Years ago, when I was working at CardSupply, my fingers on my right hand started getting weird.  The skin would blister, dry out and crack.  At first I thought it must be from handling paper all day.  However, more than five years later, it is still here.  I’ve tried various remedies, even saw a doctor once.  The doctor told me there was really nothing I could do. 

Two weeks ago I decided to try something new.  I knew that part of the problem was that the skin could never heal.  So, I started wearing latex gloves at home.  It seemed to work fairly well, the skin actually healed up to the point where there were no cracks.  I started using a leather glove on my hand during racquetball.  Last night the glove still didn’t protect from a crack forming on my thumb.  All the little bubbles are still there under the skin as well, they just keep on coming forever apparently.

Usually this is irritating, but when the skin on my thumb cracks open it actually hurts to do every day things.  Imagine if you had a constant deep gouge on the inside of your thumb…. 

For those of you (thank your lucky stars) who don’t go through this, see wikipedia.  The first photo is pretty much what my right hand looks like on the thumb and middle finger (and to a lesser extent the other fingers sometimes as well).  The descriptions fit my case exactly – right down to the “pits” in my nails on the worst fingers (thumb and middle).

Ironically the article states that latex gloves, like those I’ve been wearing for two weeks, exacerbate the condition.   I’m already wearing gloves all the time, moisturizing all the time and avoiding soaps altogether (on that hand).  I’m not sure what else I can do or try. 

Why only my right hand?  I have a nickel allergy on my right hand that developed around the same time as well.  I’ve worn my watch on my left hand for the past five years with no irritation over there.