this winter and no probs even tho' I am still out in the cold. My wife uses a Paw Paw Ointment and I put that on the worst cracks for a couple of days and covered them with a plaster and they healed very quickly.

I use a product called Egoderm(TM) cream. I put it on at bedtime and my hands are much better in the morning
But it is not very nice smelling stuff, but I put up with it cause it works well. I got it from my local Pharmacy. My current tube is a few years old, so no idea if it is still available - I hope so as I need to replace my tube very shortly.

The Herb Farm

Echinacea cream or their new product Baby & Me cream.

Highly recommended and you can order online;

www.herbfarm.co.nz/natural-skincare-&-he...ts-Shop-On-Line.html

Perhaps try the small size Echinacea cream first - as very successful for patchy eczema on fingers and dermatitis associated with washing/cleaning product contact in our family. Found Baby & Me cream works for treating spotty type sores - like bug bites, acne etc.

Interesting how different people cope. I've got those, too, and, as others have mentioned, they appear during the cooler months.

I, too, do now wear gloves for wet jobs, I find that contact with soil is the main cause. I use coconut oil and calendula flower cream as hand ointments and that keeps them at bay.

If they happen I put a tiny little bit of antifungal cream on and that helps with healing them.

I get those examination laytex gloves by the box full from Moore Wilson for when I work outside, my hands are my craft so I have to be careful I don't bash them around too much for when I do my artwork. For the heavy duty grunt work involving lots of icky poo I usually wear the fleece lined washing up gloves, both types work well for me and don't smash my hands up at all.

I use Eco Lab barrier cream before I go out, gloves for any heavy or dirty work (usually leather ones from the big red shed), rubber gloves for washing with cold water and then more cream after each hand washing when I come inside.

The barrier cream makes in much easier to clean any dirt of my hands too.

Calmurid is a very good cream for this. It has lactic acid and urea.
Any cream with these will help. Ideal concentrations are 5% lactic acid and up to 50% urea, plus a carrier oil that helps soften and keep natural moisture in place.
Normally skin produces urea and this helps to slough off dead skin by allowing it to separate and soften. It is a natural humectant/moisturiser.
Lactic acid helps because it is an alpha-hydroxy acid which acts as a gentle exfoliant.

Apparently it is from the age of about 50 on that moisturiser of any sort is worth using, because around that age the skin doesn't create as much natural moisturiser. Before that, any applied moisturiser slows the natural production, unless it is being stripped off constantly by washing.

I've had lots of hand problems in the past. I had to wear warm gloves under a pair of rubber gloves (non-latex actually as allergic to latex in addition to this) for outdoor wet work in the cold, and just the rubber ones for indoors to prevent this. And my hands are relatively young (34) so not sure if age is a factor or not.

Water exposure is by far the worst thing for my hands. After coming inside and removing the gloves I would use an alcohol-based squirty bottle to clean hands, rather than washing with water and soap. If hands are cracked then alcohol stings, but better than using water and making problem continue.

And if they got really bad and cracked or sore, then hydrocortisone cream at night until it cleared up (a couple of weeks) and get stricter with the gloves.

Like Nora I'm young (32) and have suffered from cracked thumbs and index fingers every winter since my early teens. I've found that the only way to minimise the cracks is to not submerse my hands in hot water - tepid or cold only, and not use soaps/cleaners excessively - kind of hard with kids though, as I seem to forever be washing my hands after cleaning up something or someone! If I do get cracks, I've found putting a small piece of manuka honey-infused gauze over it, then a water proof covering (I use a strip of duoderm as your skin can still breath) works really well.

I get this from gardening, we have very black sandy soil and it is probably really drying.
My hand cream of choice was suggested to me at the horse feed shop, its eventing cream and works a treat. Cross country riders put it on their horses legs when eventing so they dont damage their skin so much if they hit a jump as they slide over it.
I dont have a brand name, it was on special about $5 for a tub about 5 years ago and still just partly way through it despite everyone else with dry hands dipping their fingers in as well

I use NutraPlus Urea cream which is available on prescription, and find it fantastic at helping to keep the cracks less painful, and heal up the scratches.
I used to use hydrocortisol but found that when using it long-term it caused huge problems. It makes the skin thin, so is only an absolute last resought.

muri;427423 wrote: My hand cream of choice was suggested to me at the horse feed shop, its eventing cream and works a treat. Cross country riders put it on their horses legs when eventing so they dont damage their skin so much if they hit a jump as they slide over it.
I dont have a brand name, it was on special about $5 for a tub about 5 years ago and still just partly way through it despite everyone else with dry hands dipping their fingers in as well

That will be aqueous cream. Its also used as a soap substitute. Can be bought cheaply at a pharmacy.

vaseline. If possible put it on your hands at night, then wear cotton gloves to stop it rubbing off. I don't get cracks in the hand, but bad ones on the heels.
Years ago I suffered with cracks in the sole of the feet (ouch). salicylic acid (aspirin) cream was the only thing that solved it.