Hands dry, crack, burn, and bleed at slightest provocation...what to do? (food allergy, cold)

[nicole.cpp]

I'm a 21 year-old female with hands (just hands; really no other areas of skin) that love to find any excuse to dry out and chap.

If the air is even slightly cool, my knuckles turn red or even purplish, and the misery starts almost immediately. During, say, a routine hand washing, I'll be caught off guard by the nasty sting of deep, oozing little cracks all over.

I'm careful about covering my hands in the cold and being gentle with them in general (e.g., by patting thoroughly dry after washing), but I've just about had it. Lotion just doesn't seem good enough--it burns pretty nastily itself, is impractical for someone who uses a keyboard all day and doesn't want to get greasiness everywhere, and--most importantly--seems to just treat the symptoms (on the rare occasions that it does work) and not the root of the problem.

Here's the real question, though: Could this madness be something beyond regular old "winter skin"?

Is there a common vitamin deficiency, hormonal problem, or food allergy related to this? A magic pill (rather than useless and not-worth-the-trouble lotions) to fix it that I don't know about?

...Or is it just what happens when it's cold? :/

[suzy_q2010]

Lots of helpful hints here:

Preventing and Treating Dry, Chapped Hands in Winter

Any food allergy or other medical problem would be unlikely to affect just your hands.

You will need to use lotion frequently during the day. Consider running a humidifier to counteract the drying effect of winter air.

At night, try petroleum jelly covered with cotton gloves.

You can get covers to protect your computer keyboard:

Computer Keyboard Covers and Laptop Covers