Burning, bleeding, cracked, red crust on knuckle on the right hand

Dear Doctor,

I have the following issue. I live in Southern California, which has a very dry climate. It gets especially bad in the winter. Every winter the skin on my hands, and especially knuckles, gets super dry and starts to crack, sometimes even bleed. I am usually able to control this by applying moisturizing cream to the affected area, but this winter it got really bad on the index finger knuckle on my right hand. It had several deep, bleeding cracks, so instead of using regular moisturizing cream, I started applying Neosporin ointment in order to prevent infection. I have been doing this for about 3 months now, and it did not help to heal the cracks. Actually it looks like the whole top of the knuckle got covered with red crust with deep cracks – looks like a large wound. When I let it dry it starts burning. When I wash it with warm water it starts itching. I made a photograph of the affected area, to see it please click this link: http://img4.immage.de/1005dsc05254.jpg

I did some research and it looks like this may be an eczema (I also have asthma and many articles say that two usually coincide with each other) but I can not be sure, since I am not a medical professional (I wish I was).

Please advise. Thank you in advance.

http://img4.immage.de/1005dsc05254.jpg

[DrySkinGuy]

I re-uploaded the images, can someone take a look?

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7317/dsc05259l.jpg
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3231/dsc05254v.jpg

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Eczema is one possibility for your symptoms. You can apply some calamine lotion at the rash as it will help in soothing the skin. You can take some OTC oral antihistamine medications like Benadryl or Claritin and see if it helps.

For mild-moderate symptoms a weak steroid may be used (e.g. hydrocortisone as dermacort), whilst more severe cases require a higher-potency steroid which are available under prescription. For that I suggest you to consult a dermatologist.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[TE31999]

dear kindd I to have a problem with my hands i have never had a problem but i want to no whats rong and what i can do to prevent this. My left hand on my little finger nuckle has 2 deep cracks and has formes a sca besid, it has also started happning to my other nuckles but not as much wors as this one. i need to no what i should do to help me get rid of the bleeding, cracked skin. thank you