Does anyone have skin peeling above finger nails?

I have I.T.P. and this winter I have been having skin peeling above finger nails. It is red, painful, and skin splits? I am not sure if it is part of I.T.P. I've asked my hematologist, but he doesn't have an answer. None of the hand lotions I used helped.

Does anyone else have this problem with I.T.P.? Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you.

I have that going on too, and it has nothing to do with ITP. More likely, it's caused by constant Prednisone use which thins the skin, and the cold weather doesn't help.

This will sound weird but you can use super glue on skin splits. It sounds like it would burn but it doesn't. I'm serious.
Erica

I have that going on right now - it is extremely dry here [winter and we are told we need to water our grass/bushes/trees], then using real hot water to wash hands and dishes and anything else that needs to be washed.

What I do is put some antibiotic cream on the split then a bandage. If I am going to have to get that hand in water then I put on one of those thin exam gloves I have [use them when I clean] - my doctor had told to try not to get it wet, in fact he told me to cut one of the thumbs off a glove and put in over my thumb.

When bad I use this ointment:
Aquaphor Healing Ointment from Eucerin
it is a bit greasy at first but that goes away.

This is my third winter in a row with this problem. My husband has it too but he is out in the cold a lot more than I am. I use neosporin on the splits and it heals right up pretty quick. I also use hand lotion about 10 times a day.

Hi Erica,

Thanks for the suggestion of super glue. I have started using clear nail polish and it has really helped tremendously.

Sandi,

I had never had skin peeling above finger nails, redness, pain, and skin spliting prior to this winter. The only time I have been on predisone was in 2010, when I first came down with I.T.P. I have noticed that my skin is getting thinner. ugh
Thanks for your reply.

Melinda,

I have used Neosporin and band aides. It helped some, but finally the nail polish worked the best. I do use rubber gloves when doing dishes.

Thanks for the name of ointment that you use.

I've used Bag Balm. Sounds icky--it's an udder cream developed originally for cows!

I used to buy bag balm for eczema. Didn't work though.

I also have a very dry, cracking heel. I've been using lotion and it's working. Winter sure is tough on skin, especially when you get older.

I'd ask my hematologist several times about my skin peeling so bad. He did not know what to do except told me to use over the counter hand lotion. I told my family doctor and he said hand lotions.

All winter and spring I had used lotions and nothing worked.

Since the peeling only got worst this spring, I searched for a dermatologist. He said I had eczema on my fingers and hands. He called in a prescription for eczema. This was 2 days ago. It is beginning to work!

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not an ITP patient, but I get those cracks after cleaning and gardening, especially in winter. (It was worse when I was having problems with Raynaud's.) I realized that when I used SortKwik (the silicone tacky finger stuff that helps you leaf through paperwork and keep the pages separate without - yuck - licking your fingertip), I had less trouble. I'm sure a silicone based lotion would help, too, but I just occasionally swirl my fingertips through the SortKwik on my desk and then massage it in. I know that's weird, but when my fingertips are dry enough to snag my pantyhose, whatever works is great.
Norma

My boyfriend is a doctor and washes his hands at least 20-30 times a day. His hands are so dry cracked and bloody. What he does is buys aquaphor which was recommendd by my dermatologist. He puts it on his hands at night in winter and then sleeps with gloves on. It makes a world of difference

My ITP teen also had eczema on her hands, which flared when her counts were low. The dermatologist told us eczema was another autoimmune disorder. I'd never realized that before. I had forgotten about the gloves, but she used Eucerin cream with gloves at night. You can get pretty gloves near the cosmetic area of a drugstrore, but in the bandage area, you find plain white ones cheaper. Now that I think about it, since she has been in remission from ITP, she doesn't have problems with her hands, either.
Norma