Have I Finally Found My Cure for Chapped Hands? January 10, 2011

For the past few winters I have suffered greatly from fissures* on my thumbs.  The fissures are painful, and no matter what I have tried in ordering to heal them they never seem to go away.  Last winter I thought I had found the perfect cure for my ailment when I purchased a liquid bandage product that was supposed to cover and protect my wound while acting as an antiseptic as well.  It simply did not work (and it smelled terrible).  So this year as the temperature dropped and my now annual problem returned I became almost desperate for a solution.

I finally hit upon an effective solution by accident.  I received via email Paula Begoun’s review of DERMAdoctor’s Handy Manum Medicated Skin Repair Serum with 1% Hydrocortisone which explained that although the product contained great skin repair ingredients, specifically hydrocortisone which is an anti-inflammatory ingredient that can heal dry, itchy, and cracked skin, you don’t need to buy a $22 lotion in order to get the promised results.  You can just use the Cortaid or another hydrocortisone product that you have at home.  Well the lightbulb finally went off above my head.  I gathered my OTC 1% hydrocortisone lotion and for good measure my Neosporin as well because I figured a little antibiotic cream never hurt anyone.  I began applying both the Cortaid and Neosporin a few times a day to my fissures and the other chapped areas on my hands and followed that with hand lotion (I really think you can use whatever hand lotion brand you prefer).  Within a few days I finally felt and saw a difference!  One thing I did notice though, I have to keep up with the application of all three products if I want my skin to not crack or chap again.   But overall I have finally found relief from this frustrating skin condition, and I can’t emphasize enough how much this solution has helped me.   (I even created a little portable container with Neosporin and Cortaid in it to take with me in my purse so that I can always reapply when needed.)

Also – if you don’t want to use two products in order to treat your chapped hands and also don’t want to spend a ton of money on a hand lotion like the one mentioned above, I just saw that my local Target is carrying a Cortizone hand cream that contains 1% hydrocortisone.  This lotion costs about $7.  (There are actually two different versions of the cream to choose from)

*Fissures are a crack in the skin that penetrates down to the dermis which means it is deep and thus painful.  Chapped lips are another type of fissures.

Further reading:  Prevent and Soothe Chapped Winter Hands – WebMD