Pesky, painful thumb cracks - what to do?

[camohn]

[QUOTE=easyrider;3760490]
Every winter, I get deep cracks in the skin on my thumbs, at the inside corner of my thumbnails. This year, they’ve come very early. It got so bad last week that my thumb was throbbing.

I’ve tried Newskin, heavy duty moisturizer, Vaseline with bandaids over it, and nothing makes it go away. I’m lucky if it get a little better. I’m careful to moisturize my hands and always wear gloves when it’s cold, and if my gloves get wet, I change them (the delight of frostnip taught me that), but it looks like it’s going to be a tough winter for my thumbs.

Does anyone else have this problem, and any solutions?[/QUOTE]

Gold Bond Ultimate Cream (avail in drug stores and some groc store aisles). On the upper end of price for OTC stuff and works great. I have barn duties at home and also work in healthcare where I have to wash and use alcohol on em all the time and no Gold Bond mine crack too.

[mkevent]

I second the Gold Bond Ultimate Cream-that stuff is amazing!! Also works if your skin is itchy-I like it better than cortisone cream for itchy skin. Good luck

[JanM]

If you don’t find the lotion or creme you’re looking for in the pharmacy section try the infant section with the diaper rash stuff–I looked all over Wally World for the Boudreaux stuff and finally tried the infants section. The bag balm didn’t work for me but I’m going to try the cotton gloves and Boudreaux’s this time. I guess you have to keep trying different things until you find one that works for you.

[TrinityRun]

Never too late…

Morning!

I’m new to the forums. I stumbled across this thread and actually joined bc I had the same problems and also with my heels. I tried every method mentioned here to no avail. One morning my mother presented me with something she “saw on TV.” Of course, I didn’t think it was going to work but figured I had nothing to lose.

This stuff is MAGIC!!! Years and years of suffering from bleeding, cracked heels that felt like you were stepping on glass to completely healing and no return of them for the last two years. When my thumbs started cracking, I applied it there too. And, it works there too!

The product is called “heel tastic.” I’ve purchased countless ones for family and friends. It works so well it was worth it to me to post here in hopes it helps someone. I believe in this product that much.

Anyone who hasn’t suffered from these cracks probably won’t understand how painful and debilitating they can be so if this helps just one person, I’m happy.

Give it a try!

[walktrot]

I tried everything on my dry, cracked, bleeding painful fingers. The only thing that touched it was Gramp Lyford’s Vermont Salve. I have not had problems since. It’s available online for GrampLyfordsvermontsalve.com. Great stuff!

[Hulk]

We use Aquaphor.

[sarafina]

I hear you are not a fan of greasy, but nothing works quite like chicken fat. Roast yourself a chicken, and spend a little time pulling the meat off the bones. Then, you have a few tasty meals, as well as some amazing rendered chicken fat. Bag balm is a close second. But whoever mentioned keeping hands dry, I would definitely take that advice too.

[Cindyg]

For the pain, nothing works better than neosporin or hydrocortizone. (Generic is fine.) Or Lidocaine. Reapply as soon as it starts hurting again.

For the cracks, I’m a huge fan of Zim’s Crack Creme, the original formula, in a little spray bottle. It is NOT greasy. It’s amazing.

[Bells]

Shoe Goo - spread it on the cracks and let it wear off. It will seal the cracks and protect them until they heal.

[Lord_Helpus]

I have THE SOLUTION I have very dry skin and working in the barn used to give me finger cracks – several at a time.

And the solution is so easy: Superglue. It fills in the crack so that external things cannot get into the crack and hurt. And, it wears off in about 3 days. By then the crack has healed from the inside out.

Seriously, over the years the Superglue solution has never failed me. Finger cracks and heel cracks.

I just clean my hands really well, with a bacteria killing (dish) soap. Let them dry completely and then squeeze some Super Glue in each crack.

Try it, you’ll like it.

[Calamber]

Superglue hurts too much for me, I use Coconut Oil, the edible kind, in fact, I use it all over.

[Cindyg]

Superglue hurts me too. I’ve tried it. Not the thing for me.

[cai]

It has helped me a TON to use disposable vinyl or latex gloves as a base layer under winter gloves. You can find some types infused with aloe, which is nice, but mostly, they just keep the wind & water out and stop the winter hand saga from really setting in.

[kdow]

My hands sometimes crack and peel quite badly on all fingers and the palm. It is greasy but what I’ve found works best is Lush Lemony Flutter cuticle balm, which is very rich but not loaded down with petroleum products which my skin doesn’t like, and then some plain cotton gloves on top. I buy a bulk package of them from people who sell to coin collectors and so on, from ebay or amazon, and they hold up for a few washings and then if they fall apart it is no great loss. They do about as well as the plain cotton moisturizing gloves you get at a much lower price.

First sign of cracking now, on goes the lemony flutter and the gloves for about 30 min while the stuff soaks in. I haven’t had any progress to the open and raw cracks and peeling stage since discovering the stuff.

[Bells]

Shoe goo doesn’t sting like superglue.

[Ambitious_Kate]

I swear by the bag balm. Lanolin is very healing, and this muck is created to make the cows dry cracked sore udders heal up, so it works for me. I use it on my horse for mose scrapes or cuts. Really heals up fast and keeps things moist, unlike any kind of petroleum product, which does not get absorbed by the skin. Lanolin does, being the sheep’s wool type product, natural animal oils stuff and all.

Often when something just doesn’t work, look at the ingrediants. If you see petrolatum, that’s vasoline, you know, that’s a mineral/petroleum product which does not get absorbed by mamalian skin. Mineral oil is a thinner version of the same thing. Neither is absorbed by the skin, and Mineral oil actually draws moisture out from within to the surface. Initially, this makes you think your hands are being moisturized (or face) but it ultimately really dries your skin, so avoid products with mineral oil. If you read the ingredients, you will find MOST skin moisturizers have MO, and its hard to find things without it. One reason I really like lanoline. Next, the lanolin is derived from sheep wool/grease and so its mamalian (I like to think) and moisturzes our mamal skin nicely.

So that’s my schpiel about staying away from petroleum jelly and mineral oil and why those products don’t work well.

[DressageFancy]

[QUOTE=Maybeapril;3760508]
A friend’s father who’s a doctor uses super glue on the cracks he gets on his hands. He swears by it.[/QUOTE]

I do this too. Supper glue really works and helps the healing time along. But the real problem you seem to have is in prevention of these cracks. (You sound like you have them really often.) I would suggest you see your doctor for his opinion as to why you are prone to these cracks. Maybe something as simple as a biotin supplement in your diet would help?

[kdow]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;7842104]
I swear by the bag balm. Lanolin is very healing, and this muck is created to make the cows dry cracked sore udders heal up, so it works for me. I use it on my horse for mose scrapes or cuts. Really heals up fast and keeps things moist, unlike any kind of petroleum product, which does not get absorbed by the skin. Lanolin does, being the sheep’s wool type product, natural animal oils stuff and all.

Often when something just doesn’t work, look at the ingrediants. If you see petrolatum, that’s vasoline, you know, that’s a mineral/petroleum product which does not get absorbed by mamalian skin. Mineral oil is a thinner version of the same thing. Neither is absorbed by the skin, and Mineral oil actually draws moisture out from within to the surface. Initially, this makes you think your hands are being moisturized (or face) but it ultimately really dries your skin, so avoid products with mineral oil. If you read the ingredients, you will find MOST skin moisturizers have MO, and its hard to find things without it. One reason I really like lanoline. Next, the lanolin is derived from sheep wool/grease and so its mamalian (I like to think) and moisturzes our mamal skin nicely.

So that’s my schpiel about staying away from petroleum jelly and mineral oil and why those products don’t work well.[/QUOTE]

Yup, same. Except I am allergic to lanolin so I use other stuff. But I’ve had psoriasis very badly for many years so I have tried nearly ALL the super moisturizing goop out there, and without fail the petroleum jelly and mineral oil based stuff does very little of anything useful. So now I avoid those ingredients and go for stuff like cocoa butter, Shea butter, jojoba oil, etc.

[kdow]

[QUOTE=DressageFancy;7842869]
I do this too. Supper glue really works and helps the healing time along. But the real problem you seem to have is in prevention of these cracks. (You sound like you have them really often.) I would suggest you see your doctor for his opinion as to why you are prone to these cracks. Maybe something as simple as a biotin supplement in your diet would help?[/QUOTE]

This is a good suggestion. The cracking I get is apparently actually some kind of skin thing related to or possibly a type of eczema. Much of the treatment will be the same (try to avoid drying out your hands with chemicals and detergent, wear gloves, use a good moisturizer, etc) but depending on severity the doctor may want to prescribe some kind of topical treatment like a steroid or antiseptic/antibiotic cream to help the skin heal and prevent the cracks getting infected.

[Classicgal]

Also think helping your skin from within. I take Evening Primrose oil pills in the winter when this starts. It really helps. I suppose fish oil would do the same, I just herd of the EPO years ago from a friend whose pediatrician recommended it when pregnancy made her skin dry out. If I do get splits I use gloves at night with a medicine, altho over the counter cortisone cream would probably work.