Unusually dry on the back of my hands... is that normal?

Do you wash your hands frequently? Do you dry the palm area well but let the backs of your hands remain damp after washing them? Were the backs of your hands dry prior to taking the antibiotics? When you apply hand lotion (and with this dryness, you should be each time you wash your hands), do you apply it to all areas except the backs of your hands? These are the sorts of questions you need to be asking yourself. Also, consider getting some OTC yeast treatment (think: athletes foot) and try that. If that doesn't work, try some OTC antibiotic ointment. If that doesn't work, try some OTC anti-itch cream - it has healing powers, too. If none of these work and you can't figure out the cause, make an appointment with a dermatologist. However, keep in mind they are very popular doctors these days, not like years ago, and it could be 3 or more months before they'll have an appointment to offer you. Would suggest you make the appointment, then go about trying the ointments I've mentioned above. If one happens to work for you, call ASAP to cancel the appointment.

Vitamin E oil might work; I've just never used it so have no firsthand experience with it. If need be, wear cotton gloves to sleep in to keep your sheets from being stained. You might also add some vaseline into the mix instead of hand lotion...lotions with shea butter are supposed to be good.

From the location, it doesn't sound as if contact with some surface could play into this, unless you have some unusual activity that involves something touching mostly the backs of your hands.

The "serious genital disease" might be toxic shock syndrome but there may be others I'm not aware of. TSS can be caused by other things, not just the use of tampons.

An interesting story about a skin disorder is that a friend of mine would, once or twice a year, occasionally more often, have the skin of her fingers and palms peel, leaving her hands raw and bloody; they'd slowly heal up. Some attacks were worse than others. As she aged, she had a gallbladder attack and needed her gallbladder out. After that, her hands never peeled again! So, it may not be external...

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RE:

Unusually dry on the back of my hands... is that normal?

My skin on the back of my hands is constantly getting really dry. I've never had this problem so much before. I've been taking antibiotics for an infection, and I got a cold sore a while ago, could one of these be the reason?

I just remember my health teacher from freshman year saying that...

It definitely isn't TSS-- which is not a "serious genital disease", it's a staph infection and becomes very serious in a very short period of time.

Cold sore has nothing to do with it either.

The antibiotics may possibly play a role.

Most likely it's just due to the dry air of winter. If you wash your hands a lot and/or do things like washing dishes, using cleaners, etc., it may be causing the problem to worsen.

Find a good but gentle hand lotion. Wear rubber gloves to do dishes/clean, etc.. Keep your hands protected from the cold. Get a humidifier.

Vaseline can do wonders to heal sore, chapped skin. Get a pair of cheap cotton gloves and put vaseline and the gloves on at bedtime.

Dry Skin On Back

It's normal for excessive drying to occur during the really cold weather, you might have eczema and not be aware of it. I have eczema and barely ever get dry skin only in the cold weather between my fingers and various other parts of my body. I suggest you use Aveeno Eczema Therapy Cream even if you don't have eczema and just really dry skin you should use it because it will moisturize and those dry patches will be gone in no time. You'll literally feel the difference the first time you put it on!

Back Of Hands