Cracking Skin On Fingers

[Greg Rappaport]

I am prone to get little cracks on my fingers from time to time, often getting red, slightly inflamed, and sometimes even bleeding. Eventually it goes away, and I usually apply aquaphor as a moisturizer. I have often thought this was due to either washing my hand too much, or drinking too much coffee (which I have since eliminated). It seems more prevalent in the winter months as well. I am 41 years old, and was diagnosed celiac about 12 years ago. To the best of my ability I have been adhering to a strict gluten-free diet.

Is there any correlation between celiac disease and skin problems such as this (cracking)?

Thanks!!!

[Hawthorn]

Hmmm. I'll be interested in this too. I get patches on my thumbs lately but it did used to be across my whole hands on occasion.

Does the skin on your hands around the cracks seem thickened too Greg?

Mine has gone since cutting all dairy. Maybe that will be the last of it.

[Kansas]

I get it on the thumb and first two fingers of my right hand. Haven't figured it out exactly, but feel it is gluten related. The patches are now starting to fluff off, so I am in hope that it is because I am healing. I get the cracks when I get all the other lovely symptoms of being glutened.

[weluvgators]

There is another hand thread here kind of related to this sort of thing (in my mind anyway) .

Unfortunately for my children, this started to present upon commencement for each of them in school. They had been gluten free for years before starting school, and starting school was the first test of their "tolerance" to environmental gluten. They had never before had the hand issue, until they started school. We have to be incredibly strict about our gluten exposure, including environmental and trace gluten exposures. We have to be incredibly mindful of our soap and any other product that we use. We do have wheat/gluten allergy in addition to our celiac, but I haven't figured out this hand thing at all . . . although I enjoy the summer months as times that it is rarely aggravated (I have learned not to do stupid things to aggravate it, like wash my hands with gluten containing soap). Our pediatric dermatologist, allergist and pediatrician recommend the use of barrier creams, steroids and immunosuppresants to control it, but the best relief that we have found is to follow the recommendations of super sensitive people. We have found topical exposures can aggravate it, but so can ingestion (trace gluten only!) and environmental exposure (not even "flour", but just people eating something like pizza in the same enclosed space that we occupy - even when we are careful to minimize our exposure to them).

[cap6]

This was very interesting to read as I never thought about my finger cracking, just thought it was the weather or washing so much. My thumb and middle finger constantly crack open. Seems they no sooner heal then crack open again. I am 17 months gluten-free so wonder.....

Also about 5 years before diagnosis I had a bout for almost a year of the itchy bumps on my elbows. Nothing helped and they finally just went away. Could this be DH? I haven't had any other skin issues.

[Greg Rappaport]

Hmmm. I'll be interested in this too. I get patches on my thumbs lately but it did used to be across my whole hands on occasion.

Does the skin on your hands around the cracks seem thickened too Greg?

Mine has gone since cutting all dairy. Maybe that will be the last of it.

Yes, the skin does indeed appear to be "thicker". Perhaps some minor form of inflamation; I don't know. The cracks usually start to appear along the existing pattern within my fingerprint - sometimes on one finger; other times on multiple fingers.

I am have goldfish/koi ponds at my house (as a hobby), and often develop these cracks after I've spend a day cleaning my fishpond... Okay, I know this has nothing to do with celiac. Then again, they that G-d works in mysterious ways.

I have no reason to believe I'm dairy sensitive, and seem to remember this being ruled out years ago when I was diagnosed with celiac.

[Greg Rappaport]

I get it on the thumb and first two fingers of my right hand. Haven't figured it out exactly, but feel it is gluten related. The patches are now starting to fluff off, so I am in hope that it is because I am healing. I get the cracks when I get all the other lovely symptoms of being glutened.

It's comments like yours which lead me to believe I am not being as vigilant with my gluten-free diet as I need to be. I have been gluten-free for 12 years now, and am pretty comfortable all around... Perhaps too comfortable though (i.e., cross contamination, food preparation, gluten in mass food preparation, etc.) I have every reason to believe that my celiac is under control and believed all of my symptoms had pretty much disappeared until recently.

At the present time I'm having a resurgence of all sorts of crazy symptoms - a foot problem, inflamation, joint pain/soreness, sore/dry eyes, sweating (although this seems to be under control now as I have eliminated caffeine). I am also a pretty solid weight for my age/build. I could easily afford to loose 10-15 pounds to reach target.

[Darn210]

Just to throw in a . . . "it doesn't necessarily have to be related" . . . I get cracks on my fingers sometimes to the point of bleeding. It was always worse in the winter. Always worse when I've been cleaning . . . so I just stopped cleaning . . . . . . just kidding. Actually, I switched from some of the harsher chemicals that I was using to more natural ones. For whatever reason, Windex used to just do me in.

Also . . . I'm not Celiac.

[weluvgators]

I am have goldfish/koi ponds at my house (as a hobby), and often develop these cracks after I've spend a day cleaning my fishpond... Okay, I know this has nothing to do with celiac. Then again, they that G-d works in mysterious ways.

I would be curious as to the ingredients of your fish food. And, if the food you use does have gluten, how careful are you being in handling the fish food and cleanup after?

[Kansas]

Greg,

What sort of foot problem? The reason I ask is that I used to have Morton's Neuroma. It dissappearded with alot of other strange symptoms when I went gluten free 3 years ago. Sometimes, I feel like I have experienced all 300 symptoms! Everytime, I think I have developed some other intolerance, I usually find the culprit to be hidden gluten. I am extremely sensitive, so I have become extreme in what I choose to eat. I only eat what I make, that includes things like ketchup, mustard, I raise my own beef and chicken, I am extreme! I don't think I have a dairy problem, but will try some to see if I develop any new cracks. I think the skins thickens after it cracks.

[Greg Rappaport]

I would be curious as to the ingredients of your fish food. And, if the food you use does have gluten, how careful are you being in handling the fish food and cleanup after?

Oh, fish food is almost entirely gluten! But this brings me to my other post where I questioned the difference between celiac disease and standard allergies. I am not allergic to wheat and some other grains by way of my allergy testing, but do have the autoimmune response to these same grains. So I'm guessing that my skin acts as a sufficient barrier when I touch gluten, no?

I also make my kids plenty of sandwiches, etc. If there is any possibility that coming into contact with gluten is detrimental, I'm probably in big trouble. Just another note, I do have my own "gluten free" cooking pots & pans, utensils, etc., but do share correll dishes and such with my famliy.

G-d help me if I open something up here. I am being much more vigilant now with my gluten-free diet, but still share some utensils, and so on.

[Greg Rappaport]

Greg,

What sort of foot problem? The reason I ask is that I used to have Morton's Neuroma. It dissappearded with alot of other strange symptoms when I went gluten free 3 years ago. Sometimes, I feel like I have experienced all 300 symptoms! Everytime, I think I have developed some other intolerance, I usually find the culprit to be hidden gluten. I am extremely sensitive, so I have become extreme in what I choose to eat. I only eat what I make, that includes things like ketchup, mustard, I raise my own beef and chicken, I am extreme! I don't think I have a dairy problem, but will try some to see if I develop any new cracks. I think the skins thickens after it cracks.

I don't believe I'm as strict as you. Definitely not, but I do a pretty good job with my diet. I buy a great deal of my gluten-free items from Wegmans or Whole Foods (almost all of which is labeled gluten-free). I also label my containers so if my wife uses these items for the family, she knows not to double-dip .

My foot problem is simply put: inflamation and (periodic) pain, primarily in my great right toe metatarsal area and bottom of foot. No diagnosis yet, but lots of of failed treatments and imaging. To be continued...

[kareng]

My hub and my 18 yr old son have these finger cracks. They have abused their skin. The 18 yr old heals quickly with Cerave cream. Hub has been to a dermatologist for this several times. She said he has dried the skin out for so long that it has damaged the skin. She gave him some anti fungal lotion first, then he would dampen his hands and put the Cerave ( at Walmart, Walgreens, etc) on fingers, then cotton gloves ( drug stores and beauty supply places - made me get them) then sleep. He uses the Cerave ( thick gluten-free cream) all day. I got him some little round plastic pill containers he fills with the stuff and keeps it in his pocket.

Not sure if this is the problem, but might be worth looking into. It isn't always about gluten. But....sometimes it is.

Anyway...do you use rubber gloves when cleaning? Probably not or only some times. ( just a guess ).

[Kansas]

The gluten free labeled foods is where I get in trouble. My last glutening was when I tried the UTZ potato sticks, that are clearly labeled on front of canister, GLUTEN FREE. They are cc with other products they make. I have read that I can have a Snickers or Baby Ruth, but they make me sick. I can't eat Lay's of Frito's. I do eat Endangered Spieces chocalate without any trouble. I think it has to be zero percent for me to stay healthy, the 20 percent is too much for my system. The skin on my fingers is so much better, I tried a bowl of cottage cheese the other night and the area did feel tender like it was going to crack, but didn't, so maybe it is a dairy/gluten combination. Who Knows! I would say you are getting glutened somewhere, your symptoms sound alot like mine, even your foot pain. Go back to the "gold stanard", whole foods only, and see if you feel better. I abuse my hands, and they are still healing, so I don't think it is cleansers or rough treatment as it would be more than one hand and different ares. I have tried the no cleanser, take special care of hands vs. the everyday treatment, and there wasn't any difference.

[Kansas]

Wow! Hawthore may be on to something! The cracked skin on fingers may be due to Dairy! I ate a piece of Buttermilk loaf bread that I had baked and have two fresh cracks on my almost healed fingers. I have always thought dairy would be just gut problems. I am not much on dairy but there seems to be a pattern when I do eat it. The inside of my ears are itchy, when I have the cracked skin on fingers. I have tried everything else for my fingers and ears, I am going to try dairy free for awhile and see what happens.

[Kansas]

Well...back to square one! Have been completely off dairy, and have had new cracks almost everyday...so I am back to thinking it is gluten. I was glutened about 16 days ago and maybe this is the "aftermath". I have always treated it as Dh, going with the no iodine, but I have had bacon and am wondering about the salt in it. I sure wish someone would figure this out!

[mlyons456]

Yes, the skin does indeed appear to be "thicker". Perhaps some minor form of inflamation; I don't know. The cracks usually start to appear along the existing pattern within my fingerprint - sometimes on one finger; other times on multiple fingers.

I am have goldfish/koi ponds at my house (as a hobby), and often develop these cracks after I've spend a day cleaning my fishpond... Okay, I know this has nothing to do with celiac. Then again, they that G-d works in mysterious ways.

I have no reason to believe I'm dairy sensitive, and seem to remember this being ruled out years ago when I was diagnosed with celiac.

I get this same pattern - tiny cracks in the fingerprint lines. If I handle anything dark in color, the dark substance gets into the cracks and it looks like I have dirty fingers no matter how much I clean them. Ugh. I've been thinking it was gluten but I haven't ruled out dairy. Sometimes the cracks become tiny painful paper cuts around the size and shape of a needle's eye. For some reason, these cracks are always restricted to my index finger, middle finger, and thumb. Almost always these appear bilaterally - on both hands at the same time.

 

Perhaps the Koi pond is getting grime into your fingers' cracks, making them visible.

[GF Lover]

Mlyons,  the member Greg Rappaport has not been active since October of 2011.  He may not see your reply.

 

This thread just started yesterday may interest you.

 

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/104680-dairy-productseczema-on-hands-with-bleeding/

 

Good Luck.

 

Colleen