Dry, Cracked Hands

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Can everyone please tell me what they use for dry, cracked hands. All that washing and sanitizer is brutal. Preferably all natural products.

Go to the feed store, Tractor Supply or someplace like that and get some Corona ointment. This product is over 100 yrs old and it's 50% lanolin. Very good, but very sticky. It's very much like Lantiseptic, but much cheaper.

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If you're looking for something all natural (I can use this and I'm allergic to everything!) you can rub olive oil into your hands and then sleep with gloves or socks on your hands.

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Go to the feed store, Tractor Supply or someplace like that and get some Corona ointment. This product is over 100 yrs old and it's 50% lanolin. Very good, but very sticky. It's very much like Lantiseptic, but much cheaper.

:idea: I forgot I have a tube of that in the medicine cabinet. It is AMAZING stuff!

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Specializes in Near Future: ED, Future Future: ACNP!.

Cerave cream is THE BEST! I worked for an aesthetic skincare company for a long time, and this happens to be a competitor product that I use all the time that you can find at the drug store (my company products you could not), complete with hyaluronic acid, cholesterol, and ceramides. I swear it makes hands feel like velvet.

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My hands used to get so dry that they would crack and the skin would start to peel off the palms of my hand. I have tried several different products. The only thing that I have found that works for me is Mary Kay's satin hands hand cream. It is a new formulation that last through several hand washings. I keep a tube in my pocket and use it several times a day.

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Specializes in ICU, nutrition.

About a year ago my hospital switched to Provon soap in all the bathrooms and handwash sinks and Purell hand sanitizer on the walls outside the patient rooms and on the desks. My hands are in much better shape this winter than they normally are. My favorite lotion is Aquaphor but I really don't have to use it very often any more.

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Does your employer give you a hard time about this? I would love to use my own soap but we are only allowed to use hospital supplied soaps and lotions while working.

They should be able to provide an alternative from the same brand. Many facilities (my own included) have this policy. That way all the patients get the same level of care with infection control.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

I use hand cream from L'Occitane. It's 20% shea butter, so it's very very rich, and you only have to use a small amount. A little on the expensive side (about $27 for a 150mL tube), but one of those tubes has lasted me almost two years.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

You can find 100% pure shea butter at farmer's markets for a fraction of the cost you would pay at a drug or dept. store. It is fabulous stuff.When the skin on my hands is open from cracks I'll use antibiotic ointment under shea butter at night and that seems to heal them fast. Warm up a little olive oil and give yourself a hand and cuticle massage after work-that feels great and will help keep your cuticles from getting really dry. If your hands are dry and flaky exfoliate with a spoon of sugar or kosher salt and olive oil first. I also use hair oil on my skin-it's for ethnic hair and is called "Wonder 8" or "Wonder 11" It's in-expensive and all natural and smells great.

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Specializes in ER.

Olive oil at night wrapped up in socks helps.

The best, for me, is atrac-tain cream. A coworker who has eczema recommended it. I'm not sure how natural it is but it doesn't contain preservatives. If I can't find that, I use gold bond foot cream. I've found that the lactic acid and urea combos work the best. I have sensitive skin so I was a bit concerned at first but the stuff really works! It did sting initially where my hands were cracked but they are nice and smooth now. I don't have to worry about every little germ I may encounter, lol.

Dermal Therapy has several similar lotions/creams.

I used to super-glue the cracks when my hands were really dry but I've not had to since finding a lotion that works.

If you want something a little more natural you can try pure lanolin. It's usually in the baby section with the breast-feeding supplies. I found that it made my hands feel better but didn't really have the power to help them heal.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

If you wash good, a sanitizer should not be necessary...it is not the procedure at our hospital.

I very, very rarely use sanitizer...I either wash my hands or use gloves.

We have a lotion dispenser right beside of our soap...I have learned if I take just a drop, and I mean a tiny drop, of lotion each time I wash my hands...just enough to put a film on my hands, it helps out substantially.

The lotion that we use is hospital grade and meant to be used with the cleanser.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I just discovered an AMAZING product. The brand is O'Keefe's, and they sell it in 3 oz. tubs. I found it at Ace Hardware, right next to the WD40, of all places. No alcohol in it, which helps. A diabetic patient of my husband's mentioned that it works really well on his feet, so I tried it, and I'm sold.

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