<p>My fiance’s hands are so dry that he can’t bend his fingers anymore. He’s always gotten dry hands that crack and bleed in the winter but never this bad. He used to be able to use that Working Hands stuff before bed to take the edge off, but now it has no effect-- and obviously burns like crazy because his hands are all torn up from the cracking and tearing. He has tried eucerin, cetaphil, gold bond, corn huskers oil (???), and everything else either one of us can think of, including a prescription moisturizer. He has tried putting the moisturizers on and sleeping with gloves on and it’s not helping at all. He just got off the phone with the dermatologist and they told him the cream they gave him is the strongest thing they have. A humidifier has helped in the past when we lived in the apartment, but the air in our house is already excessively humid so that isn’t the problem now, at least not at home.</p>
<p>Does anybody have any other ideas or miracle cures for dry skin? I am finding him another doctor for a second opinion, but he is just miserable.</p>
<p>I agree with the bag balm, it must be a very bag year. Both my husband and daughter are suffering terribly with the very same symptoms. Walgreen’s has the bag balm in a green tin if you are unfamiliar with in, soft socks really help do the trick. Good luck.</p>
<p>Try a product with high percentage of Hyaluronic Acid (highest percentage is 1%–a 100% soln is 1% HA).
Hyaluronic Acid is your skin’s natural moisturizer and absorbs max water to keep your skin moist. A lot of products don’t have a very good percentage. Since it can degrade over time, keep it in the refrigerator. It absorbs rapidly and will leave sort of a sticky feeling when first applied which goes away rapidly (in just a minute or two)–no odor and looks like water.
Great stuff! Use it in conjunction with a product like Gold Bond (for feet–thicker) and see if it doesn’t help. As a liquid, a little bit goes a long way–a few drops can be spread over a pretty good area (so a little bottle can go a long way).
Sounds a bit like psoriasis. Is he allergic to anything? Is it worse with stress (turn red, itch?)</p>
<p>My father-in-law had MS and his feet would get dry and crack. They were just terrible. One of his home health care aides recommended using Crisco at night and wearing cotton socks. It worked wonders. </p>
<p>I would also advise him to make sure he wears gloves in the car when the heater is on and be aware of other sources of dry heat. </p>
<p>If condition improves, I find Lac-Hydrin Five works great, but I think he needs something a little more concentrated to start.</p>
<p>Crisco (in action) is close to the Bag Balm. But cheaper. Acts as a great barrier to the elements. Unfortunately not great unless you’re wearing gloves.
What type of work does your fiancee do? Inside, outside?</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with Bag Balm but I recommend Aquaphor all over his hands, followed by cotton socks. Aquaphor is similar to Vaseline but has some different stuff in it. My derm always recommends it for any boo-boo that I get.</p>
<p>If he has deep painful cracks in his hands, you can try the liquid bandage to help those heal. It seems to help them not get deeper and stay clean so they can work on healing instead of worsening, it also lessens the pain.</p>
<p>Is he an allergic person, it might be helpful to work on his allergies, as the dry skin could also be part of that cycle.</p>
<p>We use Hyland’s Calendula for skin soothing and use Body Shop Brazil Nut butter for daily moisturizing, it’s heavy, if you work out too close to the time you put it on, you can feel yourself perspire ‘inside’ the layer of nut butter.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to put in a moisturizer (any of the ones already mentioned are quite good including plain vaseline - I’ve used Crisco and it works very well also) but instead of putting on gloves or socks, put on plastic gloves. The thin kind that people in food service wear (I’ve seen these for sale in large dollar stores but I’m sure you can find them online too). They have a loose fit and so should go on somewhat easier than say medical latex-type gloves. </p>
<p>When my feet were very bad, I’d cover them in Vaseline and then put each foot in a bag and then put a sock over that (to hold the bag in place). It was like a miracle cure as there’d be a visible difference in the morning. After a few nights of this, you’d never know I had a dry skin problem.</p>
<p>Interesting. I will have him try some of these. I think he went out and bought bag balm immediately and I have aquaphor in the cabinet, I predict we’ll be trying a lot of different things. Allergies occurred to me, but he’s never seemed to have any before… I wonder if the hand soap we use or anything could be irritating it so maybe we will find something gentler or with moisturizer in it for him to wash his hands with. He works indoors doing IT work. </p>
<p>He has been using latex-free medical style rubber gloves to put his hands in, the dermatologist had recommended wrapping his hands in saran wrap before bed which wasn’t practical for obvious reasons. I wonder if something more breathable like socks, or just a different material might work better. His hands are a bloody mess in the morning when he pulls off the gloves. We’ll try socks tonight.</p>
<p>Have his thyroid checked. Dry skin is a big symptom. We love bag balm and aquafor. Bag balm tonned on and cotton gloves for sleeping. Check Amazon. Just ordered Udder Balm to try it. Dry skin is challenging!</p>
<p>Are you sure he doesn’t have yeast or fungal infection?–can cause red cracking skin. If you have some cream used for athlete’s foot/yeast infection/jock itch, you might want to try it and see if it helps.</p>
<p>He actually did have some sort of a skin infection a few weeks ago that was affecting his torso, which the doctor said he thought was fungal (it was the weirdest thing.) The dr gave him antibiotics, antifungal cream, and antifungal powder. The rash on his torso cleared right up and he completed the treatment. I would have thought if it was a fungal infection, those things would have cleared up his hands, too. The rash on his torso had been there for over a month (I mistakenly thought it was allergies and was busy eliminating things instead of sending him to the dr) and it went away in days after he started the medicine. The derm looked at his hands when he was there for the rash and didn’t seem overly concerned by them. </p>
<p>He has always had cracking skin in winter, just nothing like this. He’d get cracks in between his fingers and get a little scaley, but now his whole hands look like they’ve been burned or something because the skin is so tight. My skin is extra dry this year, too, but nothing like what he is going through. They weren’t this bad when the doctor saw him, I’d send him back but the doctor says there is nothing else to do anyway. He said there’s an oral steroid but didn’t seem to think it was worth doing.</p>
<p>Good advise here. I’m sure he’s avoiding hot water as much as possible. The year we sold our home I tore my hands up over six months patching drywall, painting, cleaning with harsh cleaners, caulking, etc. House +10, hands -10. I remembered trying everything on our sons eczema when he was a baby (eucarin, cetaphil, RXs). Finally the dr told us to try crisco. It’s like catching a greased pig when you’ve covered a baby who crawls well with crisco. Don’t even attempt to diaper them, you’re hands are covered with grease and the tabs are ruined. We switched to cloth diapers for this. OY! Adventures in parenting. Good thing we were young. I tried the crisco with gloves and slowly they healed.</p>
<p>Crossed posts: were his hands already cracked when he had the fungal infection? If this transferred to his hands and through the cracks entered his blood stream it may be a different issue and harder to treat? I’d follow up with another dermatologist as you’ve planned.</p>
<p>If some of the above suggestions, bag balm et al, don’t help, ask his doctor for a prescription strength hydrocortisone cream. It can do wonders on skin issues.</p>