Hi Lauren, I got something like this a few years ago- dry, cracked very painful finger tips. Sometimes it was raw-red like a burn. It was always worse on my most often used digits, especially the thumbs. It was worse in cold weather, but went away when vacation meant no dishwashing for a week! (And returned as quickly as dishwashing did).
I also used "Lansinoh" and also found plain olive oil to be helpful. Covering with band-aids reduced some of the pain but is not helpful for spinning and knitting. Once my kids were out of diapers it disappeared and doesn't bother me so often. I think the diapering was hard on my fingers and meant I was wetting my hands a lot. I have heard that ceramic artists get this often. I could spin and knit alright (though the dry skin and bandaids were annoying) but sewing (manipulating pins for example) and outdoor work (like fence repair or gardening) and potato peeling were very painful. Lately I've had a different thing - itching blisters under the skin on just one foot. A nurse friend and a doctor called it "pompholyx" or dishydrotic eczema - and said it can be brought on by stress (even such as traveling, staying up late, and so forth). I just did a Google search for "pompholyx" and found some accurate descriptions and PHOTOS. (The photos of affected hands looked like what you described in your post)! When I was a kid at summer camp sometimes people got the "creeping crud" it was tiny blisters on the fingers and was suspected to be from chlorine in the water (seems like the kitchen workers got it most often). I hope you find something to alleviate (or at least understand) your painful/annoying situation as soon as possible! Carla in Brussels, Belgium To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
