14 replies to this topic

[Worriedwife]

Recently (last couple of months) my husband has had a problem with the skin around his thumb nails. it is constantly cracking and splitting. We live in the desert, so it's not the cold weather. He uses Neosporin and bandaids until it clears up, and then as soon as it gets better it starts all over again.

I'm wondering if he's having a problem with something that he's touching on a daily basis, like toilet paper or something else. He's never been sensative like this before, and of course it could be completely unrelated. He's had a rash on the back of his upper arms for years, that seems to be showing some improvement since going gluten free in 4/07.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this sort of problem, or has any ideas about how to keep his skin from cracking.

[mamaw]

I'm so glad you posted this.....my neighbor just asked me the same question this morning. My husband gets cracks around his thumb nail but my neighbors is almost cracked very deep to the first knuckle onhis thums & several other fingers. I never seen such a bad sore looking hand as his.
He has been to three specialist & they all said take presinone which has not worked at all. I do not have an answer but I blieve an underlying issue is at hand here.
Does your hubby have celiacs or just does not eat gluten?
I think that omega 3( nordick Natural Pro efa's) would be in order & applying oregano oil or tea tree oil to fight infection would be of some value.... We have used miracleII gel to cover the cuts too..... it has helped my husband but my neighbor's hands is by far much worse .....
If you learn anything new about this please keep me posted...

mamaw

[jerseyangel]

I'll be checking to see what people suggest for this--I get those cracks, and they are very painful.

I just try and keep hand lotion on as much as I can--certainly at night. I think it helps somewhat....I tend to think it's the lack of humidity because I only get them in the winter when the heat is on.

[Worriedwife]

He has Celiac, not just gluten intolerant.

Are you suggesting taking the omega 3, or getting the gels and spreading it on his thumbs?

[Rosebud710]

There's a spa where I work and the nail tech there gave me this suggestion for cracked fingers. Soak your fingers every night for 10 minutes in olive oil (yes, olive oil). Afterwards, wipe some of the excess oil off and put on a heavy-duty hand lotion. I use moisturizing gloves to bed, but socks will do. I've done this the past week and I noticed a difference right away.

[mamaw]

I suggest taking the nordic natural omega 3 (pro efa by mouth). I also agree with Rosebud about olive oil on the fingers & wrapping them up at night.Jojoba oil is also very good to do the same with & also adding it to a bath or shower water.
Those nasty cracks can cause a bigtime infection so that is where the tea tree oil or oregano oil comes into play.
At our house we all seem to get them but not like my neighbors .... I have also applied Porter's salve on them & wrapped them with success....The winter can be very hard on our exposed hands....

mamaw

[Morrisun]

I get those from time to time, and boy do they hurt! I've noticed mine happens more often if I have a lot of built up dead skin. I do a lot of cleaning and my hands are usually dried out. If I trim the dead skin off and lotion up every night they seem to not happen as much. Also, liquid bandage works really good at keeping them "together" and not hurting when they're cracked.

[Worriedwife]

So, we had an appointment with our primary care doctor, and I asked him about the problem. He agreed that it's probably due to the lack of humidy in our area, as opposed to cold weather.

He suggested that at the first sign of cracking, we should use crazy glue on DH's fingers. I asked about the liquid bandaid stuff, but he said that the crazy glue was better. It creates a harder shell, which will protect the thumbs (or fingers) from getting further aggrevated and split.

I'm not sure that we're going to try it, but I thought I should pass the information along.

[jerseyangel]

Thank you

[mamaw]

Worriedwife

I wanted to say thank you . I forgot to state about the super glue..........I think Dr Gott originally wrote about the super glue for nail line cracks. I think it is also used for skin tags as well as clear nail polish....
I wonder if this is okay for shutting up whining kids ( the super glue) ************ okay I'm only kidding but it is a thought since no parent is permitted to punish their children in this day & age!!! Again, just kidding....

mamaw

[Darn210]

I get that, too. More common for me in the winter. I use the neosporin and bandaids until they heal (gosh that sounds familiar ). And then I use the Neutrogena hand cream. It is always worse when I have a big cleaning day and use a lot of windex . . . it must really dry out my hands. (That's why I refuse to clean my house ) Perhaps there is some new chemical (cleaning or otherwise) that he is using more often lately.

[mamaw]

Yet another use for duck tape!!! When discussing cracked fingers with some other people I learned some use duck tape to help heal the crack.....
Don't you wish you were the owner of the duck tape era.................

mamaw

[hapy4dolphins]

This question is interesting. I have this same thing, but I get it on numerous fingers. Usually about October through about April, but here in Michigan, it's colllllddddd and I"ve always attributed it to that since there seems to be a pattern every year.I too use bandaids and neosporen to help aid the healing.
I'm so glad you mentioned this. I hope someone knows something about it.

Nicole

[darlindeb25]

I wonder if this is okay for shutting up whining kids ( the super glue) ************ okay I'm only kidding but it is a thought since no parent is permitted to punish their children in this day & age!!! Again, just kidding....

Just leave a hole for straw feedings!!!!!!! Thank you, that was very cute!!!!!! Yes, I know you were kidding and don't all us parents have these thoughts at times, I have 5 grown kids!

[Leslie-FL]

I had this exact problem for years and years, and I finally got it to stop when I started experimenting with switching dish detergents. I discovered that if I use Palmolive, my fingers will split right open, but Dawn is fine. I don't know if this has anything to do with glutens or not, but I suspect it must be like an allergy of some sort. I would look at any cleaning agents or other chemicals you come in contact with on a regular basis and try to change brands where you can, and wear gloves when you can't avoid something that is irritating.

I also switched shampoos because I was getting a rash on my scalp from the one I was using, and I kind of wonder if that had anything to do with my fingers too.

I noticed someone else mentioned Neutrogena lotion, and I swear by that stuff. No matter what else I tried, the Neutrogena always cleared it up faster than anything else.