CAN ANYONE HELP?. For 6 years, I have been battling badly chapped & cracked fingers.?

Question

I have tries bag balm, corn huskers, lotions, and even filled gloves with crack creams but nothing will repair my cracked finger 100% I went to my doctors and he said they are just dry and use lotion or bag balm. Look, I can't even rub my fingers on a peice of wood, concrete, or pull a weed with out my fingers looking like they are burnt. This is so painful and annoying. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

It's eczema. Go right to your dermatologist and get a prescription-strength cortisone cream or ointment. Apply this twice day, with or without moisturizer, to suppress the symptoms. It could be Psoriasis also. I have several family members that suffer from both.

Eczema is not an allergy. Changing soaps and other products is useless. There is no rhyme or reason to eczema's tendency to affect one or two fingers and leave the others alone.

It gets worse in thw winter on most people, but there are many exceptions to that as well.

Acute flares of psoriasis on the hands and feet need to be treated promptly and carefully. In some cases, flares are accompanied by cracking, blisters and swelling.
General treatments include the use of moisturizers, mild soaps and soap substitutes. Some people have helped heal non-bleeding, superficial skin fissures by closing them up with "super glue," Elmer's Wonder Bond Glue or Dermaflex, a product by Zila Pharmaceuticals. Use glues sparingly to avoid contact with unaffected skin. Traditional topical treatment of palm and sole psoriasis includes tar, salicylic acid and steroids. Combinations of these three agents may be superior to each one used individually.

Answer 2

I have gone through the same thing with my fingers, and dermatologists were no help. See your primary care doctor and ask to have the ANA factor in your blood tested. If the ANA factor is positive it is possible that you may have an autoimmune disorder such as Scleroderma. If your ANA factor is positive see a Rhuematologist for further treatment. My doctor calls the condition of my hands "mechanic" syndrome. The first finger is the most dried and cracked, with each finger slightly less cracked and chapped. There are too many symptoms to list here but visit WebMD or www.arthritis.org for more information. Your dry, chapped fingers just may be the first symptom of something more serious. Please get the blood test done.

Answer 3

This sounds more serious than just dry skin. If I were you, I'd get a second opinion from a good dermatologist and follow his or her instructions. You may have psoriasis, eczema or allergies that cause this condition, and topical lotions don't do much for those conditions.

While you're waiting for help from the medical community, try increasing the amount of water in your diet. A lot of dry skin is caused by lack of hydration.

Also, don't put your fingers into hot water, and keep them away from chemical irritants such as bleach, ammonia or harsh detergents and household cleaners.

Try paraffin baths--they make devices that heat paraffin to tolerable temperatures, and then you dip your hands into the liquid paraffin and allow it to dry. This is very good for dry cuticles, dry fingernails and dry skin, but it's a temporary fix only. And a word of warning: do NOT try to do it yourself by melting paraffin! You'll suffer severe burns, which will make your condition intolerable.

FIRST, though, see another doctor. One who specializes in skin problems.

Answer 4

There is this medication at Wal-Mart that is actually for your feet but it works awesomely on your hands also. It is called Kerasal. My daughter has severe ecema and her fingers were cracked so bad she couldn't bend them I put the Kerasal on them and the next morning they were healed.

Answer 5

You may have an allergy to gluten. You should go to an allergist to have it checked out. I know of two people who had major skin problems such as yours and when they cut out everything that contained wheat from their diet, their condition cleared up. That means no beer, pizza, pasta, cake, bread, etc.

It can be done.

Answer 6

Do you drink sufficient amounts of water ?

A person should drink half their pound weight in ounces a day.

Example:

Weight - 128 lbs. 128 divided by 2 = 64
64 oz would be your water consumption minimum daily
( 2 quarts or 8 - 8 oz glasses )

Answer 7

Try some pawpaw cream. It helped a friend of mine with his terrible hands - caused from stress.

Answer 8

See your dermatigist.