# Finger tips cracking due to allergy



## SJSFarm (Jun 13, 2012)

My daughters finger tips keep cracking. She gets like this when she is swimming, I'm not sure, but it may be an allergy to the chlorine. 

Her fingers will dry, get lines then the skin cracks and she bleeds. 

We have tried the following; washing her hands after swim, hydrocortisone, petroleum jelly, udderbalm, baby oil, and eucerine cream. The doctor gave her two prescriptions, one works fairly well, but I saw her hands and its starting again.

I was thinking perhaps there is something she can put on to prevent the water penetrating, if it is an allergy. 

Another complicating factor: she can't have anything which will make her hands slippery. She is a synchronized swimmer, and she needs to lift her teammates.

I was thinking wax???


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I found this... it says it isn't slippery.
http://www.glovesinabottle.com/faq.html

But what I found is that the pruning of the fingers is what leads to the dehydration.
Other swimmers have mentioned upping the Omega 3's and DHA to help with that.

I would also suggest getting a jar of pure lanolin.. the real stuff, and using that. It works best if you mix it with a bit of good, natural lotion in your palm and then rubbing it over the skin. If you try to use straight lanolin it will just adhere to you. The lotion allows it to slide. Very protecting, but natural.
The lotions with petrolatum or mineral oil aren't good for your skin, do nothing to actually hydrate your skin and plug up the pores in the skin.
Best to go with a lotion that is just natural oils with a simple emulsifier.
Works like a charm when mixed with the lanolin.


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## SJSFarm (Jun 13, 2012)

That looks good, I ordered some. 

She loves swim and does not want to give it up. 

Last year was awful, her feet and fingers were so cracked they bled sometimes. 

I was thinking new skin or wax or some kind of non-slippery coating. That's the big thing, because she does lifts in the water, her grip can't slip. 

I ordered some from amazon. Thanks so much


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

And I meant the lanolin for after the swim. Sorry.. I skipped that part.
And I hope that stuff helps.
It seems to be a very common problem with swimmers or people whose hands and feet are wet often.
The keratin in the skin is what makes the pruning (which they have discovered happens to improve our grip on wet surfaces..cool) and the pruning up is what dehydrates the skin. You would think that being wet wouldn't dehydrate, but apparently it does.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

My hands used to crack, especially around the corners of my thumbnails each fall. It was from being in water a lot.

I would eat a bunch of jello and it would go away for a while.


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

If it hurts, she can use super glue to close the cracks. I don't know how it will hold up in that much water but it is the glue used in place of stitches. My skin cracks when I'm handling ink jet paper and the only thing that seems to help is super glue.


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## SJSFarm (Jun 13, 2012)

The lanolin we tried. I will have her put it on after swim. 

We have a regular med which works when her feet are fully dry.

The sequence we will try is Gloves in a Bottle before swim, lanolin after and prescription the following morning.

I struggled with letting her continue and I really wanted to pull her out; there were other issues in her swimming and the final decision was to let her stay because the meds worked so well. I just don't want to have even a minor problem develop this year. 

Her feet and hands before the new med


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## SJSFarm (Jun 13, 2012)

Feet at their worst


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

If the gloves stuff doesn't work, I used to use Kerodex barrier cream when working in the darkroom to prevent coming in direct contact with the chemicals. She might try that. (available at Walgreens)


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## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

Just my opinion but I would see a md dermatologist to get their opinion - that isnt normal skin dryness imo.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

At the market I'd guess about 75 - 80% of the people that come through have some problem with their skin, particularly their hands and I have seen a great deal of success with issues like this. I would never recommend people put petroleum products on their skin. A plantain salve and other types of salves I think would work much better right after the swim and keeping it on up until a few hours before. I would also clean the hands with safflower or coconut oil right after swimming and not soap. If you'd like to message me privately for more info about how to use salves and herbs to help this, please do.


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## cowbelle (Mar 5, 2009)

You/she might give a line of skin products a try - recommended by my dermatologist - CeraVe. Available at most drug stores, even WM now. Dermatologist says it has skin lipids in it and the bottle says skin ceramides. There is a lotion and a heavier cream. I love it and it keeps my skin really nice, soaks in very quickly.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Randy Rooster said:


> Just my opinion but I would see a md dermatologist to get their opinion - that isnt normal skin dryness imo.


It is not a normal type of dryness.
It comes from being in the water for long periods of time.
The pruning of the fingers, the keratin in the skin etc.. leads to greater dehydration.
Nothing will dry the hands and feet like being wet for a long time.

But for swimmers etc.. this is normal.


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

http://triplelanolin.com/distributors.htm

If my feet hands looked like that, here would be my solution/effort. Within 3 to 5 days much improvement should be evident. And have her drink WATER, reduce sodas if she drinks them. All water treatment chemicals are being absorbed into the body as she swims.

Be sure to rinse chlorine off body, then Triple Lanolin Hand and Body Lotion after every swim, and hand-washing. To a degree this product has a cumulative effect. At bedtime apply a heavy coat to feet and wait 10 minutes for it to penetrate, put on cotton socks to sleep in. Same routine for hands with gloves at night. 

Her feet look painful, does it hurt to walk ? Best of luck to both of you.


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

From the pictures it looks like skin is peeling.
I knew someone that had hands and feet that peeled twice a year. They were not a swimmer and not involved daily with water besides regular washing and showering.
The skin would peel in the spring and in the fall, every year. I thought it was genetic.


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## mcsleg (Feb 24, 2013)

my mom has fingers that crack and bleed. she uses gold bond heel cream-the kind for your feet, and it works really well. good luck


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## Mrs. Thankful (Dec 4, 2013)

My daughter also gets this way. This is what we do and it has really helped:


Increase water intake overall and avoid caffeine
Eat water-rich foods (watermelon, lettuce, grapefruit, broccali etc) 
Sleep with shea butter on feet and hands and wrap in socks/cotton gloves

The key is to be hydrated properly. Otherwise the lotions are treating the symptom and not the actual problem.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

my mom swore by bag balm. she had pulsular eczema. her hands and feet would boil and then would peel. very painful but the bag balm keep the skin soft enough to not pull and crack so much. if she doesn't swim everything goes back to normal? that is really neat that she has that program. I didn't know they still taught that. My mom loved the swim movies that were out in the 50's.


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