Skin issues: continuous peeling

Anyone's hands look like this?

I've been having this issue for years now.  Seems to only occur with gym and sport (but not trad) climbing. Strange thing is that the issue comes and goes, with no apparent pattern. It usually persists for a few days, continuing to keep peeling and peeling, layers within layers.

I wash my hands after climbing. I only apply lotion if this starts happening, but if my skin's normal then I see no reason to.

Any insights or advice for prevention or healing would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

Athletes foot of the hand!

Bro, that seems to need medical attention.

Edit: Bro-ette!

That looks quite not-normal. I agree that medical attention might be warranted, just to rule out something weird.

My skin only peels if I stop climbing for 2 weeks+, then all the extra callus skin peels off, over the course of couple weeks, and my hands get softer.

What kind of lotion do you use, when you do use it? As a general climber hand care, I would recommend that you don't use water-based lotion (a typical skin-so-soft kind that most women consider to be the default kind of hand/body lotion), and use instead any number of oil/wax-based salves that suit your fancy. There are many out there: Joshua Tree climbing salve, ClimbOn, Badger Balm, etc. And I would suggest that you use them every time after climbing. After washing hands, of course. 

Sand away that dead skin, use a pumice stone (wet) or sand paper (dry). Dead skin or callus buildup is how flappers happen.

Following. Same thing happens to me. I find that it happens much more regularly in the winter, though. It has never led to any other problems. Just gross. 

Super Fluke wrote: Sand away that dead skin, use a pumice stone (wet) or sand paper (dry). Dead skin or callus buildup is how flappers happen.

Those are definitely not flappers.

Will - definitely good to know I'm not the only one. It has gotten worse for me in the winter too, strangely enough it's still summer-like conditions over here and it's appearing.

Similar to Will, it never has led to any other problems. Super Duke, it's definitely not a flapper.

Lena, I use Neutrogena Hand Cream Norwegian formula, which my friend, who owns the joshua tree salve, found as or more effective. It did the trick in the past, but strangely isn't doing much this time around, so I'm definitely open to suggestions. Will look into the options you mentioned as well as athletes foot on hand as stringlord suggested. 

I climb pretty regularly, so it's not like I've suddenly upped the ante.

Thanks for the responses everyone! Definitely open to suggestions regarding this skin issue.

Let us know if you figure it out. I have the same problem and have been unable to figure out a pattern or tie it back to anything. 

What kind of chalk do you use?  I had a similar issue on and off (mostly in the winter) for a couple of years, but it eventually stopped.  It seemed to get better when I stopped using Metolius chalk and switched to Frank Endo.  I never saw a dermatologist or anything, but from some research I wonder if it was either a drying agent in the old chalk (might have been "Superchalk," I don't remember) or trace amounts of nickel or some other metal in the chalk itself, which some people may have a sensitivity to.  Apparently different sources of chalk can vary in nickel content, among other things.  My issue came and went for a while, but was worst when I was both climbing a lot and getting outside in cold, dry weather a lot.  I second both the sanding recommendation and the Badger balm or similar, those seemed to help manage it.  

John Badila, you know it's interesting you bring that up because I've been thinking about what has changed in the past few weeks (I haven't had this issue in a while, but it has been pretty much consistent come and go over the last few weeks). I've been doing more gym climbing and less trad climbing. And I just changed my chalk three weeks ago. Prior to my new chalk, the frictionlabs gorilla grip, I had some random chalk from a climbing partner, and then before that the Black Diamond White Gold.

Not saying correlation is causation, but I definitely remember my awful skin peeling problems happened when I was using the Metolius chalk while climbing in the gym during east coast winters. This problem also happened last summer when I was in Ten Sleep, and I'm pretty sure I was using the Black Diamond White Gold, but overall I had less issues while using the White Gold.

It's certainly something worth looking into. Could simply be an adjustment period for the skin or it could be a more consistent finding.

Sometimes if the gym doesnt rinse the holds well after cleaning with acid rhe residual acid left can cause peeling similar looking to that. 

George Hayduke - Interesting info, definitely wouldn't have thought of that.

SDawg - I looked up some pictures of athlete's foot and while I could see the similarities, I don't have any other symptoms (itching, burning, stinging).

Mason Stone - Wouldn't say I'm gripped for life at the gym haha. Regarding my footwork, I would say I find the quality of my footwork only moves in one direction with the time I put into climbing, so that wouldn't explain the fluctuating nature of the skin condition.
I've been leaving them alone besides clipping off the excess with a nail clipper and applying lotion.

I definitely go through cycles of skin that looks like this. Not always to that extent, but sometimes worse. I've used anti-fungal on my hands in the thought that it's related to athletes foot. Seems to work, though it takes a few weeks to subside.

It seems to hit the worst when seasons are changing, or if it's been super humid. That's led me away from over-moisturizing (ie, creating a nice fecund environment for fungal growth), but that's civilian medicine, not dermatology.

Natalie Nicole wrote: SDawg - I looked up some pictures of athlete's foot and while I could see the similarities, I don't have any other symptoms (itching, burning, stinging).

So it doesn't hurt?

Very naive question: could it be dietary? Maybe you're not getting enough of whatever amino acid, protein, etc, etc that the body uses to bond the skin layers together or to produce healthy skin cells? If you're changing your location chasing the seasons or dirtbagging, then you could be altering your diet as well. Are your hair and nails affected at all? 

That only used to happen to me back in Austin and only when I was climbing at the gym regularly and using a lot of chalk. It hasn't happened now in the drier climate of Colorado,but I also have stopped using chalk altogether. 

I get this, usually when I am on long trips, though maybe not to the same degree as you. Have found that switching chalks helped tremendously, as did being better about washing my hands after climbing and applying JTree or Climbon. 

I've also notice this in past years but only when I set foot in the ocean, as a land locked Coloradan it was pretty easy for me to make the connection. swim much? 

lotion with skin softener will do that, or spending too much time with your hands in water such as washing dishes, washing your car, or soaking in a tub.  as others mentioned above, use a climbing salve or other moisturizer w/o softener.  personally, i like O'Keeffe's Working Hands Cream.

John Badila wrote: What kind of chalk do you use?  I had a similar issue on and off (mostly in the winter) for a couple of years, but it eventually stopped.  It seemed to get better when I stopped using Metolius chalk and switched to Frank Endo.  I never saw a dermatologist or anything, but from some research I wonder if it was either a drying agent in the old chalk (might have been "Superchalk," I don't remember) or trace amounts of nickel or some other metal in the chalk itself, which some people may have a sensitivity to.  Apparently different sources of chalk can vary in nickel content, among other things.  My issue came and went for a while, but was worst when I was both climbing a lot and getting outside in cold, dry weather a lot.  I second both the sanding recommendation and the Badger balm or similar, those seemed to help manage it.  

I’ve read that belt buckles containing certain metals (maybe nickel) can cause eczema where the buckle touches skin.  So might be something to this.

Alexander Stahis - No dietary changes, hair and nails aren't affected as far as I can tell.

Plain toast - I don't swim

Cachu - I was thinking about the effect of that and recently bought a pair of dishwashing gloves to minimize that. I'll look into that lotion, thanks for the recommendation!

Austin, Tim&B-Mkall - thanks for sharing your similar experiences! It's good to know what has worked for others

Jim - yeah my current thought is to see how it does over the next couple weeks, perhaps with a new skin treatment, and if it doesn't improve, see if changing my chalk helps any.