Cracked Fingertips !

Not sure if it is still available, but I used to prescribe Anhydrous Wool Fat Oint BPC for patients with dry cracked hands. (Basically it is lanolin but in a less refined state)

One in particular I recall was a lady who bred geese on a large scale which apparently involved turning the eggs in the incubator every day.

She had dreadful cracked fingers and the above worked wonders. She was a lovely lady but she had a seriously weird daughter who I had to look after for many years after the Mum died, I was so pleased when she moved out of our area, but naturally with expressions of regret /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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happens to me constantly.....

E45 cream is the magic solution.....

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I have same .... if I have no E45 ... then I buy normal Johnsons Baby Moisturising Cream ... white tube if plain, pink if you like a nice fragrance ! (Probably same stuff !)

Mines due to hands being in chemicals, oils, fuels etc. for years. Talking to others, I think modern living and dare I admit that modern blended fuels / life could have a lot to do with it.

What I hate is that I get hands all nice ... then go on boat - hand goes into salt-water and ZAP within short time - cracks appear ! Boy do they hurt as well !
 
My sincere thanks to all who have posted remedies.

I suffer terribly from this every winter. No-one of my acquaintance has the problem, so I thought I was unique. I have tried various off-the-shelf ointments with little success. Now I know what to ask for.

Thank you very much, guys. I'm off to the chemists with new hope.
 
Good to see a vote for Lanolin. My dad used to milk cows, hands always wet. Udder cream (well it works for cows) contained lanolin. V Greasy but worked a treat.
 
Another culprit is dishwashing. Hot water and detergent. gets me everytime. Feels daft but wearing marigolds is the only solution.
For prolonged therapy i found covering my hands in cream and then wearing surgical gloves overnight was a great help and not particularly uncomfortable.
 
I too have a chronic split on the tip of my thumb. It sort of goes through a cycle of split, bleed, sore, heel, thick skin, split, bleed ... etc. There are many jobs that make it much worse but the worst is doing or undoing nuts with thumb and fingers.

I'm sort of encouraged that others have similar problems and will try some of the remedies. Thanks.
Morgan
 
I seem to remember hearing somewhere that the Scottish "Herring Girls", who used to travel around the country [in shoals?] gutting herrings, suffered badly from cut and sore hands and used oatmeal to treat them. How the oatmeal was applied and kept in place I have no idea, but I see that some of the hand creams on offer on the internet contain oatmeal.

Maybe you could try it. If it doesn't work you could always eat it, or use it to fix a leaking car radiator.

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'Steri-strips', easily obtainable (Boots etc) carefully applied so it closes the split helps these heal fairly quickly.

The strip stays on best if an elastoplast is applied over the top.
Use the wider strips (6mm) for best effect.
 
Used to get cracked and chapped hands due to sailing dinghies through the winter. Problem solved by the (medic) Sister, who gave me a pot of Lanolin to rub into my hands. Works very well on hands, and while better than Milledrive on my propellor.
 
When the cracks get bad - closing with elastoplast soon has them healed, but then I find elastoplast in all forms is rubbish ! Soon unsticks, cloth comfortable type gets all ragged and looks terrible etc. So it's back to loads of cream to keep it at bay.

When living in Tallinn - I found a Doctor who still had access to some of the Russian old medecins. He put me on a course of various tablets and creams. For 2 weeks I was forbidden alcohol, as he reckoned the tablets if mixed with alcohol could lead to serious complications.
It cured it for ages. But he did say that it cannot be completely cured as it's a form of fungi infection that gets into the blood. Right or wrong - it worked for couple of years. Sadly no longer can he or others access those medecins - they're banned !
Later when I started racing Eola - the Saaremaa 1/4 tonner - found he had sister boat to mine ! He beat me as a Doctor ... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif but I beat him everytime on the water ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
make pad from 1 sheet of bog paper apply zinc and caster oil cream secure with surgical tape and leave overnight, works every time for me (also cures nappy rash!)
 
While most of the creams suggested will work if enough is used, some people react to lanolin with an allergic response, so it can't be generally recommended.

An important consideration is to avoid washing hands with detergent or soap, and the best alternative is Emulsifying Ointment which also makes an excellent emollient. Keep a pot of it by the sink (cost < £4 for 500g) and use instead of soap. The slight greasiness is reduced by its waxiness and being firmer than the others is more persistent.

The trouble with creams, such as Aqueous Cream and E45 is that they are oil-in-water emulsions and can, perversely, have a drying effect.
 
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make pad from 1 sheet of bog paper apply zinc and caster oil cream secure with surgical tape and leave overnight, works every time for me (also cures nappy rash!)

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Oh dear. You must be getting old when you need to secure your nappy with surgical tape! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Still more shocking is that you can only afford one made from toilet paper. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Germolene Nu-Skin (any chemist) is the stuff for gluing them up.

Dust from sanding also sucks the moisture out - in fact the Nu-skin method came from my schoolteacher brother with chalk-dust induced cracks.
 
I have psoriasis, which means the outer layers of skin to my fingers is constantly being replaced and thus very susceptible to moisture evaporation or contamination- it is now so uncomfortable that I must wear gloves whilst sailing whatever the weather. otherwise my fingers bleed over the decks , the sails, in fact anything I get near when it's really bad.

In this chronic situation, I find that E45 is of little use, better is the Norwegian flagged stuff in a squeezy tube, but I can't remember the name, as it stays on the skin without too much absorption nor with too much surface grease to make things too slippery.

However, the gloves are the mainstay and now I even have to wear green nitrile gloves as these are flock lined and not so irritant as 'marigolds' when doing even a modest amount of washing up.

All in all a real PITA
 
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