My skin's too sensitive

Every single time I put something on my hands, whether it's shampoo, washing-up, or even that Neutrogena hand cream stuff, the skin goes all flaky and horrible. The other day when I went to Wales, I put sun-block on and it made my hands itch terribly until I found a public loo to wash them off. What should I do?

Stop washing your hands in the public loo.


All kidding aside, though, it sounds like you have a contact allergy to something in those products. Go see a dermatologist.

Nah, washing the sun block off them in lovely cool Welsh water stopped the itching.

I don't think we've got any dermatologists, not on the NHS anyway.

Hmmm, well, start with the regular doctor then. And definitely don't use anymore of that sunscreen!

Not sure how the NHS works. Here in the US, we have lots of specialists and no way to pay to see them, as there are millions of us without health insurance.

The first thing you've got to do is fight, either in a telephone queue or a real queue, to get an appointment. After several days camping outside the surgery, you might be first in line to get the three available slots that day. After that, you go and see your GP who will tell you there's nothing wrong with you. If you're very lucky, or very persuasive, and he/she's in a good mood, you might, might just get referred to a specialist such as a dermatologist. Then you have to drive to another town, pay through the nose to park on their NHS car park and see them. I've never got to that stage, so I don't know what happens next.

Well, that sucks. Good Luck with your skin condition, then.

Do they frown on patients going to the Emergency Room for itchy hands?

As a nurse here in the US, I've seen people in the Emergency Room at 2 am for a rash that's 6 months old. Suddenly, at 2 am on a Saturday night, it's become a "life threatening" emergency.

If you go to Accident and Emergency, they sit you in a big waiting room for several hours in the hope that you'll either have healed up, got bored and left, or died by the time they get to see you.

go see a doc.

or start using hypoallergenic stuff, unscented.

or quit bathing. up to you.

Hahaha!

Oh, and by the way, I don't have THAT sensitive skin, but my skin does not take kindly to sunblock. I can't wear it, I get a horrible rash.

Oh, and I can't wear jewelry

We've already addressed the "go see a doc" thing - it's far easier to get medical help off the internet than brave the NHS minefield.

Oddly, my fingertips... just from the knuckle forward do the same... but I think it's also something to do with the weather... it's just the dead skin on the surface peeling away... at least in my case.

Good luck with the NHS derma tho... you might have to try AXA or Bupa... (which scarily are sometimes cheaper)

Too bad you didn't go on vacation with my daughter and my parents (daughter is 12, so no snide remarks...)

They're visiting my cousin and her husband, THE DERMATOLOGIST.

How does it work over there then? Do you actually ever get anyone going to the doctors? Paying for healthcare is inconceivable to me. I'm not sure about much to do with America; are the schools free?

We have private insurance which is generally provided by your employer. However, many employers have dropped the coverages down to a level that is barely coverage. And many other Americans, mostly the "working poor" and the self employed are without health insurance entirely. If you're "poor" and on public assistance, you may qualify for Medicaid, which is government provided "health insurance".

So, if you need care but have no insurance, you make an appointment with a doctor and pay out of your own pocket for your appointment or you just go without health care until an emergency arises and then, they haul you to the hospital emergency room, where they save your life and charge you with the hospital bill. Hospitals charge twice as much to someone who is "self pay" as they do to those with insurance, because the insurance companies negotiate lower payments in their contracts with the hospitals. It's totally f*cked up.

You can negotiate your hospital bills but I agree it's totally fucked up.

So the hospitals are just private companies and aren't run by the government - that's really weird.

Well, we say they're "run by" the government over here... but we know that's a joke...

I would suggest gloves

Marigolds?! In THIS weather? You're having a larf.

Ewww, if shampoo and lotion does all that, think how much worse gloves would be...

quite serious actually

My mate reckons barrier cream would be the way to go, but surely it just washes off? And it's fourteen quid.

I would agree, look for hypoallergenic/unscented products, things that are as chemical-free as possible. Could probably find all sorts of things to mail-order online.

Just out of curiosity, you might also want to check the ingredients list of the products that irritate your skin, see if there are ingredients that are common to all of them. I know, that could be a *lot* of ingredients, but it never hurts to check.

Edit: also, just wondering: have you tried simpler stuff like glycerine or pure castile soaps? (Dr. Bronner's makes a really great liquid castile soap, and they have a version for babies, which should be very gentle.) I'd be curious whether something like that, unscented if possible, would be less irritating to the skin.

Covering up is the way to go....sheesh!