hand help?

slabhunter · 03-06-2005, 03:21 PM

Ever since getting a third degree electrical burn in the military, the skin on my hands seems to be getting worse with age. I don't know if it's this wierd winter or what. I was told earlier that I had "old man hands".

I've been using Eucerin and/or Working Hands Creme on them.
Anyone found something better?

Fshklr · 03-06-2005, 04:22 PM

Bag Balm!!

Pete · 03-06-2005, 04:25 PM

I've heard some people swear by Shea Butter. It's from an African nut and it's increasingly used in cosmetics.

It's been an unbelievably dry winter here in the NW. I imagine that's not helping things either.

freespool · 03-06-2005, 04:26 PM

CornHuskers

salmon hugger

WheresMyBobber · 03-06-2005, 04:42 PM

I've dealt with this problem my whole life - sometimes my hands dry out so bad I could sand wood with them, let alone the cracking when it gets bad. I've been to the doctor, tried all kinds of prescription hand lotions, every over the counter hand lotion, and the thing that works best for me is Corn Huskers lotion. When the ends of my fingers get big cracks in them, the only thing that works for me is to keep a bandaid over the crack for a couple days (change it twice a day), and to keep the bandaid wet. I know the doc's say not to do that because of possible infection, but I've never had a problem and it works for me. Your hands should start to get better if we ever get a change in the weather.

dock rat · 03-06-2005, 04:51 PM

I've heard some good things about Zims. Haven't given it a good test myself.

Rakkasan · 03-06-2005, 07:26 PM

Bag Balm. A fishermans friend. The stuff works great. It saved my hands commercial fishing in Alaska.

slabhunter · 03-07-2005, 02:21 AM

Thanks for the replies.

I'll try some of the other products.

03-07-2005, 07:25 AM

Bag Balm or Fisherman's Handcream

ICHTHYDEMON · 03-07-2005, 11:05 AM

I hate most all hand lotions and IMO Bag Balm is the nastiest.

The most tolerable I've found is Neutrogena Hand Cream. I get the fragrance-free stuff and it works really well. Its REALLY concentrated as a 2oz tube is good for about 200 applications.

RODACTION · 03-07-2005, 01:09 PM

Try all the stuff that the other Ifshers are telling you too. Also put the stuff on and wear cotton gloves, even to bed for a few hours.

Third degree burns, is you skin scar tissue ? if it is you have lost all sweat and oil glands where the scars are.

garyk · 03-07-2005, 02:46 PM

Not sure if it's better but Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotion is cheap and seems to work very well, even on minor excema, without the greeeziness that some of the others have.

DAB · 03-07-2005, 06:58 PM

Slabhunter
I have overly dry hands myself, I use bag balm, but if I put it on like most hand creams it doese not seem to do much good, What realy works for me is to wash my hands with hot soapy water,rinse well, dry quickly but before my hands are bone dry I rub in bag balm liberaly then wipe off excess.
As far as your fingers cracking, I use desiden on the cracks and put a bandaid over it and keep it wet, takes a couple of days and the cracks on the ends of fingers are healed up. Them there cracks hurt like mad.
DAB

DAB · 03-07-2005, 06:58 PM

Slabhunter
I have overly dry hands myself, I use bag balm, but if I put it on like most hand creams it doese not seem to do much good, What realy works for me is to wash my hands with hot soapy water,rinse well, dry quickly but before my hands are bone dry I rub in bag balm liberaly then wipe off excess.
As far as your fingers cracking, I use desiden on the cracks and put a bandaid over it and keep it wet, takes a couple of days and the cracks on the ends of fingers are healed up. Them there cracks hurt like mad.
DAB

blackdog · 03-08-2005, 06:23 AM

Living in Central Oregon with a distinct lack of any humidity, I've learned to deal with the dry hand issue. Consistent use of hand cremes seems to help. If I slack for a time and develop those nasty fingertip cracks that hurt like all heck, the best treatment I've found is Superglue. Keeps them from splitting any more and allows them to heal up faster than anything else I've tried. Just be careful you don't glue your fingers together in the process!

Troller · 03-08-2005, 07:52 AM

I used to have problems with my hands luckily it has gone away for now. But I used to have to a steriod cream on them from the doctor and wrap in plastic wrap for a few hours everyday. I would think that corn huskers and putting your hands in a pair of nitrile gloves for a short time before bed might help.

slabhunter · 03-08-2005, 10:05 AM

RODACTION, The burn was from a coworker shorting a main feed to a hanger as we installed a breaker to the main buss. I lost some of my color vision but very little debris got in my eyes.

The flash and molten metal burns differ. Only where the metal hit are there true scars. The tops of my hands have less feeling and the skin is not as elastic. This was about 20 years ago, it happened. However, the thing that I remember most is not the smell, or the orange fingernails, but the poor PA doing the bandages(I thought he was going to hurl

right there).