Help with manicure, problem hands

[alpina]

My boyfriend is a mechanic and has very very rough dry hands. They are calloused and hard with peeling dry skin, and his cuticles are really split and damaged. I have no idea what to do. Would post pictures, cause can't really explain how bad they are, but I don't know how.

I give him manicures every few days and have tried absolutely everything I can think of or have been recomended when I was studying manicures at school. I've used many different exfoliants from homemade ones to creative AHA scrub. I've used pedipaddles to try to smooth the skin, solar oil constantly. Moisturiser and body butters seem to dissapear immediately and not have much effect.

I don't know what else to do, sometimes it can really hurt him because the skin is peeling and gets caught on things, then rips the skin even more.

Any ideas would be very appreciated.

 

[RAQUEL]

well a paraffin mask may help..but as for the skin peeling i would really get him to check it out with a doctor to be sure.. could be some form of contact dermatitis and you can be prescribed special handwashes and stuff.. wont hurt to ask..

 

[alpina]

well a paraffin mask may help..but as for the skin peeling i would really get him to check it out with a doctor to be sure.. could be some form of contact dermatitis and you can be prescribed special handwashes and stuff.. wont hurt to ask..

Sorry, hard to explain about the peeling. It's like blisters that have burst, but the skin is really hard and dry. The peeling is just on the pads of his hands in circles around the blister looking things, and where his cuticles are split they sometime get caught and peel back.

I'm not an expert on this, but I've seen a few cases of dermatitis (well only three), but this looks totally different to the others

 

[naturalnails]

His hands are probably dry and callused because of the work he does. You will be able to improve it slightly but whilst he continues to use his hands in the same way, you might be fighting a losing battle.

As hand treatments dont seem to be working, perhaps try something heavier like a foot treatment. There has been a new callus treatment mentioned on here recently, orange peel treatment, I think.

And also try the CND Cucumber Heel repair.

Just a thought.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

His hands are probably dry and callused because of the work he does. You will be able to improve it slightly but whilst he continues to use his hands in the same way, you might be fighting a losing battle.

As hand treatments dont seem to be working, perhaps try something heavier like a foot treatment. There has been a new callus treatment mentioned on here recently, orange peel treatment, I think.

And also try the CND Cucumber Heel repair.

Just a thought.

It's interesting you mentioned the Orange Callus Peel for this because I thought the same thing, however, I would definitely phone Beauty Select first to see if it is possible to use this as a hand treatment.

I agree that it is also possible that it could be a contact dermatitis (blisters). No harm in seeing a GP or skin specialist.

 

[talented talons]

I had a mate that suffered like this and he was a mechanic as well. The only time his hands improved was when he had some time off.

I did persuade him to wear gloves in bed with loads of intense hand moisteriser on a couple of times which did help, but the body's defense is to put hard skin to protect his hands from the oil and grease they come into contact with. Does he wear gloves at all? I know he may feel this either annoying or sissy at work, but that is the only way to start to relieve this problem.

 

[Chameleon]

And also try the CND Cucumber Heel repair.

i second this.Have seen fantastic results on the Worse skin ever on my father in law

 

[neko]

I get something similar on my hands when I am stressed and run down. Little tiny bubble blisters that pop and the skin gets really hard and thick, when it peels away it leaves the new skin underneath more tender than it has any right to be, often red.
It's called pustular psoriasis, and since it's not the most common form of psoriasis, it is often mistaken for excema (sp?) or dermatitis.
If it is so bad that he is in pain touching things (same thing happened to me about three years ago) it may be best to send him off to a dermatologist.
Some things that helped me out:

Neem extract... I cannot reccomend this highly enought. It worked when nothing else did! It can be hard to get your hands on, so Google it.
Vitamin A cream
Sunlight. Exposing the areas to the sun for at least ten minutes a day. If you have a UV light, even better. Get him to pop his hands in there for up to half an hour.

HTH, but I strongly recommend that you get it checked out, because if it is a skin condition and not just his job, using products on it can irritate it and make it worse, because the skin is already inflamed. Best of luck, this can be quite a painful condition.

 

[loubylou]

My ex husband is a mechanic and he used to suffer with this too, it was because his hands were exposed to the dirty oil and grease all day, he started to use a strong barrier cream before he went near any engines and kept topping up through the day and this solved the problem hth

 

[alpina]

I will try to get him to have this checked out at a doctor, but I doubt he will go, he's too stubborn. I'll also check out some of those orange peel things to see if I can get them here and if I can use them on his hands. I also intend to buy cucumber heel therapy by the truckload, have heard wonderful things about it.

Thanks for all the advice guys!