Skin Continuously Exploding

Ok, enough is enough. 

My skin is constantly bubbling, cracking, peeling and shredding in large swaths. I have only climbed 2 days  in the last two weeks. I use chalk but no other products at all. I have sweaty hands. Please someone help me understand and prevent. 

EDIT: I am suspecting a condition called exfoliative keratolysis. It is most common in young adults, during the summer months, and in people with excessive sweating. Still not sure how to fix it, though. 

Pic 1: Previously wrecked areas

Pic 2: Areas of fingertips dead and bubbled but yet peeled.

Pic 3-4: Bad Peeling

Did you change the brand of chalk you use? 

Try a lanolin based hand cream or O'Keefe's working hands. Both work really well for me for moisturizing the skin and keeping it healthy and mobile. 

I'm guessing your skin is getting soft and soaked with the sweat and then getting too easily abraded.

A tiny bit of lanolin before climbing might help (it's quite greasy so don't overdo it pre climb), but it might help stop the water absorption.

You could also try spraying an antiperspirant on your palms to clog the sweat pores before you climb.

Looks like too much sweat on your skin. I'd give methenamine a try if you haven't (rhinoskin makes a few different strength products), it's been a pretty big game changer for me and I never had it nearly as bad as you. I've heard working hands is good stuff too, I need to try it...

With how much your palm was peeling I’m guessing fungal infection 

Thanks for the input so far.

I have not changed chalk types. I just use block chalk whatever is available but avoid metolius and BD if possible. I use methenamine periodically, but only on the tips and not in the last 2 weeks. Do you use it on your entire hand??? I'm a nurse and im not getting fungal infection vibes. I have not tried moisturizers. This problem seems to come and go over the years and I can't figure out why... 

How long have you been a climber? When did this problem begin? Do you have access to a dermatologist? Did you recently start using methenamine to dry your hands? If so, when?
If you recently started using methenamine to dry your hands, and this problem is new since then, I think the answer is very clear: stop using methenamine. We need oils and moisture in our skin. 
 I would also make an appointment with a dermatologist. You can cancel the appointment if your hands get better before your appointment. 

Peter Lenz wrote:

How long have you been a climber?When did this problem begin? Do you have access to a dermatologist?

I've been climbing 11 years. This has happened off and on. It's not uncommon for it to happen but this is more severe than normal. I could see a dermatologist if I really needed to, but with it usually not being this bad I haven't seen one for it. 

Where's Walden wrote:

Thanks for the input so far.

. I just use block chalk whatever is available but avoid metolius and BD if possible.

What is the reasoning here?

I wondered about humidity in the areas you climbed so a took a quick peek at your profile, saw from your send map you're primarily western US and Canada with a smattering of the Southeast US. Can you correlate the skin problems to a visit or visits to the south?

Reason I ask" I used to get the peeling hand syndrome. I got it most when climbing in humid areas. I relocated to much less humid western US and that particular problem subsided. I still got it from time to time, though. But then I started getting split finger tips, one finger in particular; over and over. Annoying and painful, I'd almost (almost) rather have peeling hands!

Counter-intuitive to me, but I started wearing regular ole cowhide leather gloves, the kind you can get in Costco in 3-packs for 30 bucks. I wear them when hiking, and on the approach, coiling a rope; all the hand work aside from climbing. I don' t take them up a climb, they're not part of my climbing kit. Rather they are part of my hiking kit and yard work / brush clearing / bushwhacking kit.

Yes, leather gloves will absorb sweat, to the point my hands don't dry off but rather the gloves literally start sweating too. That's when I know they are doing their work. My buds have tried to give me synthetic gloves and I'm all no thanks. The fact the leather gets wet and stays wet is the cure for me.

No more split fingers, ever. No more peeling hands - but I no longer climb in the SE and avoid humidify for the poison it is, so not willing to attribute the lack of peeling to the gloves. 

But I'd give it a try - cost you 20-30 foir a decent pair of leather work gloves and maybe a few weird looks on the trail, but so what? A cheap cure if it works for you and so easy to try.

ps. and you may be using too much chalk too

I live in Colorado and work in emergency medicine. O'Keefe's Working Hands has saved my skin and hands

Where's Walden wrote:

Ok, enough is enough. 

My skin is constantly bubbling, cracking, peeling and shredding in large swaths. I have only climbed 2 days  in the last two weeks. I use chalk but no other products at all. I have sweaty hands.

Could not enough climbing be a contributing cause?  I find that I get these bout of peeling skin if I've been climbing a lot and develop good thick granite skin, then abruptly stop. My skin continues to grow expecting it's all going to get scraped off again soon on a granite boulders, but then it doesn't and instead it over-thickens. Eventually it's too thick and peels like a snake to get rid of the excess. The solution I've found is aggressive sanding to remove the excess before the peeling starts.

There's definitely other temperature and humidity factors at play also, that I don't fully understand. It only really happens for me in hot summer weather. I have sweaty skin and live in a dry climate. Maybe there's something about a sweaty base skin layer and a dry outer layer that doesn't get along? Not sure, still trying to figure it out.

As others have said, Okeefes is awesome.

Where's Walden wrote:

I use methenamine periodically, but only on the tips and not in the last 2 weeks. Do you use it on your entire hand??? 

If you want to methenamine your whole hand, use a light layer of Rhino Performance Cream across the palm side of your hand. It's a lot less concentrated than other products and more appropriate for white hand.

My sweaty-hands program is a light layer of Performance across the whole hand, then a heavier dose of something more powerful on the tips (Rhino Dry or classic Antihydril, depending on how strong a dose I need). This produces a dry-enough palm to not get too sweaty on the big holds, plus hardened tips for small crimps.

I don't find that the methenamine usage is correlated directly with the peeling. Generally if I'm climbing a lot and using the products I'm not peeling. Then I stop climbing for 10 days, stop keeping up with the products, and the skin perks like a snake. But this has happened for years, including well before any methenamine use. I don't think have ever had a bad peel while also keeping up with the methenamine, but I'm not sure if that correlation or causation. 

I think for me it's ultimately just a "use it or lose it" situation with the climbing skin. Combined with summer heat issues.

Have you ruled out your hand washing routine related to your job?

I know a surgical tech who basically had to quit because of how her skin reacted to things like avaguard. Washing a lot every day and foaming between that is hard on the hands. Especially if you climb.

Do you have access to sterilium? Near as I can tell it’s just isopropyl alcohol. Does the job without any of the extra stuff. You can moisturize however you like after using it. 

Funny, now that you mention it, my hands used to do this periodically. Every so often, seemingly out of the blue, every last bit of skin would peel off my hands in sheets. Once, between attacks, I used the time to find a partner and get married. I strongly suggest this approach. Because no one wants to marry a leper. 

Gosh, why not go see your doctor?

Steve Williams wrote:

Gosh, why not go see your doctor?

Doctors are expensive (at least in a certain country that many of us live in...) and often unhelpful. Especially for weird niche climbing issues.

Where's Walden wrote:

Ok, enough is enough. 

My skin is constantly bubbling, cracking, peeling and shredding in large swaths. I have only climbed 2 days  in the last two weeks. I use chalk but no other products at all. I have sweaty hands. Please someone help me understand and prevent. 

EDIT: I am suspecting a condition called exfoliative keratolysis. It is most common in young adults, during the summer months, and in people with excessive sweating. Still not sure how to fix it, though. 

Pic 1: Previously wrecked areas

Pic 2: Areas of fingertips dead and bubbled but yet peeled.

Pic 3: Recently peeled tips. 

That’s nothing. Keep climbing and your hands will toughen up.

Tradiban wrote:

That’s nothing. Keep climbing and your hands will toughen up.

I never said I stopped climbing. Quit being a troll.

Where's Walden wrote:

I never said I stopped climbing. Quit being a troll.

I never said you didn’t. I speak the truth, skin goes through cycles and this condition is just part of that cycle.

Tradiban wrote:

I never said you didn’t. I speak the truth, skin goes through cycles and this condition is just part of that cycle.

I don't know why this troll is the one that bothers me, but this level of skin damage is not part of a healthy cycle. If you don't have something useful to say, don't say anything. 

I've personally noticed an improvement in conditioning my finger tips by rubbing rock before bed/applying methenamine. Keeping a consistent level of skin fatigue seems to help in the same way that consistent workouts build up other tissues. I'd be curious to know what others do in this regard. I've just been winging it. When I can spare some skin, I'll rub rocks on my fingers till they're a little sore. 

In terms of how much product and what kind, start low and slow. I really like rhino dry, and apply it to my whole front of hand. It's helped a ton from peeling skin and the quick degradation of tips that I'm used to.