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snafu

snafu

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Mar 2, 2003
Posts
1,125
Location
GA
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I was just wondering how many other framers have dry skin like me?</FONT></P>


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I have been diagnosed with <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=eczema">
Eczema</A> (on my hands) If I don't keep my hands covered with hand cream or
Vaseline they will start to crack and bleed. I am usually seen in the shop and
always at home with vinyl gloves on covering my Vaseline soaked skin.

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<FONT SIZE="1">The larger text is provided by Can'tseedamnsmalltext Inc.</FONT></P>
 
Not many. Perhaps none. But nobody envies you for this rare condition.
Take care of your hands. It has nothing to do with framing, that's all I can say for sure.
 
I haven't been to a dermatologist yet, but I really do need to go see one. He/she will probably tell me exactly what you've been told, that I have eczema. My hands get VERY dry and crack and bleed and all that good stuff. It tends to be considerably worse during the winter, but I do get some bad times during the warmer months as well. Of course, since I am always here at the shop, it's really tough to keeps my hands covered with hand lotions or creams, so I usually need to grin and bear it. My worst "flare ups" don't usually last longer than a week or so. But it is **** inconvenient.
 
I'm sure working around all of te mat boards, cardboard, etc accelerates you hands conditions. My wife has exzema and she has found steroid creams really help. Elidel is a prescription one that your doctor probably has trial size ones to try out. Hope that helps
 
Wow, if you're typing on the keyboard with vinyl gloves, no wonder the font size is so large!
 
I used to get dry skin patches all over- never got it diagnosed- but once I put a filter on my shower head, they went away.
It could be a condition exacerbated by chlorine in your shower water- your body gets 75% of its water from showering, btw.
If you can afford it, get a good one, one with two stages of filters.

edie
 
Do you have it on your eyelids too?

I break out with eczema when I wear rubber gloves or use vasoline. My skin likes to breathe, that's where you get 75% . . . oh no, sorry wrong element.

There is this little green tin box with a salve in it that works for me. It has another use that its been known for many years. I'd type in the name of the body part of the cow that it goes on but the editing function might '####' it out. It rhymes with 'fit' if you were not raised on a farm, and rhymes with 'feet' if you were.
 
Not to get too personal, but do you use a deodorant soap, or an anti-bacterial hand soap?

Some of these things are deadly to people who have sensitive skin (like me) and picture framers tend to wash their hands about 30 times/day.

The most effective over-the-counter cream I've used is made, oddly-enough, by 3M. I don't remember the name, but I see it everywhere.

Also try udder guard, from your local farm supply. (I'm not making that up.) That's a product I first heard about from nurses, who also wash their hands too often.

Gee, could that be the stuff Eric is talking about?
 
Dermot - I use vinyl (allergic to latex)

Eric - I only get it on my hands.

Ron Eggers - I use anti-bacterial soap.


Thanks everyone!
 
Eric.
Udder Butter is a trade name for the salve of which you speak, as is Bag Balm. I have seen them in feed stores and old timey drug stores.
Very good at helping to keep skin (on hands, and cows udders) from drying and cracking due to dry, cold weather.
 
My sister was diagnosed with Eczema, suffered for years, horrible outbreaks. Lives on a farm: cows, sheep, goats, pigs etc. Oldest son, now a doctor, suffered most his life with same condition over whole body (WHOLE body). Then he went off to college and wasn't touching sheep anymore.....
Cleared up in a month. Both allergic to lanolin.
My sister can rattle off a list of things she can't eat or touch that will set her off. Wheat is
also a HUGE trigger.
Try an alergist and good luck.

Dermot, do you use the vinyl when you're drinking Guiness or just with the Bushmills?
baer
 
Snafu ,I have no technical kmowledge of your problem.however the creams that Ron and Wally suggested remind me of a cream we carried in our shop for customers who did needlework with Silk thread. Rough scaly hands could make hadling silk thread a nightmare. So it was discovered that a product named "Udder Cream" manufactured by Redex Industies of Salem ,Ohio 44480 was very helpful and it was as it is advertised "Greaseless-Stainless". it is however, enriched with Lanolin and Allantoin.
I saw it demonstrated for needleworkers at a show by allowing buyers to rub it all over there hands and then they were handed a tissue and told to rub there hands vigorusly. Belive me there was no grease stains and the stuff made the users hands smoth as a baby's behind.LOL Seems like it should be helpful in a frame shop as well.
It was originally designed to be used in conjunction with Orvus soap (the mildest soap you can find,it has no phosphates,yet it cleans. It is also used for cleaning fine textiles ) when washing Cows Udders in preperation for milking machines.
Both of these products are available at Livestock and feed stores but are some of the mildest products made. If they are used for fine textiles they may just work on rough scaly hands.
BUDDY
 
the stuff made the users hands smoth as a baby's behind
Click to expand...
And it also works very well on a baby's behind!

Snafu, while you're visiting the farm-and-feed store, you could pick up a cattle prod. Just the thing for controlling unruly customers.
 
Cortezone cream is what you use for exzema, you can get it over the counter or for a higher dose get a prescription from your doctor. I get it on my wrists, from stress. Your gloves are probably making it worse along with vaseline...your not letting your skin breathe.

Within days it'll probably be a lot better or less irratating! Try it...you'll see what a difference it'll make.

Big Door
www.bigdoorart.com
 
Another thing that is helpful, to a degree, with eczema is an old-fashioned cream or lotion with coal tar extract and allantoin in it.

I knew a girl, years ago, who had it pretty much all over her...to the point that it was starting to leave scars, or discolored spots, even after the latest outbreak subsided.

She was seeing a dermatologist, and taking all kinds of meds and using all kinds of lotions, etc. She came to the Mom and Pop drugstore that I do business with, and the pharmacist mixed up a strange concoction of coal tar extract, allantoin, aloe extract and, as I recall, some cream called Euricin (not sure about the spelling).

It worked really well for her. She stopped seeing the dermatologist, and would come and get a batch of the home-made stuff. She claimed it itched less, stayed more moist, and healed faster.

As far as I know, there isn't a magic bullet, and it pretty much hangs with you forever. The cortisone cream, particularly the prescription strength is also helpful.

Check with your pharmacist on the coal tar stuff, and you might find something that'll help in the Vermont Country Store catalog. Corn Huskers Lotion is also good at moisturizing your hands.

Good luck!
 
Another good one for keeping the hands hydrated...

Lac-Hydrin available by prescription only and I am supposed to go through a pint a month. When I don't use it, I have dry, cracked, bleeding fingers. It doesn't require the use of surgical gloves to keep it in place either. Lac-Hydrin contains 12% alpha-hydroxy acid so don't get it in a fresh crack of any sort. Alpha-hydroxy acids are reported to be one of the most effective, naturally occuring humectants in the skin. Doesn't have any added perfumes, but does have a slight alcohol/medicinal smell that disipates once soaked in. Skin cracking, scaling, etc occurs when the water content falls below 10%.

So much for the pharmacology lesson.
 
Please don't use anti-bacterial soap (or anyhing else 'anti- bacterial' come to that) it actually reduces your own resistance to bacteria. The generally accepted over-prescription of antibiotics, especially in cases of viral infections, is encouraging viruses to become more and more resistant to our drugs.
My dear old granny who looked after me during much of World War II, had the right idea. Whenever I made to brush off the dirt from any food that I dropped onto the floor,she would offer the advice "Don't worry boy, you'll have to eat a peck of dirt before you die".
I misunderstood her thinkingshe meant a tiny speck. She meant of course,a peck as in a bushel and a peck.
 
Try good old salt water.

I feel your pain...I've had bouts of eczema for 25 years, only on one of my hands. Dry, red, cracked, bleeding, itching. I went to many dermatologists over the years. Always prescribed cortizone...cream for the day and ointment with a cotton glove for night. It works but you get addicted to it sometimes, where you need to use it in order to control it but guess what happened!!!!!!

Many years ago,(18), I went to St. Maartin during a particularly bad episode...I had to wear bandaids to pack my clothes so I wouldn't get blood on them but when I went into the high-salt Caribbean Ocean, IT CLEARED UP and stayed away for several years.

It started on my hand again recently and my husband bought me natural sea salt...I would have preferred another trip to St. Maartin. I soak my hand in hot water and salt for about 15 minutes once a day and it immediately improves. It burns alittle but it really helps.

Good luck because I know it's a drag
 
Thanks for all your suggestions!

My hands are now soaking in Udder Cream,I have ordered Lac-Hydrin from Canada and I will buy some sea salt today.
 
One other thing, Snafu. Eczema is aggravated by stress. Your dermatologist has probably told you that, but it's worth repeating. The effect can be sudden and dramatic.

Try to avoid IRS audits, drunk driving arrests, etc until you get this thing under control.
 
p.s. Snafu
I went swimming in a chlorinated pool the other day and my hand is dry itchy mess!!!
 
Whenever I get dry cracking skin, I use an anti fungal cream along with cortisone cream, always clears it up. Usually find these products over the counter in the foot care section. There is even a clear liquid that clears up fungal infections. The liquid hurts like heck when you first start using it, however, it works the fastest and stops hurting about the third application. Use the stuff about three times a day, should fix you right up. The kind I use is put out by Good Neighbor Pharmacy, called Anti-Fungal Liquid. It's a topical formula for toes and fingers. It comes in a one oz. bottle. It is not cheap, but sure works well. Be sure to use it at night, before getting in bed, let it work all night.

I think that this condition is common to our industry. Much like bartenders, our hands seem to be wet an awful lot. In the old days it was called dishpan hands. All it really is, is a fungal infection.

John
 
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