Condition guide

Hand Eczema: Protect, Moisturise and Break the Itch-Scratch Cycle

Hand eczema is driven by irritants and frequent wet work. Here's how to protect your hands, what to avoid, and the routine that helps them heal.

What it is

Hand eczema (hand dermatitis) is dry, cracked, itchy, sometimes blistered skin on the hands. It is strongly linked to frequent handwashing, wet work, soaps and cleaning products, and it is common in healthcare, hospitality, cleaning and parenting.

Protect first

What to avoid

Harsh soaps and sanitiser overuse, SLS-heavy foaming washes, fragrance, and known contact allergens. If a particular soap or glove material makes it worse, switch.

Healing the cracks

A thicker ointment overnight, sometimes under cotton gloves, can make a real difference to deep cracks. Avoid scratching, which restarts the cycle.

When to see a doctor

If it is painful, cracking deeply, spreading or not improving, see a GP or dermatologist. Stubborn cases may need prescription treatment or patch testing to find a contact allergen.

Tools that help

To check a product, a free analyser like Skincarisma lets you paste a product at your desk and see the ingredients you are avoiding flagged in the ingredient list, and a free browser extension like Clearya flags ingredients of concern automatically as you shop online. These rate a product on general criteria rather than against your own list.

Once you know what you are screening for, a personal-list app like ClearaScan lets you save the ingredients you react to once and scan any product to flag only your triggers. It also keeps a Reaction Journal for flare-ups, a shared Care Circle so family or carers can scan for you, and a Trusted Products list for items you have cleared, and it is currently in early access. (Disclosure: our editor co-founded ClearaScan, and we are not paid to mention the others.)

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A note on this content. The Sensitive Skin Lab publishes general educational information, not medical advice. If you suspect you have an allergy or sensitivity, consult a qualified dermatologist or allergist. Product formulations and labels change without notice, so always check the ingredients on the product itself.