Hands and wrists bright red from hanwashing

[NVAmom]

My ds12's hands and wrists are very irritated from constant handwashing. We are alternating aquaphor (the thick Vaseline type) and a honey oatmeal lotion. Would appreciate any other suggestions. Thank you!

[thereishope]

I used Aquaphor at night before bed. It would take about a week to fully heal. You can add a cool midst humidifier in the bedroom too. What kind of soap do you use? Consider changing that as well to something less harsh and try to put the softer towels in the bathroom.

[MomWithOCDSon]

First, we worked out a rewards system for DS to reduce his handwashing altogether; first, we would coach him to delay washing for just 5 minutes (which, with the delay, he would sometimes forget about washing them altogether). Once that gained a good foothold, we moved on to rewards for not washing except at meal times or when it was obviously a time that "normal" people would wash.

 

We also use soap with moisturizer in it, like the Soft Soap with aloe in it. And, most recently, I took a Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon and purchased one of those battery-operated, automatic liquid soap dispensers. It has three settings for the amount of soap it will dispense, so we set it on the lowest one to prevent DS from using too much for a single handwashing. That has really helped a lot.

 

Finally, for dry skin on his hands (which our DS is prone to anyway, whether he's in an excessive handwashing period or not -- he had eczema as a baby still has flare-ups on occasion), we've tried lots of things, including Aquaphor and Eucerin. In the end, we've found that DS prefers the concentrated Neutrogena Hand Cream; it comes in a fragrance-free formula, and it doesn't have a slippery, greasy feel that he dislikes. Plus, it's very concentrated, so just a little bit goes a long way. DS puts it on at night, before he turns in, as well as before he walks out the door, into the cold. We keep tubes of it by the door and in his nightstand.

 

Good luck!

[MichaelTampa]

I like shea butter, which is basically fat from the nuts of the shea tree. I always got really dry skin from traveling up north for the holidays, and nothing I tried worked until this did. I imagine there are many options.

[Priscilla]

my dd ocd has nothing to do with contamination (quite the opposite, really tough to get her to wash) so I don't really have any experience with this, but maybe you could replace all the soaps in your house with lotion (just put it in a soap bottle so it looks like liguid soap) not sure if your child would wash more or if it would help with drying. Just a suggestion.

[JuliaFaith]

We were prescribed coconut oil (organic) for dry skin. My older son (was not prescribed to him) loves it!

[thereishope]

Is it oily or take a long time to soak into the skin? I worry about staining the furniture, sheets, etc. Maybe I should try that for my son's lips. They get so cracked in the winter because his bed is close to heater.

 

 

We were prescribed coconut oil (organic) for dry skin. My older son (was not prescribed to him) loves it!

[browneyesmom]

Olive oil soap may help... very gentle & nourishing - here's a link to one type of it: http://www.explorecrete.com/nature/olive-oil-soap.html There are other soaps you can get for kitchen use, if needed... Dawn Hand Renewal is quite good, but a bit pricey. We have used a moisturizing Soft-soap in the kitchen for a long time.

 

For lotions... I'm a nurse and experience similar issues with extremely dry hands from washing them often. Two lotions I've found to be the best at quick help for healing:

 

Gold Bond ultimate healing lotion

Neutrogena Norwegian hand cream

 

If he won't allow it before he goes to bed, put it on his hands after he falls asleep. This has also worked well for me with keeping those fingernails trimmed & sometimes, even with meds... she'll wake just enough to take the meds, then right back to sleep - whew, thank goodness we got that done!

[Phasmid]

Fill the soap dispenser with lotion. Don't worry about the absence of soap.

[Megs_Mom]

At the peak of this issue, we used neosporin 2x a day. Especially at night, this seemed to help heal during the non-washing hours. We were able to use ERP therapy to help this symptom, so let us know if you need ideas on how to break this compulsion into tiny tiny steps. It was tough but helpful.

 

Azithromyacin has been our miracle. We have to tell her to wash now, just like any kid.

[smartyjones]

If he won't allow it before he goes to bed, put it on his hands after he falls asleep.

 

we don't have dry hands due to washing but due to cold and being outside without gloves. i've used vitamin E oil with success. this year, they've let me put it on. i've done it also after falling asleep. it's a bit oily but not too bad. for when asleep, the advantage is you don't really have to rub it in, you can just put it on quickly. but, if hands are really dry, it can sting when it first goes on.

[Joan Pandas Mom]

My older son (non PANDAS) had terrible eczema. We used DML Forte cream. It really helped. Vasoline (jelly) with cotton or vinyl gloves helps heal and sooth too.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Neutrogena Norwegian hand cream

 

 

Yes, that's the stuff! We swear by it around here! Really rich, but not greasy. Can get it fragrance free for sensitive noses, and it's also somewhat impervious to water, too, so once it's on, even if a washing compulsion overtakes, the skin is still protected!

[jdude]

My son starting the frequent hand rinsing thing again and due to it being winter and the fact that he doesn't fully dry them, his hands are really chapped. We use Vaseline or Eucerin at night. He also likes wearing these Spa gloves of mine that feel rubbery inside and make his hands look like "Mickey Mouse". I imagine not all kids would like the feel of these, but he does and they really help (from Bath and Body Works).

[kferricks]

We use the dawn dish soap with Olay in it. My dd will not let us put anything greasy on her or she goes into a complete rage cause of ocd. So when she got really bad (cracked and bleeding) I secretly put burn medicine on a piece of gauze and wrapped her hands at night. She knew it made her feel better and I think some where deep inside she knew there was some kind of medicine on it but as long as I did'nt say so, she was fine with it. Otherwise, Aveeno for extra dry skin is my choice because I get dry enough to crack and bleed too in the winter.