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Once again, now that it’s cold I’m suffering from horribly split fingers. Can anyone recommend a good salve/cream to help them heal? I wear gloves when I can, but there are times when you need exposed fingertips for dexterity.
Thanks!
-Dimitri
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I superglue the splits. Fills the crack and takes the pain away. I keep a tube in my truck. Just don't put your gloves on right away!!!
*Neosporin works for me, and others laud Bag Balm. My ex-partner wrapped his fingertips with electrical tape.
*Bag Balm works, works better if you put it on before your skin splits. Gloves in a Bottle, with or without a surgical glove (I've been trying the new powderless vinyl gloves, don't irritate the skin nearly as much as the latex gloves, cheaper too - make a super liner for cotton gloves.)
*I had a nasty couple cracks in my palm a while back from and kept a tube of Vaseline lotion of some kind in my pocket. Little tube, maybe 3 ounces? Anyway, I ran across that tube enough times in a day that I put it on often enough to finally get rid of them. I think just having it come out everytime I went for some change or my pocket knife is the trick, otherwise I never remember to put it on.Like vitamins, I've got 'em but they sure last a long time sitting on the window sill over the kitchen sink. They're safe up there! Grease up heavy at night and wear gloves to bed, pain in the butt, works though. Joe H
*Ay Walgreens in the band aid section, you can find a little bottle of NU-Skin. It works real good on the smaller ones. For the worse ones, neosporin and a bandaid overnight helps a lot.
*Yeah, neosporin overnight. They say Lotil lotion is good too, but hard to find. The Vermont Country Store has it, along with bag balm. I use first aid paper tape on the tips of my fingers to protect them while working, it shreds and wears out but it helps and is thin enough to not interfere with fine tasks. And I always wear kitchen gloves for doing the dishes. Nothing dries your skin out like working with clay soil in the garden, nothing. I wear gloves all that I can. I wonder about those rubber fingertip gloves that tellers and cashiers use for counting paper money accurately. Maybe ask next time I notice , find out where they come from.
*best stuff i ever found is called Straight Arrow Hoof-maker....hah, hah, hah...this is the right stuff.. heals everything..toughens up the skin... heals the cracks..split nails... cracked fingers .. no morewife won't let me wear it to bed though.. says i neigh in my sleep.. and beat on her with my hooves.....
*Try the Ironman gloves from Duluth Trading. You can do almost everything in them.Dennis
*Astrid, they're called either fingerpads or finger cots, depending on manufacturer, and cost about $2/doz at any office supply store. Does a good job protecting stitches.
*Amazing. You go along having a problem like this, thinking that yer the only one, coming up with solutions... And then you find out plenty of others have the same problems and some have the same solution...My fingertips split and crack so badly, they bleed. I always carry a pair of fingernail clippers in my pocket. Always. I use them for trimming off those nails that get torn, (before they tear too much more. They always seem to keep tearing right into the flesh under the nail.), and also for trimming back the edges of the cracks and splits in my fingertips. Nothing much more I can do while working, because whatever I do gets undone right away when handling materials.At night though... I once again trim back the edges of the cracks. This hurts like heck when you are doing it, but there is immediate relief when yer finished. The edges are hard, brittle, and they keep pulling on that crack, wanting to curl away from it. If you bite your lip, and cut right down into the good flesh, it alleviates the curling and further splitting right away. When done, you should be able to run your finger across the split and barely be able to tell it's there. Most of the pain will go away immediately as well.Then I coat with a healthy dollop of mycitracin, (better than neosporin by a mile, in my experience), wrap with a bandaid or two, then cover the whole thing with some bandage tape. Cloth or paper, doesn't matter. Most of the time, by the next morning, the problem is gone. Sometimes though, it is still bad in the morning. When that happens, I just dollop more mycitracin, and then make as good a covering of the bandage tape as I can. I know it is eventualy going to come off during the day, but if I can get it to stay on for a few hours, even that much helps.To get the bandage to stay on longer, I do like in the picture I have included. I lay a couple layers of the bandage tape over the top of the bandaged finger, going completely down across the next section of finger, (the white lines). Then wrap more around the top of that, circling the two sections of the finger, (the red lines). Don't get any of this too tight. But don't let it be so loose it falls off of it's own accord either. Electrical tape comes out right about midday, if the bandage has gone bye-bye, and the split is still a problem. Funny thing about electrical tape, And sometimes duct tape, is that they hold moisture in, and that sometimes helps the sitch, sometimes makes it worse.
*Ticture of Benzoine is what athletic trainers use to make the skin tacky before applying tape. It also gradually toughens the skin if applied regularly. It makes a big difference if you're having trouble keeping tape on. Vitamin C also really seems to help. Sailors with scurvy didn't heal at all, even worse, their scar tissue would weaken, reopening old wounds.
*Mike, says mane and tail on our jug. That stuff's for your hands? Sure makes my hair shine. Look a little like Alfalfa when I get up in the morning. I'll try it on my hands. Thanks.
*I suffer the split finger syndrome too. I have to cut the dead stuff away regularly too ala Luka.I've used the cremes and bandages but it doesn't help fast enough.I'm going to start trying bag balm and hoove mender and stuff like that. I ALWAYS wear gloves, winter and summer. It's the moisture that causes the most cracks. The acid in the rain does the damage so if you can keep the hand dry....I used to have worse hands when I lived in the city. The chlorine and flouride in the drinking water was the culprit. My well water is much better for my skin...blue
*Try Badger balm- made mostly from olive oil- it fixesyour fingers and makes yer sandwich taste better also.
*Jesus in a jar is what we call that NEW SKIN in Arkansas.
*calvin...my bottle says for human or equine use..for dry hands, nails and HOOFS..mine is Russ Kalvin's Generic Brand of The Hoofmaker....i paid 59 cents at a factory close-out store.....never touched bag-balm again.......
*Sounds close to the "Udderly Smooth Hand Creme" I've see. Advertised here all the time. It was made for milkers, before they had machines.....or some advertising crap like that! Jeff
*Summer is no problem, but winter too, I drink lots of water through out the day. Keep the body hydrated. Cold and damp are always there, but I find I have less problems starting if I drink at least a quart of water during the work day. More if I am into a coffee day. As far as salves, I used bag balm but found it to greasy and took forever to soak in. Corn Huskers lotion works well also, soaks in rather quickly too, but glycerin is the key ingredient. These days I use a hand lotion made by AVEDA. It is expensive, but made from all natural ingredients and plant essences. It soaks in fairly quickly, but I can still feel a bit of softness in the morning. If I am working in conditions prone to chapped/split fingers, I rub it into my hands every couple of hours. One condition that I find leads to chapping and drying hands is producing sawdust. When I am sanding or planing wood, I find my hands dry out very quickly handling the dusty wood. The key thought to remember regardless of what one uses is to use the product everyday regardless of hand condition. Prevention. Or please pass the duct tape. walk good
*Made the mistake of trying the spell checker, never again, I'll take my chances with my memory. Anyway, try "Zim's Crack Creme". Small bottle, more like a lotion, works if you keep after it- like vitamins. I heard it was developed by a pharmacist looking for something to help concrete workers. Not too oily, you can type within seconds of application. No gloves in bed or other hobbling apparatus, depends on your situation I guess.
*Bag balm, get it at any farm supply store. Dip your fingers right in it and pull socks over your hands to sleep in. Then goop em up good in the morning, wrap cloth band aids over the tips and add a thin ring of duct tape around to hold the band aid on. Once I get em' healed the first time, I remember to rub on lots of lotion, throughout the day. Man! Does that ever hurt when your fingertips crack and you are reaching into your nail bag! Yeow!
*My wife brought home some Udder Balm. Got a picture of a cow right on the front of the container. On the back: "Apply Original Udder Balm liberally to teats, udders, hands and other exposed skin..." :^) It does seem to work good on weather beaten hands... Kinda thick but works in quickly and not greasy. Havn't tried it on any teats yet. :^)
*After all these years of suffering, why didn't I think of Super Glue?My vet used it when he declawed the cat.
*No one mentioned Chap Stick ( the tube with cap ). I keep one in my pocket and smear around ends of fingers and thumbs and rub in. Takes about a minute and really helps keep fingers from cracking. Handier to use in the field than lotions. Disappears into skin immediately. Like one of the other posts, I didn't realize this was such a universal problem.
*I try and drink lots of water during the day, In the morning I take a flax oil capsule. In the evening I cream with Rio Vista hoof manicure. Thats like Mike's solution. Watch them hoofs in bed though. HAHA.
*I was laying in bed thinking about how my fingers haven't been cracking as much lately. For the last couple of years, I've been using my wife's body wash with collagen and vitamins in it. I think getting away from bar soap has substantially decreased the drying effect of showering.
*Noboydy commented on Lonecats suggestion above..."Jesus in a jar is what we call that NEW SKIN in Arkansas."If the New Skin is what I'm thinking of, this is the sh-t to use. helps already cracked skin, and prevents cracked skin in the first place. It's not a salve. Its a layer of stuff you wipe on your hands like cream, but dries clear over your skin as a protective barrier all day. Like having latex gloves over your skin, but allows skin to breath and gives you the feel of bare hands when your trying to feel a 1/64th reveal between boards, etc..I used it many years ago working in a clay studio. I mixed specialty clays for an artist all day, and the clay would suck the moisture out of my skin just like the cold winter weather does.Washes off with soap and water at end of day.
*When you have to work around water and wet stuff, but don't want to wear dishwashing gloves, and latex / vinly 'surgical' gloves are way to fragile try those gloves made for mason work: they're cotton, dipped in rubber that covers the hand up to about the first or second knuckle.I find they're a nice compromise between breathbility and water resistance. GREAT for cleaning out the gutters on a November afternoon when the leaves are kinda half frozen / half soggy.They do need to dry out after use or they get moldy (I lay them in the sunlight).They provide good grip and pretty good sensation of what your picking up (much better than most leather or cotton gloves, due to the rubber coat).But they get really sweaty on warm days though...Great suggestions, everybody, on damage repair (superglue - pure genious. I thought he was kidding then I realized, 'hey, that could WORK!'):o)
*Hand cream. It works. I recommend "Neutrogena Norwegian Formula" No perfumes.
*I use a product called Ozonal. It is an ointment with lots of zinc and other mysterious ingredients. I'm not sure it is available in the US. I recently took a business trip to NYC after a weekend of wood working and my fingers were a dried out mess. I went ot a drug store and bought 2 different ointments with some zinc content. None worked. This Ozonal stuff is great. I put it on my finger tips with band-aids to cover it over night. The next morning my fingers are back to normal.
*"Bag Balm" has been used by farmers for years to treat not only a variety of afflictions of the mild cow's udder but also the dried cracked abraded or otherwise sore hands of farmer and family. (We even used it in the Emergency Room to treat sores on the skin caused by abrasions from plaster casts!)
*Didn't realize so many other people had problems with split, bleeding fingers in cold weather. I've had this problem with my right hand only, for over 20 years. So far, the best thing I've found is called "Therma Spa Parrafin Wax Therapy." My wife sent off for it after seeing it on the home shopping channel (QVC) ($59.00). It looks like an elongated toilet bowl. You plug it in; it heats up a batch of eucalyptis parrafin wax, then plunge your hand into the hot wax three times, building up a coat of hot wax on your hand. You then wrap hand in a plastig baggie, and over that a cloth mitten. Leave on 15 minutes, then peel wax off. I used it nightly for first week, now I'm down to couple nights a week. I could tell an immediate difference. Only been using it a few weeks, but so far, no more bloody splits. GPW
*I wondered about SuperGlue myself, although for a different application. About once a year my black lab MoJo decides to go visit the neighbor dogs, most likely 'cause of a female in heat. Her "boyfriends" don't take too kindly to a new stud in town and usually a fight ensues. Poor Mo comes back bloody most of the time. I asked the vet, the last time he was stitched, whether I could use SuperGlue. He said there are to many toxins in it. And certainly things you wouldn't want in your own body. I also read some where about a surgical glue but it's not available to the general public...wonder why.Dave
*We also have that parrafin wax thing. It does work good, although Ive never tried a batch of eucalyptis wax.I will now however.blue
*OK, I wish I hadn't thrown my back out. I would have been at work, and seen this sooner. Dr. Scholl's (the foot people) makes a product for this. But, I am one of those who gets the cracks on the fingers and occasionally the heel. "Dr. Scholl's Cracked Heel Relief Cream"It moisturizes the skin to soften it; contains pain relievers to ease the sting of the crack itself; and IT WORKS. You can buy it at any larger drug store, in the foot care aisle. Great for those of us who don't have a farm supply near by - are y'all a bunch of hicks or something? And besides, it's the only product "designed" for this problem that I know of. Some of the other suggestions make me think you're all masochists. If that New-Skin is the same product I'm thinking of, it stings the hell when you put it on. I would think super glue would do the same. The only downside to my suggestion is that it's a cream, and so must be protected. I put on a bandaid, and then wrap with tape to ensure that it stays put.
*.. i'll stick to my hoof -mender..but speakin of crazy glue...my lead man is a bare-foot water skier.. and his roommate was competing in the Xtreme games in the barefoot water ski event...he cut his foot between heats... a big flap of skin.. so he couldn't ski on it..they crazy glued a plastic patch.. and he went on to compete..had to reglue it between each heat though.....ain't died yet.......got married though...
*Actually, I had not thought of using a paraffin bath for cracked skin, always had thought it good for sore joints.I will try it! It is used by physical therapists, (I'm a retired one) and some manicurists, for the hands. Can be made up at home, using a double boiler, or improvise with a large pot and a large coffee can , if you are very careful as it is inflammable. That's why the commercial ones are nice, they are safer. To make at home, heat up four pounds of paraffin household (canning) wax, one cup of mineral oil and a few drops of any kind of aromatic oil you like, or leave it plain. The aromatic oil helps keep the "aroma" nice longer. Be sure your hands are clean before using, and dry, as the wax will heat any moisture and may scald you. Heat wax mixture slowly to a temp. of 125-127 degrees on a candy thermometer. Be careful not to drop on your clothing or the stove as paraffin will burn easily and is hard to remove from fabric once it hardens. Try a hot iron and blotting if it does. You may dip your hand up to 6-8 times, allowing wax to cool and turn opaque after each dip. Make sure your fingers are relaxed and separated to allow full coverage. After removing the paraffin glove when it has cooled it may be dropped back into the pot and reheated.
*He's dead.blue
*I do the six to eight dip thing Astrid. The moist heat is very soothing to the joints. I've never added any mineral oils or aromatic stuff.I might look into that though. Any one want to suggest an herb additive?blue
*i Any one want to suggest an herb additive? Peppermint. I've noticed that when I pick some leaves and make a tea from them, my hands and feet stay warmer when I'm outside. I'm curious what those peppermint oils will do when applied to the outside of the hands in this way.
*I put vasoline on the split and put a bandaid on it over night to take the soreness out. Then use a moisturizer such as what has been stated previously. Wet your hands before you use the moisturizer on. Locks more moisture in.
*There used to be brush-on band aid that was essentially super glue.The Klingspor Sanding Catalog has a sticky gauze tape to wrap around your fingers to protect them while keeping some feeling in them.
*Why some and not others?A while back, my partner and I worked side by each for nearly a decade. He suffered big time with cracks on the tips of his fingers during the cold season.I never wore gloves and never had any cracks on my fingers.We ate and drank the same, maintained the same schedule, not a lot of difference in age, same basic build, healthy and in good condition, shared a trailer for a couple of years during the week and went home on weekends.Obviously, by the response to this posting, a lot of guys in the trade have this problem. So why is it that some do and others don't?BTW he used bag balm also.Gabe
*Soak them nightly in cider.....er insider, but better yet inside her. Works for me , no cracks no splits, and the only blood on the lumber is from those freakin' truss plates. Keith C
*I too am amazed that some many have this problem. I switch back and forth between Bag Balm and vasoline, goop it on before bed and wear cotton gloves. Bag balm gets stanky after a while...also keep Udder cream in truck. Its not so slippey, get tired of going after my hammer after using Bag balm during the day. Keep Chapstick in the pocket also! Nu-Skin is like superglue, you glue up the cracks, I tried super glue once. Screamed for three hours!Does any one else have problems with Carpel Tunnel? The doctor recomended cutting me open and running the nerves on the outside, said I would be laid up for 6-8 weeks. If I did that the county would auction the house...I wear these wrist guards to bed at night, I could get a job scaring children with all the crap I have to wear to bed...Golden years my a**also I take vit. B every day, seems to be working.
*Someone mentioned 'Aveda" hand cream. I thought it was great. I usually don't use things my wife gets because of the flowery smells or that they just don't help. She got me the Aveda stuff and it worked well. No slimy film like bag balm. I will try some of the suggestions in here though.
*I'm going to try mink oil. I'll at least have waterproof fingers, even if they're split. I think it will make them softer so they won't crack so bad, it works for my boots.
*Some of the lotions that have a high level of alpha hydroxy are pretty effective also. The stuff is exfoliating , which means that it somehow removes a lot of dead dry skin from your hands and gets down to the new skin underneath. This is good in that the thick dried out old dead skin that is not flexible and prevents the cracks healing by stressing them by being stiff instead of flexible is removed, and new skin is able to grow faster. Wounds such as these regrow from the bottom of the crack on up, as you can notice, so if you remove part of the edge of the crack you've got a head start.
*I went to a dermatologist and she did recommend gluing the splits closed with crazy glue and Eucerin at bedtime.The crazy glue doesn't burn at all, just don't stick your fingers together.As for working outside in the winter,if this work was easy they'd have girls doing it.Oh, wait a minute....
*My fingers split from too much fast set drywall mud and I have glued them with Crazy glue for some years. As far as an ointment, corona is the best thing I've found
*Just curious...Is the rest of your name Harcore Mudd ??
*Howdy, folks, got two grungy wheat pennies to toss in here; spent a couple of years as a ski bum back when, and the gig we used was wetting exposed areas first, then smearing olive oil on. Sunblock on top, usually, but I've been using that method on my hands for nearly twenty years now...maybe some other goofy shite would work as well, but at 8 bucks a litre? and I can fry my Sierra Mongo omelets in it too! Read something a while back about Chapstick, particularly, displacing natural oils, and reducing the normal production of those oils. Kinda vaguely made sense; if your body doesn't think it needs to lube your skin, it might lower production. And skip the soap; if you've gotta get some greasy stuff off, use a a mechcanic's creme hand cleaner with lanolin(found in skin oils). Otherwise use something really mild, like shampoo. To help bring back ripped-up hands, try vitamin E oil; it's pretty gooey stuff, just smear it on clean, moist hands and slap on a pair of cleanish gloves. Try it for a couple of days, helps alot.Joel K.Hands like a baby's butt, but bigger n' knobbier.
*I don't know where you guys live, but up here on the south shore of Lake Superior split fingers is not a seasonal thing. Its a daily battle and I have tried most of the above mentioned remedies at one time or another, they just don't work for me. One day I bought a new pair of Redwing boots and proceeded to coat them with Sno-Seal a wax like, all season leather protector. The next morning my split skin had healed. Since then I use it as needed, it's kind of sticky so I put alittle on in the evening while watching TV or doing some other mindless task. It works extreamly fast, two applications usually does the trick.
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Once again, now that it's cold I'm suffering from horribly split fingers. Can anyone recommend a good salve/cream to help them heal? I wear gloves when I can, but there are times when you need exposed fingertips for dexterity.
Thanks!
-Dimitri