In humans, cracks in the skin can appear on any part of the body. This is observed with eczema, psoriasis, mycoses, thermal and chemical burns, frostbite, allergic reactions. However, most often this ailment and at the same time a cosmetic defect is observed on the hands and on the heels. The article discusses the causes and methods of treating cracks in the skin that appeared on these parts of the body.
General information
Our hands, starting from infancy, almost every minute come into contact with the environment or with any surfaces. Therefore, the skin of the hands (especially on the hands) is constantly exposed to air, moisture, wind, toxins, the influence of various chemicals when performing many types of work. All this contributes to skin fatigue, as a result of which it loses elasticity and freshness. If you do not take measures, painful wounds may appear on the palms, on the fingers, on the back of the hands.
Cracks in the skin of the heels are mainly observed in women and men in the summer, when these parts of the body, being open, are constantly in contact with the external environment and dust, and sometimes with the ground. Cracks in the legs are easier to hide from the eyes of others, but they can cause incredible torment, as they cause pain when walking. Therefore, the legs need to be given no less attention than hands or face.
Pathogenesis of cracks in the hands
In many people, such wounds appear suddenly. They are noticed at the moment when some aggressive liquid (soap, lemon juice, alcohol, and so on) gets on the sore spot. In such cases, you need to immediately rinse the wound under running water, wipe and apply an anti-inflammatory and painkiller, for example, Levomikol ointment. These actions are the solution to the problem only when the appearance of cracks in the skin of the hands is caused by external stimuli. Such wounds in the course of treatment soon heal and no longer appear.
However, it often happens that cracks in the arms occur for no apparent reason. If you manage to heal them, soon in the same area the integrity of the skin is again violated. Some patients say that before the appearance of the wound, the skin in that place becomes thinner and itches heavily. Most often, this is observed on the palms and fingers. Such cracks are difficult to treat by external means and deliver a lot of unpleasant moments. In some people, the skin around the cracks itches and peels off until they heal. If an infection gets into the wounds, an inflammatory process may begin, suppuration.
External causes
Many people, trying to protect themselves from all kinds of viruses and bacteria, wash their hands repeatedly with soap over the course of the day. Some try to use widely advertised bactericides for this purpose, for example, Dettol, and especially scrupulous citizens even rub their hands with alcohol (just in case). Hygiene is a good thing, but do not forget that soap and all kinds of disinfectants greatly dry the skin. That is, after hygiene procedures, you must definitely use a moisturizing hand cream, as the main cause of cracks is dry skin. It can be made not only soap, but also other means and environments:
- Chlorinated water (just such flows from our taps).
- Household chemicals, with which we do the cleaning of the house, washing the dishes.
- Washing powders.
- Stay in the wind and frost without gloves.
- Unsuitable cosmetics.
- Work without gloves with the ground or in cold water.
- Long exposure to the sun.
- Some substances and compounds used in professional activities, if a person works without gloves (plaster, solvents, dyes, alcohol solutions, glue and others).
- Food products during their cooking (garlic, radish, lemons, onions, tomatoes and others).
Most often, people who allow contact of the skin of the hands with aggressive environments understand why they have wounds. To heal them, it is necessary to exclude contact with irritating substances and consult a dermatologist so that he prescribes effective treatment using external drugs. If they do not help, then the problem is not only in external factors.
Internal causes of cracks in the skin of the hands
Many diseases of the internal organs contribute to the appearance of wounds on the skin. A visit to the doctor is required in order to correctly determine the cause of the problem. Wounds that do not appear from contact with irritants are a symptom of one of the following diseases:
- Psoriasis.
- Eczema.
- Mycoses.
- Helminthiasis.
- Atopic dermatitis.
- Diabetes.
- Allergy (it can be on any product, clothing fabrics, dust, cosmetics and other irritants).
- Hypothyroidism
- Neurosis.
- Gastrointestinal diseases.
- Vegetovascular dystonia.
- Vitamin deficiency (basically, the skin reacts by the appearance of cracks to a lack of vitamins E, B7 and A, magnesium, iron and omega-z unsaturated fatty acid).
- Pyococcal infections.
- Stress.
- Hormonal disorders.
- Metabolic disease.
A dermatologist cannot diagnose all these diseases himself. Therefore, he directs the patient, who often has cracks in his hands, to specialized specialists such as an endocrinologist, allergist, neurologist and others.
Sores near the nails
Fissures of the skin on the fingers are most often observed in the area of the cuticle. This is a thin strip of skin framing a nail from the side of the hole. Sores in this place may appear for any of the reasons listed above. In addition, some women experience cracks in the cuticle due to manicure. If it is performed by a master without experience, he can injure the thin and delicate skin around the nail. This applies to both classic manicure and hardware. Nail extension is now in fashion, as well as coating them with gel polish, for which a UV lamp is used.
All this was invented to create real masterpieces on the nails that should last long. However, the developers did not take into account the negative effect of the lamp. It can be one of the causes of cracked skin on the fingers. Experienced masters, performing manicure with a lamp, apply protective agents to the cuticles of clients. If this is not done, the skin becomes thinner and cracks form on it. In addition, the cuticles are often inflamed from infection, which causes tangible pain in women.
Hormonal disorders
Cracks in the skin on the fingers and palms often appear in women during pregnancy, which is associated with changes in their body. In addition, wounds are a signal that the expectant mother is lacking in vitamins.
A pregnant woman should first consult a gynecologist about a crack in the skin. If he considers it necessary, he will refer the patient to a consultation with a dermatologist.
Another category of people who can observe cracks in the skin is the elderly. Due to age-related changes, they produce less collagen and fat, and the skin is very thin, it becomes dry. Together, these factors often cause cracks in the hands.
Adolescents during puberty and hormonal changes in the body also fall into the risk group. According to medical statistics, they most often have cracked skin on the fingers near the nails. Unskillful hand care and unprofessional manicure can contribute to this.
Cracked heels
It is believed that this problem is typical only for older people, especially those who often walk without shoes on various hard surfaces (earth, dusty roads and others). However, this is only partially true. The causes of cracked skin on the heels can also be both external and internal, which include all the diseases listed above.
In addition, such factors can cause wounds on the legs:
- Wearing shoes of poor quality (made of artificial materials), which causes an allergic reaction.
- Increased sweating.
- Wearing uncomfortable shoes that presses or rubs.
- Unstable heels.
- Lack of proper foot care (many people confine themselves to washing their lower extremities without thinking that there are special creams, scrubs, and foot masks).
Separately, it must be said about mycoses. Legs of various pathogenic fungi strike most often. Without treatment, the disease in 100% of cases causes cracks, inflammation and peeling of the skin, accompanied by severe itching.
If the fungus appears on the hands, most often it is localized on the palms and between the fingers.
If parasitic microorganisms have infected the legs, cracks may also appear between the toes. In addition, they are observed on the soles and heels.
Diagnostics
To establish the causes of skin cracks in the arms and legs, a number of tests are mandatory:
- Scraping. The biomaterial of the skin surrounding the crack is taken. This analysis reveals the presence or absence of pathogenic fungi that caused the problem.
- Allergen tests.
- General blood analysis. Hemoglobin and erythrocyte counts are determined to rule out or confirm iron deficiency.
- Analysis for the presence of helminths.
- Blood biochemistry.
- Be sure to conduct an examination of internal organs, in particular, find out the indicators of glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin. They are one of the main for the diagnosis of diabetes, often causing cracks in the skin.
Foot Therapies
To treat wounds on the arms and legs, two main methods of treatment are used:
- Using external funds.
- Drugs taken orally.
Typically, these methods work in conjunction.
To heal cracks in the legs and arms, different means are used.
Outwardly for the treatment of cracks in the skin of the heels use:
- "Radevit."
- "Calendula".
- Zinc ointment.
- "Balzamed."
- Bepanten.
- Plain petroleum jelly.
- Zazhivin.
It is advisable to steam the legs before applying the ointment by making a bath with sea salt (1 tbsp. Per 1000 ml of water) or decoctions of herbs (chamomile, calendula, nettle). The duration of the procedure is up to 30 minutes, but you need to make sure that the water remains warm all the time. Also in the bath you can add essential oils of lemon, lavender, sea buckthorn, calendula. After the procedure, it is advisable to carefully remove dead skin from the heels with a pumice, wipe it well, apply cream and put on socks.
On sale there are special mask socks in which there is an insert with healing properties.
Hand Therapies
To treat cracks in the hands, you can also do baths. They relieve irritation, soothe pain, itching, heal wounds, nourish the skin. Baths for the hands can be done with the same components as for the legs. Decoctions of herbs are prepared at the rate of 1 tsp. dry mixture per 1000 ml of boiling water. They need to pour grass and let it brew. Next, the infusion is filtered and applied as intended.
The most popular hand creams are listed below.
For crack healing:
- "Solcoseryl."
- "Pleased."
- Levomikol.
- BoroPlus.
- Pantestin.
To relieve itching:
To relieve inflammation and protect against infection:
- "Triacort."
- Beloderm.
- "Elokom."
- Kutivate.
- Dermoveit.
Imported drugs:
- Lipikar.
- HIDRADERM Sesvalia.
- Remederm silver.
- Cutibaza.
- Locobase Repair.
When choosing an emollient hand cream, make sure that it contains lanolin, propylene glycol, glycerol stearate, and squalene.
In moisturizers, glycerin, lactic and hyaluronic acids, sorbitol, propylene glycol should be present.
If it is written on a tube with cream that it is healing, it should contain at least one or two elements from the list:
- Vitamins A or E (well, if they are both).
- Propolis oil, sea buckthorn, chamomile, jojoba, grape seed, avocado.
- Lanolin.
- Essential oils of tea tree, eucalyptus, lemon, chamomile, calendula.
A good effect in the healing of cracks in the hands is observed if a person adheres to the following algorithm:
- Makes a bath for 20 minutes.
- He wipes his hands dry.
- Apply cream.
- He puts on light cotton gloves.
Of course, you need to perform such procedures before bedtime. To moisturize the skin, you can use regular petroleum jelly, which must be applied in a thick layer.
Note that if the patient has mycoses, the dermatologist prescribes medicinal ointments, among which may be:
- "Nizoral."
- "Clotrimazole."
- "Ketoconazole."
- "Lamisil."
- "Mikospor".
Pregnant drugs for external use should only be prescribed by a doctor, since many drugs negatively affect the development of the fetus. Most often, the ladies in the position are prescribed Prednisolone, Hydrocortisone.
Oral drugs are prescribed for the detection of diseases of internal organs, with helminthiases, stress. In addition, a course of vitamin therapy is attributed to almost every patient.
Folk remedies
In the piggy bank of the healers there are many recipes for decoctions and ointments that improve the condition of the skin and heal cracks.
Foot baths. Healers recommend making them based on sea salt, which you need to take in the amount of 1 tbsp. l per 1000 ml of water. For a greater effect, literally 3-5 drops of one of the following essential oils can be added to this solution:
- Lavender.
- Rosemary.
- Calendula
- Tea tree.
- Fir.
- Pines.
- Siberian larch.
To improve skin condition, healing, reduce sweating, you can add 5 ml of iodine to the base solution. The duration of the bath is 15 minutes, after which the feet should be washed with clean water.
Baths for hands. The simplest and most effective:
- Softening. 1 cup bran pour 400 ml of boiling water, cover, allow to cool to a comfortable temperature, immerse in a lot of hands for 10 minutes. After that, wash off what remains on the skin and grease it with cream.
- With dry skin. For 200 ml of hot water, you need to take 1 tsp. ordinary baking soda and sea salt. Stir, place in hand solution for 10 minutes. After that, rinse the skin and grease with cream.
Masks For dry skin, a mask with the following ingredients is very useful:
- Olive, burdock and almond oils (2 tbsp each).
- Honey (1 tsp)
Mix the oils, slightly heat, add honey, mix well again and apply to the skin for 10 minutes, then rinse with water and apply cream.
The recipe for another mask that softens too dry hands:
Take 1 tbsp. l honey and linseed oil, mix, slightly warm, add ½ tsp. grapefruit juice, mix, apply on hands, put on cotton gloves on top. After an hour, wash off the mask and grease your hands with cream.
Ointments. The most affordable product is prepared from petroleum jelly and powdered dry herbs of calendula, chamomile, plantain. Herbs are simply added to the petroleum jelly, everything is thoroughly mixed. You can take any amount of herbs, but the product should be such that it is convenient to apply to the skin.
Prevention
Preventive measures are based on the causes of cracks. If diseases of the internal organs are “to blame”, they need to be diagnosed and treated on time.
To exclude external factors affecting the occurrence of wounds, it is necessary to prevent skin contact with harmful substances, that is, to work with gloves.
It is also necessary to conduct an audit of your cosmetics and replace those that do not suit you.
Of course, you need to monitor the hygiene of the hands and feet, use emollient, nourishing and anti-irritant skin products.
It is imperative to provide a large number of foods rich in vitamins in the diet.
To avoid the appearance of cracks in the legs, it is required to wear only comfortable, high-quality shoes.
An important point in preventive measures is the avoidance of stress and the organization of the correct daily routine, in which enough time is given to rest.