Hand eczema can interfere with many aspects of life and become debilitating. It's important to treat hand eczema promptly to prevent it from getting worse or becoming chronic.
Some hand eczema can be treated with moisturizing, a good skin care routine, and protecting hands from exposure to triggers. Eczema that is more serious or persistent may need topical or systemic medication. Less commonly, light therapy may be used.
This article discusses how you can manage hand eczema (or hand dermatitis), including home remedies, over-the-counter (OTC) treatments, prescriptions, and procedures.
Home Remedies and Lifestyle
The most important parts of treating and preventing hand eczema involve lifestyle practices.
Avoiding Triggers
Hand eczema is often triggered by environmental factors. It is more common in people who work in certain occupations, such as healthcare workers, hairdressers, cooks, cleaners, manufacturing workers, and people in other jobs involving repeated contact with water or other irritants.
Avoiding contact with anything that irritates your skin is key to healing and preventing hand eczema. Anything can be a hand eczema trigger, but common ones include:
- Having wet hands
- Using some soaps or hand cleansers, such as ones that are antibacterial as they often contain solvents and alcohol
- Working with solvents, detergents, cement, or other irritating materials
- Wearing metal rings, particularly ones containing nickel
Skin Care
How you wash your hands makes a difference.
When you clean your hands:
- Take off your rings first.
- Use lukewarm water, not hot.
- Use a fragrance-free soap substitute.
- If sanitizing isn't necessary, use cleanser without water and blot off excess cleanser when you're done.
- Pat hands dry on a soft towel, taking care to dry between the fingers.
- Apply a good moisturizing cream or ointment.
A good skin care routine with proper moisturizing are often overlooked, but it is key to treating hand eczema, even if other measures are needed. Adhering to this routine, even when your hand eczema is not noticeable, can help prevent flare-ups (periods when the eczema is worse).
When Soap Is Needed
While soap substitutes such as cream cleansers are better for eczema, it's important to note that they do not destroy bacteria, viruses (such as the one that causes COVID-19), and other pathogens.
You need to use soap and water or sanitizer if sanitizing is needed, not just dirt removal.
Protecting Your Hands
If you can't avoid your triggers altogether, there are measures you can take to help protect your hands, such as wearing gloves.
- Cotton gloves: Use for dry activities, like folding laundry, dusting, and other chores around the house.
- Waterproof gloves: Use when you will be in contact with wet substances, such as washing the dishes or cleaning with liquid cleaners. Choose latex-free gloves, like plastic or nonallergenic rubber. Wear cotton gloves underneath.
Other hand-protecting tips include:
- Make sure your hands are clean and dry before putting on gloves.
- Keep water out of your gloves by using rubber bands on your forearms (not too tight).
- If water gets in your glove, take it off right away, blot your hand dry, and replace with a dry glove.
- Try not to wear plastic or rubber gloves for longer than 20 minutes at a time (air them out in between to prevent a sweat build-up).
- Wear gloves when preparing foods like chopping potatoes, onions, peppers, meat, or acidic foods like citrus or tomatoes.
- Wear gloves to shampoo your hair, or have someone else wash it.
- Use a dishwasher instead of handwashing dishes, if possible.
- When handwashing dishes, use running water and a long-handled scrubber.
- Don't reuse disposable gloves.
- Regularly wash your gloves in fragrance-free and dye-free detergent if they aren't disposable.
- If eczema doesn't affect your fingertips, you can cut the tips off your cotton gloves.
- Remove your rings before doing housework or getting your hands wet, and clean your rings often.
- Promptly treat any wounds on your hands, including minor ones, and bandage them.
Hand Eczema and Work
If you have a history of hand eczema, you will need to make some considerations when it comes to working:
- If possible, choose a career other than the ones associated with increased hand eczema, including hairdressing, healthcare work, cooking, and cleaning.
- Insist that your employer provide or allow accommodations, such as wearing gloves.
- Consider taking time off work during a hand eczema flare-up to allow your skin barrier to heal.
Over-the-Counter (OTC) Therapies
OTC topical (applied to the skin) treatments are the first-line of treatment for hand eczema. A good moisturizer (also called an emollient) helps to hydrate the skin, prevent itching, and repair the skin barrier.
When choosing a moisturizer:
- Go with fragrance-free products.
- Look for one that is greasy and contains as little water as possible (creams and ointments have less water than lotions).
- If your ointment makes your hands too greasy, use it at night (under cotton gloves) and a less greasy cream during the day.
- Reapply often throughout the day, especially after washing your hands.
Some products to look for include:
- Petroleum jelly (like Vaseline)
- Dove
- Aveeno
- CeraVe
- Cetaphil
- Eucerin
- Aquaphor
When Can I Stop Treatment?
Even when your hands look free of eczema, it can take months for your skin to heal fully. Continue using your skin care routine to help your skin finish healing and prevent future flare-ups. If you are using prescription ointments or medication, follow the advice of your healthcare provider on how long to use it.
Prescriptions
In some cases, hand eczema doesn't respond well enough to a skin care routine alone, and medication may be needed.
Topical
Topical medications are typically the first choice of medicinal treatment for hand eczema.
Steroids
Topical steroids reduce inflammation, which helps with redness, soreness, and cracked skin. They are effective in the short term and generally are used for about two weeks. Long-term use (over six weeks) should be avoided because they can thin the skin.
Topical Immunomodulators
The topical calcineurin inhibitors Elidel (pimecrolimus) and Protopic (tacrolimus) are approved for treating atopic dermatitis, another form of eczema. They can be used off-label for hand eczema for people who can't use topical steroids. They don't thin the skin, so they can also be used for longer than steroids.
Zoryve (roflumilast) blocks the enzyme phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE-4) and is approved for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in adults and children 6 years of age and older.
Ultraviolet (UV) light protection, such as sunscreen and protective clothing, should be used if you are using calcineurin inhibitors.
Antimicrobials
Eczema makes skin more prone to infection. If you have an infection on your hand, you may be prescribed a topical treatment (go o the skin) or systemic medication (work throughout the body).
Systemic
If symptoms are severe and other treatments have not been effective, oral corticosteroids, such as prednisolone, may be prescribed.
Long-term (over three weeks) or frequent use of these medications is advised against as they have significant side effects and increase the risk for conditions such as osteoporosis (progressive bone loss), glaucoma (high pressure in the eye damages the optic nerve), and cataracts (clouding of the lens of the eye).
There is currently no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved systemic treatment for chronic hand eczema in the United States, but several drugs are being explored.
Dyshidrotic Eczema
Dyshidrotic eczema, also known as pompholyx eczema, is a specific type of eczema that affects the hands and feet. It is characterized by itchy, watery blisters on the palms, the sides of the fingers, and/or the sides of the toes.
Specialist-Driven Procedures
Phototherapy is an option for hand eczema that hasn't responded to topical steroids. It involves the application of UV light or a combination of UV light and the medication psoralen (this combined treatment is called PUVA).
Psoralen increases the sensitivity to UV. It can be taken orally, but that can cause side effects like nausea and necessitates full-body UV protection. A topical cream is also available, which avoids these issues.
Treatments are typically two to three times a week for a few months. Long-term treatment can increase the risk of skin cancer. One study showed that using an excimer laser (a device that produces ultraviolet light in a tight beam) to administer the UV was effective and reduced the cumulative exposure to UV radiation as it targets specific sites.
Phototherapy should be done under the supervision of a healthcare professional. Don't try to do it yourself using sun exposure or tanning beds. This increases your risk of skin cancer.
Summary
Avoiding irritants and having a moisturizing skin care routine are the best ways to treat hand eczema. In some cases, medicated ointment, systemic medication, or phototherapy may be necessary.
A Word From Verywell
You use your hands to do nearly everything, which makes hand eczema tough to deal with. If your hand eczema symptoms become concerning, make an appointment with a dermatologist or your primary care provider. They can help you find the best treatment for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can children get hand eczema?
While some types of eczema are typically more common in children, hand eczema happens primarily in adults. This is because it tends to be triggered by irritants in the workplace, and doing other activities mainly for adults, like using certain chemicals or cleaning products.
Learn MoreAn Overview of Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis) in Children
Is hand eczema contagious?
Hand eczema is not contagious. You can't pass it along to others, so there is no need to avoid touching.
Learn MoreEczema (Atopic Dermatitis) Is Not Contagious
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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Food and Drug Administration. Zoryve label.
By Heather Jones
Jones is a freelance writer with a strong focus on health, parenting, disability, and feminism.
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