Any obsessive handwashers out there?

jtbell

This awakens memories of a classic Peanuts cartoon strip. I haven't found the strip itself online yet, but I can reconstruct the dialog from memory, at least approximately:

CHARLIE BROWN: [patting Snoopy] I have to go to dinner now, Snoopy.
SALLY: And now you have to wash your hands again because you touched the dog.
CHARLIE BROWN: [walking off] Oh, good grief.
SNOOPY: [ears perking up] "Touched the dog?" [glaring at Sally] "Touched the dog!?!"
SALLY: [backing away] Stay away from me, my hands are clean!
SNOOPY: [chasing Sally] Pat my head and get a handful of germs! Beware the walking disease carrier! I'm loaded with bubonic plague!
SALLY: [standing on a dresser] HELP!
SNOOPY: [walking off] "Touched the dog." Good grief.

rppc

Hi!

Yes, I also suffer from this particular symptom of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, amongst a few others.

My hands always get extremely dry during the Winter, with painful cuts that will bleed if I do nothing about them.

I personally recommend this cream:



I don't know if you can find it where you live, but if you do, trust me that this is the best thing you can get.

Not only is it the only cream I've ever tried that actually works, but it has also done true wonders for me, healing the cuts and hydrating the skin in my hands.

lisab

Because I work with chemicals, I wash my hands a lot. I wear disposable gloves of course but it's the powder residue from the glove I'm constantly washing off.

I use St. Ives hand lotion - by far the best of ones I've tried. Soaks in fast and it's not greasy. Pretty cheap, too.

edward

There is a liquid product called New Skin. It has been around a long time. It helps to protect those nasty cuts and cracks until they heal.

http://newskinproducts.com/products/liquid_bandage.aspx

lisab

I've not used that product. But in a pinch, I've used Super Glue (or some cyanoacrylate equivalent) - a bit dicey until it sets up, but very effective.

russ_watters

Almost?

HeLiXe

Yes it's more like seeping than all out bleeding
Thanks FlexGunship :) I was mine everytime I go to the bathroom...sometimes before depending on what i was handling, but now with the dog I am washing them before and after I use the bathroom.
Thanks Monique! You are really such a great help to me with this.
yikes! Mine is not like this...its like cracks in the pattern of the skin and sometimes blood comes out visibly or i will see a lot of tiny scabs where i did not even know the skin was cut.
This seems perfectly normal to me although maybe I am not the best judge. I would guess I now wash my hands like three dozen times per day...maybe a dozen more if I am cooking a dish that requires me to prepare raw meat.
I would say this is 88% me lol I love to pet my doggie and pick him up and I got him groomed the day after I bought him, so he smells clean and looks clean...but he is still a dog lol.
Thank you so much rppc! I will try to find this one as well, this is very helpful to me!

russ_watters

Antibacterial gel and antibacterial soap aren't the same thing though.

russ_watters

You can buy hand soap with lotion in it. How many times a day are we talking though? I probably wash mine 10-20 times a day and don't have any major issues except in winter, so I put on hand lotion at night in the winter.

HeLiXe

Thanks lisab -- i totally did not even think about St. Ives! I used to use their collagen elastin lotion and apricot scrub.
Thanks so much edward.

edward

Yep they are using products similar to Super Glue in surgery now. Heck it probably is Super Glue. It can be dicey. Don't glue your finger to the refrigerator or anything too big to take to the emergency room.

russ_watters

For a cut that won't stay closed on its own, superglue is the only way to go now that J&J discontinued Band Aid Liquid Bandages (superglue with analgesic). NewSkin has very little strength to it, so while it is good as a protector, I find little advantage over regular bandages.

HeLiXe

I used to wash mine about 15-20 times per day but now it is like 35 times per day and if I am cooking something that requires preparation of raw meat it's probably 45+ times. I usually only have issues in the winter, but now with this escalated hand washing I'm not sure how it will be for other seasons.

Drakkith

Sweet jesus.

AlephZero

Maybe you need to stop and think how any of your ancestors survived at all, without all these modern aids to hygene. And they all DID survive, over thousands if not millions of years, otherwise you wouldn't be here at all.

There was a lot of sense in the saying from my grandparent's time - "you have to eat a peck of dirt before it kills you". That's a peck as in 2 gallons, not one grain of birdseed.

Evo

While it's prudent to wash your hands out in public to avoid picking up germs if you tend to put your hands in your mouth, or handle food that goes directly into your mouth after touching things strangers touch. You stand lest risk in your own home. Still wash after going to the bathroom, but otherwise at home, unless you're handling questionable foods like raw chicken, you shouldn't worry as much. Also, the amount of time you spend, the heat of the water, these can stirp your hands of essntial, protective oils.

I simply rub petroleum jelly on the backs of my hands especially at night when i won't be washing it off immediately, you can slather your hands with it and put on thin clean cotton gloves at night if your hands are in really bad shape, you will be astonished at the improvement in the morning. But if the cuts are open and bleeding like dl's I'd dab neosporin on them.

jhae2.718

I think this bears repeating...