Utter cream work pretty well too.
Cracks in the skin that won't heal
- Thread starter wynn
- Start date
Have you found out what it was? I am going through this now and have had cracks near my thumb nail for a year. I am seeing a chiropractor who is trying to tell me it's coming from a pinched nerve in my neck, not sure I believe that.I have small cracks in the skin on my left middle finger, on the back side of the last joint before the nail. It started out with a small crack in the skin that took a long time (more than a week) to heal. Then more and more of such parallel wounds appeared, as if they would be finely cut, refusing to heal, and itching. I applied a greasy facial and body cream, desinfected, but it didn't really help. I went to the pharmacy, got a gel that helped for a few days, and some of the wounds healed - but then next to them, new ones appeared, wider and deeper, and they refuse to heal. As you can see in the picture.
The skin is hardened, it itches (and my finger is a bit swollen).
Is there anything I can try out, home-remedy wise, to heal this?
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Did you go to an actual dermatologist? That is their specialty, obviously.
I have found that the most competent, successful general practitioners are the ones who take a good look at something and then write up a referral to a specialist, instead of trying to deal with it themselves.
I went to my G.P. because of a problem with my knee. She sent me to an orthopedist who turned out to be one of the doctors who travels with the U.S. Olympic team! Needless to say, he did a fabulous job on my knee. When I woke up from the surgery, I walked out of the clinic without even needing a cane!
Hi Wynn, long time no talk to. I've had a similar problem to what you have described only on my right index finger. At the time I was taking a couple of Naproxen Sodium caplets about 4 times daily. As long as I continued to take this OTC pain reliever the cracks in my finger would not heal. I finally switched to Acetaminophen and cut the number of times I used it and after a couple of weeks my finger healed up and I haven't had that problem any more.I have small cracks in the skin on my left middle finger, on the back side of the last joint before the nail. It started out with a small crack in the skin that took a long time (more than a week) to heal. Then more and more of such parallel wounds appeared, as if they would be finely cut, refusing to heal, and itching. I applied a greasy facial and body cream, desinfected, but it didn't really help. I went to the pharmacy, got a gel that helped for a few days, and some of the wounds healed - but then next to them, new ones appeared, wider and deeper, and they refuse to heal. As you can see in the picture.
The skin is hardened, it itches (and my finger is a bit swollen).
Is there anything I can try out, home-remedy wise, to heal this?
I strongly suspect my level of medication was stressing my liver in a way that caused my system to respond in the way it did. Don't know for sure, but I will not take Naproxen again as those finger cracks were very annoying to say the least.
In case you were wondering how long I had that problem before I switched OTC drugs, it was about 4 or 5 months. So I was climbing the wall looking for a solution. I will say this that getting rid of those finger cracks was much better than the reason I was taking the Naproxen for in the first place.
If you aren't taking Naproxen, take a look at what you are taking regularly, and then investigate it and see if others might be experiencing a similar problem with that medication.