Jamming: skin issues

I'll admit this is probably a silly thing to ask, but its an ongoing nuisance I'd like to avoid...

My skin gets scraped/peeling in the area directly below my fingernail and above the first knuckle, see picture below, while climbing hand/finger cracks. More of an issue with finger cracks, but also happens with hand cracks as well. I don't notice it climbing, but when I get home at the end of the day I notice it, or when I wash my hands the torn area burns. If I climb more than 1 day in a row, or a long day, it worsens. Its more of a nuisance than anything, because it lasts for days afterward until it heals (if it can heal). If I continue climbing (i.e. Saturday/Sunday) it tears more and starts to bleed as it gets worse. This makes it harder to heal, and the cycle continues worsening the area.

Does this happen to anyone else? I've resorted to using superglue to hold the tore skin down and reduce the abrasion, but it doesn't always work. Looking for a better solution

A picture is worth a thousand words:

??

That is called your cuticles. Its not being caused by jamming. Its most likely chalks fault. Dries out the skin and causes the skin there to crack. Happens alot to me. Some hand cream or lotion applied to the area before you climb helps.

Trim the flaps off with pocket knife scissors so the flaps don't tear back further. Then Tagaderm when you're not climbing, especially when you sleep, which is when the growth and repair happens. Two days later, fire up the ferocious finger cracks of your choice...

i don't think i really get this from chalk because it doesn't really happen to me if i am climbing terrain that isn't finger smashing (ie fingers/tips, small pockets, etc).  the worst is the cuticle flappers i get on my thumbs if i am climbing a lot of off-fingers (thumb stacking). they get really wrecked.

putting lotion on your hands before you climb sounds heinous.

Yeah.  I get that all the time when I'm crack climbing regularly.  Mostly on tips cracks.  Never really found a great solution. I tried supergluing small squares of tape down over just the tops of my cuticles and fingertips during beta-burns and that kind of worked, but was really annoying because it took so long to set up and usually didn't even last the whole pitch.  (and then you're worried about bits of tape going everywhere)

Hand creme at night heals most of these types of damaged skin problems and keeps the skin healthy in between outings. There have been other threads about favorite hand cremes to use, but I like Eucerin, the thickest one in a plastic jar.

I’ve got a little hack from another hobby similar to Max. You can tear a little square of athletic tape and fold it together so no side is sticky and place that over the cuticle. Then tape that piece down with the athletic tape. You don’t want to do just a circle wrap, it will easily come off. Wrap a couple of circles then cross it over to between your first and second knuckle, do two or three circle wraps then go back to the cuticle. You want a X crossing over the first knuckle.

Be aware how tight you make the wraps as the X reduces your mobility based on the tightness. Do not use the full size of the tape, you want to use like 1/4th the width of the tape. The wider it is will also cause reduced mobility of the finger.

You can place the x on the top side or bottom side of the knuckles. The location of the x will dictate where it supports the knuckle. It will be harder to close your finger with an x on top and harder to hyperextend it if the x is on bottom.

When its dry out I just put a layer of liquid bandage on my cuticles at the beginning of the day, works for me.

Just cut em off. 

Or you can peel them slowly so that they hurt, and anytime they are hurting you can visualize climbing a really painful finger crack. Then when you go out again your pain game is next level. 

Thanks for all the great responses... I'm glad I'm not the only one with this issue

I'll try using those creams and other suggestions to combat the skin peeling

I have this problem when my fingers get too dry. Belay gloves, hand cream help me a lot.

When you get home wash your hands really well, trim the little skin flaps back as close as you can bear with a cuticle cutter and then apply vaseline. When it's really bad apply a heavy coat of vaseline and wear finger cots or soft cotton gloves to bed. I've worked outside year-round in new england my entire life and this method works the best to keep your skin from cracking and bleeding, plus vaseline is cheap as hell.

The small tube of gold bond for cracked skin works great, especially when paired with liquid bandage. I have had decent abrasions heal in a day or two with that routine. I also try to tape up the spots that I think will encounter more friction than others to save the skin upfront. I feel you on this; shoving your hands in your pockets after trad climbing a few days in a row sucks.