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What Causes Splitting Of Skin On Hands And Feet?
Question: My husband has severe splitting of his skin on his hands and feet. It basically looks like someone took a razor blade and sliced them up. His feet have tons of what I guess are build-ups of dead skin around the cuts. He seems to go through cycles and is in extreme pain most of the time. We have been to six doctors and no one can tell him what it is.
Brief Answer:
May be Ichthyosis Vulgaris
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query.
The condition is limited only to the soles and hands.
This may be Ichthyosis Vulgaris.
I would suggest the following treatment for such a patient and helps all my patients and may help your husband too.
First of all clean all the parts with lukewarm water.
You may please use hydrogen peroxide as it allows the dead skin to get loosened from the normal tissue, reduced the hardness and hence the retraction at the sides of the crack which is responsible for delayed or no healing, ulcer formation, infection and pain in the said affected areas.
Dry the area with a pure cotton cloth.
Apply Cotaryl ( Urea) cream at bedtime.
Take Therapeutic dosage of Vitamin A and Vitamin D and continue with multivitamins.
Oral antibiotics if there is an evidence of infection in the cracks.
Oral steroids in short courses.
To reduce the stress and anxiety.
Use cotton shoes.
If this is done twice a day and religiously, it helps a lot.It helps all my patients.
I hope this answer helps you both to get a proper treatment.
Please feel to ask for more if you need to .
With best wishes.
May be Ichthyosis Vulgaris
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query.
The condition is limited only to the soles and hands.
This may be Ichthyosis Vulgaris.
I would suggest the following treatment for such a patient and helps all my patients and may help your husband too.
First of all clean all the parts with lukewarm water.
You may please use hydrogen peroxide as it allows the dead skin to get loosened from the normal tissue, reduced the hardness and hence the retraction at the sides of the crack which is responsible for delayed or no healing, ulcer formation, infection and pain in the said affected areas.
Dry the area with a pure cotton cloth.
Apply Cotaryl ( Urea) cream at bedtime.
Take Therapeutic dosage of Vitamin A and Vitamin D and continue with multivitamins.
Oral antibiotics if there is an evidence of infection in the cracks.
Oral steroids in short courses.
To reduce the stress and anxiety.
Use cotton shoes.
If this is done twice a day and religiously, it helps a lot.It helps all my patients.
I hope this answer helps you both to get a proper treatment.
Please feel to ask for more if you need to .
With best wishes.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
I looked at photos of people with Ichthyosis Vulgaris and it is nothing like what my husband has. I need to send you a photo, but am not certain how to do that at this point. Although there is some scaling - it is very thick and hard.
Please let me know how to send a photo.
Please let me know how to send a photo.
Brief Answer:
Please start the treatment...
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for your feedback and the picture...
This is the most severe for of the scaling disorder of the skin of the soles and hands.
(In ichthyosis vulgaris, the skin cells are produced at a normal rate, but they do not separate normally at the surface of the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of skin) and are not shed as quickly as they should be. The result is a build-up of scale. Only a portion of the body may be involved).
I hope you have started the treatment.
Getting the results is also very important. Please start the treatment as already suggested above so that the conditions resolves at the earliest.
It takes months for betterment as the character of the skin, its growth is different for the skin of the hands and soles.
Please start the treatment...
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for your feedback and the picture...
This is the most severe for of the scaling disorder of the skin of the soles and hands.
(In ichthyosis vulgaris, the skin cells are produced at a normal rate, but they do not separate normally at the surface of the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of skin) and are not shed as quickly as they should be. The result is a build-up of scale. Only a portion of the body may be involved).
I hope you have started the treatment.
Getting the results is also very important. Please start the treatment as already suggested above so that the conditions resolves at the earliest.
It takes months for betterment as the character of the skin, its growth is different for the skin of the hands and soles.
Note: Hope the answers resolves your concerns, however for further guidance of skin related queries consult our Dermatologist.Click here to book a consultation
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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