Dry skin on hands

[motco]

footnote said:

I went to the GP a few years ago for this and was prescribed a fairly strong steroid cream which was great - however, they won't give strong steroids indefintely as they thin the skin.

Notmal moisturising creams don't do much really.

But whenever it gets bad and I get the little cuts you describe I use this:
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sain...

Sainsburys own brand bites and sting cream it's called - 1 hydrocortisone - will fix the cuts in 24-48 hours every time. I don't use it often but it always works.

I use this too...

[Turkish91]

bigandclever said:

Muskythedog said:

PlayersNo6 said:

mrsshpub said:

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream. I prefer the unscented product.

This. Marvellous stuff.

Yup, this for me too.

And me.

We are MEN, hear us ROAR!!

My mistake, this is what I used! I was nearly right with "Swedish Formula" lol

[pitchfork]

I use olive oil. It acts more like a barrier cream than a moisturiser but it works and it's cheap.

[Riley Blue]

I use Atrixo and smother my hands in at at night. By the time I wake up it's all soaked in and I have hands like a baby's bottom. The rest of me is wrinkled and scabby but my hands are soft, soft, soft...

[footnote]

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread... but as a sufferer of dry skin/eczema on hands which has now been FIXED!!! (fingers crossed) I thought I'd try to spread the joy.

I've suffered from red/scaly/eczema hands for about 10 years and had been to GP and so on with no lasting success and only effective treatment being mild steroid creams.

Reading an article online last week the presence of SODIUM BENZOATE was mentioned in many soap/shampoo/skin/hair products.

I started using antibacterial handwash/soap 10 years ago....

Checked bottle - standard supermarket brand - containing Sodium Benzoate.

Switched to standard supermarket plain bar soap no perfumes or additives etc - no sodium benzoate.

Hands have cleared up - for first time in 10 years - within a week!!!

Still using shampoo/bodywash containing sodium benzoate but will probably try to eliminate over time so I appear like a 20 year old again!

Hope this might work for someone else - changed my daily life for the better.

[DanSaff]

I used to get this until I got a steroid cream called eumovate.

I only use it when knuckles go sore put a tiny bit of cream on before bed sorted in the morning.

[Flibble]

I'm finding coconut oil pretty good at the moment. Still waiting to see a dermatologist though as it's not really getting better.

[footnote]

Can't emphasize enough the improvement I've had by cutting out handwash containng sodium benzoate.

I've used every variety of steroid cream and my skin was thinning and looked terrible on many days.

I'd tried all the hand creams and oils - some good, but cut out sodium benzoate in your soaps and you won't need creams or steroids again.

[motco]

footnote said:

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread... but as a sufferer of dry skin/eczema on hands which has now been FIXED!!! (fingers crossed) I thought I'd try to spread the joy.

I've suffered from red/scaly/eczema hands for about 10 years and had been to GP and so on with no lasting success and only effective treatment being mild steroid creams.

Reading an article online last week the presence of SODIUM BENZOATE was mentioned in many soap/shampoo/skin/hair products.

I started using antibacterial handwash/soap 10 years ago....

Checked bottle - standard supermarket brand - containing Sodium Benzoate.

Switched to standard supermarket plain bar soap no perfumes or additives etc - no sodium benzoate.

Hands have cleared up - for first time in 10 years - within a week!!!

Still using shampoo/bodywash containing sodium benzoate but will probably try to eliminate over time so I appear like a 20 year old again!

Hope this might work for someone else - changed my daily life for the better.

Are there any shower gel/cremes that do not contain sodium benzoate as far as you know? My shower has a long near-level run in the waste and solid conventional soap builds up and blocks it, so we use a liquid 'soap' to avoid this. Also, are any hand wash pump-types that are SB free? It's certainly worth a try anyway. Thanks for the tip.

[Flibble]

footnote said:

Can't emphasize enough the improvement I've had by cutting out handwash containng sodium benzoate.

I've used every variety of steroid cream and my skin was thinning and looked terrible on many days.

I'd tried all the hand creams and oils - some good, but cut out sodium benzoate in your soaps and you won't need creams or steroids again.

I use bar soap, AFAIK no sodium benzoate, it doesn't solve the problem.

[motco]

I found a Dettol brand handwash today, and no sodium benzoate nor any 'benz~' derived ingredients mentioned.

[Steve Campbell]

My wife suffers from dry skin on her hands (not eczema) and found Oilatum Cream the best for her.

[RRLover]

I've been using arnaca gel & its clearing up my dried skin

[Composite Guru]

I use this stuff from the body shop. Best stuff I have ever found for sorting dry hands.

https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/favourites/bests...

[footnote]

Flibble said:

footnote said:

Can't emphasize enough the improvement I've had by cutting out handwash containng sodium benzoate.

I've used every variety of steroid cream and my skin was thinning and looked terrible on many days.

I'd tried all the hand creams and oils - some good, but cut out sodium benzoate in your soaps and you won't need creams or steroids again.

I use bar soap, AFAIK no sodium benzoate, it doesn't solve the problem.

Some bar soaps do have sodium benzoate. I'm using a Sainsburys 'no perfume/no additives' bar which seems to work great.

Hope you can find one that works for you - I couldn't believe the change after so long with dry/chapped/scabby hands.

[footnote]

motco said:

Are there any shower gel/cremes that do not contain sodium benzoate as far as you know? My shower has a long near-level run in the waste and solid conventional soap builds up and blocks it, so we use a liquid 'soap' to avoid this. Also, are any hand wash pump-types that are SB free? It's certainly worth a try anyway. Thanks for the tip.

I haven't found a sodium benzoate free shower gel or shampoo yet so I'm still using those products.

I used to wash my hands fairly frequently with the handwash which I'm sure is why the reaction was so extreme on the hands.

Maybe one use a day of shampoo or bodywash is not intense enough exposure to create the effect.

Equally, I rinse better in the shower - much better than I probably did with my hands and the handwash - usually because tap water was too hot or too cold - meaning I probably always had a residue of handwash on my skin

[Flibble]

footnote said:

Some bar soaps do have sodium benzoate. I'm using a Sainsburys 'no perfume/no additives' bar which seems to work great.

Hope you can find one that works for you - I couldn't believe the change after so long with dry/chapped/scabby hands.

It doesn't have Sodium Benzoate (or anything much that might be irritant, e.g. SLS).
My hands are pretty severe, they crack so that they bleed unless I go hardcore with the steroid creams. Doctor prescribed Dermovate which is the strongest cream available. It works, but it's way too strong to use on an on-going basis.

[stuartj]

I managed to get my hands burnt in a boating accident some years ago and like you have all sorts of problems with dry and cracked knuckles and finger tips ever since. I’ve recently moved to using a product called O'Keeffe's Working Hands and have found that excellent – seems to now be available at most garden centres.

[footnote]

Flibble said:

footnote said:

Some bar soaps do have sodium benzoate. I'm using a Sainsburys 'no perfume/no additives' bar which seems to work great.

Hope you can find one that works for you - I couldn't believe the change after so long with dry/chapped/scabby hands.

It doesn't have Sodium Benzoate (or anything much that might be irritant, e.g. SLS).
My hands are pretty severe, they crack so that they bleed unless I go hardcore with the steroid creams. Doctor prescribed Dermovate which is the strongest cream available. It works, but it's way too strong to use on an on-going basis.

That's bad! I was on betnovate until the doctor said I can't give you any more of this because it will thin your skin. I tried homeopathy with no luck. None of the standard non-steroidal eczema creams worked.
Astral soothed intermittently but didn't cure. As I mentioned earlier in the thread I regularly used sting/bite cream because the 1% steroid helped when the docs wouldn't prescribe any more.

Originally, I thought the cause was the steering wheel material of a secondhand Jimny we bought and which seemed to trigger the breakout of hand rashes. I went to the doc with that but he couldn't be sure.

It was only the other week when I read up on sodium benzoate in liquid dispenser handwash that we realised we'd started using liquid soap dispenser at the same time as we bought the Jimny.

Worth noting, I found my eczema/dry hands were exacerbated by certain fruits - strawberries or anything particularly acidic. This led me to an article which was suggesting a cancer risk when acetic acids interact with sodium benzoate and the article mentioned hives - which I had as a child too.

It's very hard to isolate the irritant which must be in something affecting your hands.

Do try and taker care with the steroid creams though - my skin around my nails was like paper and always bleeding/blistering. Also, on certain fingers I haven't had a cuticle for years.

[Flibble]

footnote said:

That's bad! I was on betnovate until the doctor said I can't give you any more of this because it will thin your skin. I tried homeopathy with no luck. None of the standard non-steroidal eczema creams worked.
Astral soothed intermittently but didn't cure. As I mentioned earlier in the thread I regularly used sting/bite cream because the 1% steroid helped when the docs wouldn't prescribe any more.

I have Betnovate and Betnovate RD, Dermovate was the step up from them! It works really well, but as soon as I stop using it, they get bad again.

footnote said:

Worth noting, I found my eczema/dry hands were exacerbated by certain fruits - strawberries or anything particularly acidic. This led me to an article which was suggesting a cancer risk when acetic acids interact with sodium benzoate and the article mentioned hives - which I had as a child too.

It's very hard to isolate the irritant which must be in something affecting your hands.

I've tried a fair few things to avoid them flaring up with little success. One of the annoying things that makes them worse is nitrile gloves, which makes keeping gunk off my hands awkward (I'm seeing good results with cotton liners though). I generally try to avoid getting anything much on my hands as it makes them worse, even water isn't great for them.

footnote said:

Do try and taker care with the steroid creams though - my skin around my nails was like paper and always bleeding/blistering. Also, on certain fingers I haven't had a cuticle for years.

I'm pretty cautious about steroid creams. Also I don't have proper cuticles on a few fingers, but it was actually the eczema that caused that, rather than the steroids.

Still, only another month until I see a dermatologist!