Very dry skin on hands

[Rudiguer]

Is this what happens to your skin when you have limited systemic scleroderna? Many thanks.

[Hidden]

Yep! Wax-based hand cream - I love Burts Bees hand repair cream but there are others

[LucyJean]

Hi there, usually the circulation in someone with Raynauds or Scleroderma is compromised and the skin is not quite as nourished as a 'normal' person. But this time of the year most people get terribly dry hands if they don't look after them. Cold weather and dry central heating and soaps that strip the moisture out of the skin all lead to dry skin. I know plenty of people with no associated conditions with dry skin.

A good moisturising emollient to wash your hands in, and then handcream in every room in the house to remind you to keep putting it on...a decent brand or prescribed by the GP is the answer. People can never buy me enough hand cream, it is in every bag I possess, in pockets, beside my bed, and so on.

On the plus side, looking at your hands they look great. All beautifully preserved creases around the knuckles, no sign of the typical scleroderma sausage finger. No contractures around the joints, a normal flat palm. Excellent. Long may it continue.

All my best

Lucy xxx

[Lula76]

Hi - was sorry to read about your frustrating appointment and that now you have to wait longer! Our hands look so similar! Do yours get very red, itchy and hot feeling too (as well as freezing cold with the Raynauds?) Mine sometimes look like they are badly burned. Really hope you get to the bottom of everything and do keep me posted. x

[Rudiguer]

Hi Lula, my hands can be very itchy and sometimes they even look purple. When I look at my colleague's hands I realise mine look really wrong (the cuts, the dry skin and the colour). What I get is lots of crack skin that bleeds and frequent horrible sharp pains in my fingers. Sometimes it feels as if the tips of my fingers are burning. My fingers turn white as soon as I touch something cold. I am trying to keep my hands in gloves all the time and that is helping me a lot with the Raynauds. Keep in touch.

[Lula76]

Yes I've had terrible hands all my life but have never been conscious of them. Now they look like they've been dunked in boiling oil and people are starting to comment on them in a shocked way! Am interested to see how your journey progresses as I think we have many similarities! Have you had any changes to your nails - I have noticed pitting on my nails...this is a v recent thing x

[Rudiguer in reply to Lula76]

Hi Lula. Unfortunately I bite my nails very badly so I have not got much nail left. What I notice is some red dots on the nail folds. I will be having a capillary test in February. What is pitting?

[Nikki246]

Soap can dry your hands out too. I now use Dermol 500 which is a soap substitute when washed off with water and a moisturiser when used on dry hands. I have horses and by this time of year (especially with all the rain we've had this year) my hands are usually split to pieces by now. They are the best they'e ever been not dry at all.

[marilynmcl]

Must be a lucky ducky on the dry skin on hands....mine are more shiny and smooth..with the usual folds and wrinkly bits ...but, what I do have is nails that have become more clubbed and weird colours with splitting vertically which can be so annoying when they catch on clothes as the split continues down into the quick .I have to clip them past the quick to try to get below the splitting...not always successful. I also have fingers that are swollen,stiff and painful which also, with the sec. Raynauds, become purple with the cold. There is a new thing too on my thumb on the left hand... in the centre of the top joint [palm side] I have an oval shape of hard painful skin which has only appeared in the past month. Anyone got a clue on that one? Good luck going forward all!

[LucyJean in reply to marilynmcl]

Do you think you have a lump of calcinosis under the skin Marilyn? Unusual to get them slap bang in the middle of a joint but if it is an area of pressure for you then that might be the culprit. An Xray would reveal the cause. Calcinosis looks like white clouds for more liquid forms and white bony looking pieces for the hard lumps.

Lucy xx

[Rudiguer]

Hi Nikki, I have used Dermol on my hands but it does not make any difference to me. The skin on my hands has hardly split since I have been protecting them from the cold with gloves on at all times. I use doublebase gel and it seems to help. At least it fells nice when the skin is hard and tight.

[Intimeslikethese]

It demands my constant attention and care to the point that I feel self consuming. I use rotate between several emollients and products. My favorites are Conair hand hydrospa (sparingly, maybe twice a month; it steams, vibrates, infrared) after I apply Prossage therapeutic massage balm with eucalyptus and dwarf pine oil; shark skin oil lotion (my daughter found in the Bahamas), virgin olive oil, Burt's Bees honey moisturizing lip balm (yes, on my hands and forearms), moringa hand cream. I also use Jergens wet skin moisturizer with coconut oil after shower before toweling, especially focusing on hands and inner thighs. A must have is keeping gloves close at all times when needed. I hope this helps. My doctor has complimented me on the care of my hand skin. It is a daily regimen, though.

[kel55 in reply to Intimeslikethese]

hi, my hands turn multiple times per day only rarely do they go blue, just white/red/white/red! l get the white flaky crusty skin on my knuckles, like tiny blood blisters under the skin and raw skin in the lines. the best l have found is to shower in a combined shampoo and conditioner

[Hidden]

I have had dry hands most of my life - even ironing makes them dryer! But I now wash only in a "Feminine hygiene" shower wash which is kinder to my skin, and also stops me getting some of the UTIs I was having from perfumed washes. The best way to impart more moisture into the skin is aything containing urea. You will find this in many dry feet and heel creams and I use them on my hands.

Also I do like The Body Shop Hemp Handcream is very soothing and you don't need much. Sometimes it is on offer. Putting these creams on and then gloves, you can use disposable vinyl gloves or cotton gloves to sleep in, really helps lock the moisture in. For your feet, try creaming them and wrapping some cling film around them at night.

Since starting fluoxetine (Prozac) the skin on my feet is not so dry and I have suddenly grown toenails that do not crumble. Hope that helps.