Something weird is happening to my hands. Specifically, the skin on my hands.
My hands look and feel like I’ve been doing hard manual labor for the past couple of weeks, without gloves.
The skin on my palms is rough and sensitive and actually torn and bleeding in some spots (small abrasions, not too many of them).
But I haven’t done anything that could account for this. I’ve been working at my desk job, like I have been for years and years. I haven’t been swinging a pickax or a sledgehammer. I haven’t picked up anything rougher than my daughter. I haven’t dipped my hands in lye. I haven’t had any chemical exposure at all. I haven’t changed brands of soap. As far as I know, the water supply in New York City hasn’t become contaminated with terrible industrial chemicals.
I don’t get it. Anyone have any ideas? Should I see a doctor about this?
Eczema?
Psoriasis?
If it’s just out of nowhere those would be my first two random guesses. It probably wouldn’t hurt to see a doctor (GP) because I think, off the top of my head, at least one type of psoriasis is related to arthritis.
Also, and I’m just tossing this out there, does diabetes causes skin issues like that? And if so, would it do it before the point that you even realize you have it? That is, could you have this symptom and not know you have diabetes?
ETA, I don’t know the weather in your area, but if it’s been really dry and cold, more so than usual, you may want to let that pass, take shorter, cooler showers, wash your hands with water that isn’t hot, use lotion etc. Cover the basics first. If you’re prone to doing things out of stress (for example, my ex-wife and daughter both bite/chew their bottom lip if something is bothering them, I can tell there’s an issue before they even realize it), make sure you’re not spending all day rubbing your hands.
I’m also assuming you haven’t changed anything, like soap, detergent, fabric softener, wearing different gloves.
Again, cover the basics before you worry about your hands falling off.
GET TO A DERMATOLOGIST NOW!
If this is a sudden change, I’d be scared and want to know right now.
I do not scare easily at this point.
For first-aid for rough hands:
Get hand lotion - lots of it. And latex or nitrile exam gloves (now available in drug stores. We live in a very scared culture).
Extract 4 or so gloves and leave them where they are easy to pick up.
After working the lotion into your skin, apply lots of excess lotion to hands, or just pump a few tablespoons worth of lotion into the glove.
Put on gloves and leave them on overnight or all day for a couple of days.
Your body heat will cause the lotion to penetrate your skin.
I developed this treatment on my own, and it is not endorsed by anyone.
But, 2 days after sanding plaster, I had baby-soft hands.
Of course, this would destroy the evidence the doctor would want to see…
Joey P, the weather here has been about what you’d expect for New York in January. Nothing unusual at all. No changes in soap, laundry detergent, gloves, etc.
Drummond Bays, maybe it’s the weather, although I’ve never experienced this before.
ThelmaLou, thanks for the Web MD quote.
I guess I’ll try the hand lotion for a few days and see what happens. My wife has plenty of the stuff, I’ll just grab some of hers. Maybe it will clear up.
Doctor. Specialist. Chances of it being life-threatening I would say are slim but not none. The problem with skin issues is they have a habit of spreading and being hard to knock out sometimes. I would not delay trying OTC stuff and hoping for the best; I would call on an expert ASAP.
If you handle paper a lot indoors in winter, the dry heat combined with the absorbancy of the paper can make them rough and dried out. There is a hand cream especially for that, which contains urea. That might help.
Given the dry heating in offices in cold winters, it could be a seasonal thing.
Pharmacists are pretty knowledgeable and experienced people, a first step might to to show your hands to a pharmacist. They don’t charge a $100 office call and make you book an appointment a week in advance.
I’ve had exactly the same problem for almost 10 years: ultra dry, itchy skin and small cuts in Winter. Hand lotion provides some real but temporary relief. I basically have to wait until mid-Spring, when temperatures get much milder, to see some sort of improvement. Just like you, it appeared one year without a clear trigger and has reappeared every year since then.
For half the year, from November until April, it looks as if I’m constantly wearing red gloves.
So yeah, use hand lotion and skin-friendly soap, avoid hand dryers and chemicals like bleach as much as possible and don’t expose your hands to cold weather.
Did you change soap or hand lotion recently? I would get very dry and chapped skin on my hands but after I switched my soap and hand lotion it went away.
Is there hair growing as well? If so, your problem may originate elsewhere.
More seriously, I have had this sort of unexplained hand-only eczema for years. Dry wintertime air in the home make it worse. It’s never had a clear cause; it just started sometime and it never completely goes away (sorry! :().
I use Cetaphil or a store-brand equivalent to wash my hands instead of soap, and Working Hands lotion has healing powers above any other.
My visits to dermatologists have yielded various creams and lotions that generally have had no appreciable effect.
-Ensure that you are well-hydrated. Something as simple as dehydration could very well be your problem.
-Consider taking a multivitamin, several components of which are necessary for skin growth and repair.
-Bathe your hands in a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar. Dry them without being too rough. Smear on some Vaseline(a little goes a long way) Pull on some disposable plastic gloves, keep them on overnight. Try it for a week.
-Try any OTC hand cream, moisten your hands with water before slathering it on. This way the water has a chance to soften your skin, and the cream reduces evaporation.
-STAY AWAY from hand sanitizers,the alcohol component makes skin dry.
It’s possible to get a fungal infection on your hands like athlete’s foot. I have good insurance, and I would run to a doctor with something like this. If you have lousy or no insurance, you could try buying an athlete’s foot creme, and rubbing it on your hands.
Most likely a fungal infection, but I agree with the chorus above that getting it checked out is a good idea. It’s certainly possible to develop eczema as an adult, but it’s not terribly common that it comes out of nowhere with no changes in habits or foods eaten.
Any *sudden *dramatic change is best run by a doctor, even if it’s just so that they can tell you it’s nothing serious. That’s what makes this different from “I’ve had eczema for years and…”
I get cracked, dry hands in winter, which I also find a bit odd since I rarely leave the house without gloves on. I find moisturers containing shea butter to be really good at healing cracked skin. I discovered shea butter to be a bit of a revelation at healing the plethora of mini-cracks on my hands and fingers after heavy hand-drumming sessions.