Mattsmom277
Active Member
Only prescription strength cortisone has ever helped me. I have this problem ongoing for years, and it really does clear it up (for me anyhow). Over the counter ones just never cut it.
My dermatologist told me a strict rule for hand washing. If able, not to use soap at all. Only for those moments it MUST be soap, then use the most natural non drying gentle soap you can find (he prescribed one years ago but forget what it was, I just use a gentle generic soap now). He told me that so often we use soap when water alone will do just fine, so I follow his rule of thumb when possible.
I absolutely do not touch dish soap. Ever. Lucky for me my S/O gets panicked at my skin if it gets bad (he's a worrier) so he has forbidden me to touch dishes. Ever. WOOT WOOT! (worth a bit of cracked skin if ya ask me lol). I can honestly state in 2 years I have NEVER washed as much as a spoon. I do the laundry but I don't move the wet clothes from washer to dryer. S/O does that part to avoid risidual soap getting onto my hands.
I have never had so few problems in my hands since I was a child, as in the past 2 years. I also don't wash my hair every time I shower, as my scalp is always dry to begin with and the shampoo can flare my hands up.
This can be a real problem that for some isn't as easily remedied. I would think at this stage you might want to find out if you do indeed as Star mentioned, have a secondary skin infection flared up at this stage. Only had that once but it was sheer evil. I was doing well within 2-3 days of a special script from the doctor and kicked myself for pawning it off as run of the mill excema all that time.
My dermatologist told me a strict rule for hand washing. If able, not to use soap at all. Only for those moments it MUST be soap, then use the most natural non drying gentle soap you can find (he prescribed one years ago but forget what it was, I just use a gentle generic soap now). He told me that so often we use soap when water alone will do just fine, so I follow his rule of thumb when possible.
I absolutely do not touch dish soap. Ever. Lucky for me my S/O gets panicked at my skin if it gets bad (he's a worrier) so he has forbidden me to touch dishes. Ever. WOOT WOOT! (worth a bit of cracked skin if ya ask me lol). I can honestly state in 2 years I have NEVER washed as much as a spoon. I do the laundry but I don't move the wet clothes from washer to dryer. S/O does that part to avoid risidual soap getting onto my hands.
I have never had so few problems in my hands since I was a child, as in the past 2 years. I also don't wash my hair every time I shower, as my scalp is always dry to begin with and the shampoo can flare my hands up.
This can be a real problem that for some isn't as easily remedied. I would think at this stage you might want to find out if you do indeed as Star mentioned, have a secondary skin infection flared up at this stage. Only had that once but it was sheer evil. I was doing well within 2-3 days of a special script from the doctor and kicked myself for pawning it off as run of the mill excema all that time.