Excessive hand washing making my skin dry

[phil06]

My excessive hand washing is leaving my skin dry to the degree my knuckles get quite sore and they are cracked/breaking up meaning it's even worse. I have cream for them but always forget to put it on as I'm busy doing stuff or on the computer or at work.

Anybody else hand wash too much? I use a couple of bottles of hand sanitizer a week and a few bars of soap from all the showering too.

How can I beat this OCD? Anybody else got bad skin from hand washing? :shrug:

[Anxious_gal]

Wow that's really bad for your skin. You're going to be more prone to infections, as the skin is what protects you. Stop using alcohol gels, try baby wipes instead maybe.

The OCD is causing you to harm yourself. If you keep up with the excessive washing I dread to think what will become if your skin.

OCD is like anxiety as the more you give in to the urges the more the OCD takes over.

Are you getting any help with it at all?

[HeadInAJar]

Counter to what Anxious gal says, I suffered with the same for many years and never once suffered anything due to the cracked skin besides irritation and soreness from the skin being cracked, and I doubt I was just lucky. Most antibac gels leave a coating on your hands as a barrier as extra protection.

On the plus side, its remarkable how quickly your skin recovers if you can give it the chance.

The only way to get over the handwashing compulsion is to slowly try to increase the level of contamination you can tolerate on your hands. If you are getting help from a therapist, and they have said anything about CBT, part of that would be writing a hierachy of your hand contamination fears, in order of what causes you least fear to the most fear/anxiety.

A low fear might be touching a normal door knob say, and a higher one might be touching a toilet door knob. You start with the lesser and touch it and then dont wash your hands. Even if you can only manage it for 2 mins before giving in. The next time youd try for longer. Eventually it wouldnt affect you so much, and youd move onto your next item that causes slightly more anxiety. And so on. Thats how I got past my own handwashing problems. Im not aware of any other way of beating it accept toughing it out until it stops bothering you so much.

[t0rt01se36]

I have hand washing prob too. I was diagnosed with Dermatitis and was given cream. I found that too greasy and stopped using it.

My Sister gave me a tube recently, which is Nivea Anti Bac. It is really good! Sinks in really well.

My hands have got so bad, with cracks and so on.

[smalltrace]

I'm also having problems with my skin cracking between my fingers from too much washing my hands. I keep trying to put hand cream on them but only takes forgetting for one night and they start again. If you can try and at least put a good cream on in a thick lay each night when you get into bed. Also maybe you are doing a lot of cleaning, if so perhaps use disposable gloves when doing cleaning, especially if handling cleaning wipes as they are very drying to the skin.
The hand sanitizer will be making it worse as they are so high in alcohol and very drying to the hands. As above poster said there is a new hand cream which contains a sanitizer in it. Might be hard to get hold of (I couldn't get it last shop) but keep an eye open for it. It might help you if you cannot stop the hand sanitizers.
Also try buying a handcream that sinks in fast, that way when you put it on you can go about your normal things quickly. Thats half the problem with hand creams, you put them on and they take ages to sink in and some leave a oily residue. You need to shop about a bit and find one you like.

[Tessar]

CBT would be my suggestion & in the meantime you MUST apply moisturiser regularly. I think anyone at this time of year can have a problem with dry skin (i get that quite badly so have to push myself to moisturise regularly). It's essential to remember do it frequently - tho i do understand when on a computer, at work etc it isnt always convenient. It must be so painful tho as I know when my hands once reacted to some liquid soap its was really dry & tight. That's why i'm so into moisturising now & why you need to do it too. Everyone's advice here is very good. I hope you are able to improve the situation soon, meanwhile stay in touch.