Fingers splitting

Hi not sure how many of you deal with this issue. Do your finger tips up by your fingernails ever split during gigs? What a pain. I try and keep my hands moist but sure enough the cracking appears. It is mostly around the thumb, the pointer, and middle fingers. I'm starting to wonder if it's the setting up of the gear thats causing it. Thinking about setting the kit up with gloves on.

My wife owns a manicure shop. She sees this a lot, you have a skin problem go see a dermatologist.

There's a thread or two on here about this. I had the same problem. Both of my thumbs would crack, just to the right of the nail. ( or left, depending on which hand). Anyway, this is MOST likely due to the weather. If it's cold where you are, the heat created by your furnace tends to be dry. You need to moisten in the winter months. Any lotion with vitamin E should work. I've been using lotion every day, and haven't had a splitting problem in months....

If it's split now, you need to fix this first. Pinch the split closed, put some neo sporin on it and wrap with a bandaid. You may not be able to play drums for a few days.

good luck.

Hi Mr Zero, I believe you nailed it. I'm in the Boston area and the issue really only happens in the cold months. I do use moisturizer but sometimes when things are going well I slack off, then I get the cracks again. All bandaged as I type. Thanks

mr 0 is cool. BUT...please never say a few days without playing drums!! ARRRRR....
yes definitely neosporin. It's fastest. And pull the split together a little with the band-aid. but I let it breathe at night, with nothing on it- this speeds it up.

Then do what drummers and construction guys everywhere do: take a strip of duct tape and wrap the band-aid so it won't come off. Bar napkins and duct tape work perfectly for after hitting a knuckle on a rim, right? I'm sure this has been hashed over before.

Liquid bandage works well for this - it'll get you thru the gig. Even superglue will do the trick.
http://www.drugstore.com/products/p...=goobase_filler&device=c&network=g&matchtype=

I think I will pick some of the liquid bandaid up. My keyboard player deals with this as well. Thanks for the tip.

Hey 2B,
Since I can never weigh in based on my musical ability, I might as well jump in since I'm a Dermatologist. The fissures that occur on fingertips do basically boil down to dry skin (assuming no other rash is present). As some of the posters have said, there are different ways to get dry skin. Cold is one (and heating cold air in your house even more so), dry climate..., but especially any wet to dry cycle (like washing hands). It's like leather- enough wet to dry and it cracks. The fix is "wet to greasy". Soak hands for a few minutes so they hydrate, towel off and immediately grease them up. You need to use vaseline or equivalent. The bad thing is it takes time and diligence. You'll need to do it throughout the day (remember every time you wash your hands is a wet to dry). At night, soak, grease, and put on cotton gloves (they can be found at most pharmacies). I wouldn't use neosporin only because developing contact allergies to it are very common. You can pinch the split closed and super glue over the top, but in my experience it doesn't really last long and will usually fail the first thing you grab. Avoid anything occlusive (like band aids, tape, rubber gloves) for anything but a short time, as you quickly sweat under them, and as that evaporates it is essentially wet to dry- bad (which is why your finger turns white after you wear one for a while). Now, playing with vaseline on your hands... I've got nothing for that, but the guys in front of you should watch out.

Hi LK, thanks for the great advice. I will pick up some gloves this weekend. My wife kept telling me to put skin cream on my hands and wear gloves to bed but do I listen, no!

My thumb is still split from last Sunday's gig, but improving and now I have 3 gigs in a row this weekend.

In addition I use a keyboard all week at my real job

Hey LK, one last question, how is that Burts Bee's wax. I was thinking of grabbing some along with the cotton gloves. Thanks again

I've tried Burt's beeswax, and it didn't seem to work for me. None of those things ever worked for me. Don't know why. But it doesn't hurt to try. maybe it'll work for you. Also, as summer approaches, your problem may subside on it's own. Three gigs this weekend?, you're a busy drummer....

There are a lot of products out there, like Burt's Bee's--- it would be OK, but vaseline is far cheaper. Where most people go wrong is not the product per se, but how religious they are about keeping it on (and this is the hard part)- if it is not greasy for the vast majority of the day, it just won't heal no matter what product you use. You almost have to keep it in your pocket and put it on regularly whenever you think about it. You may be helped by the change in seasons (at least in the East), as the humidity change will help. If all else fails, try soaking the hand until the hard skin around the split is soft, then scrape off those tough edges (as they tend to perpetuate the split)- this too can take a while because you don't want to do it all at once. This has the effect of flattening the surrounding skin so that it stops re-opening every time you grab something. Good luck.