Category: Skin
Overnight cotton glove therapy for hand eczema: the soap substitute step, which emollient to use, why olive oil makes it worse, and when to see a doctor.
1. Stop using soap on your hands. Switch to a soap substitute or emollient wash for every wash. This is not optional and it is the half of the routine that stops the damage continuing. 2. Wash in lukewarm water rather than hot. Hot water strips lipids considerably faster. 3. Pat dry rather than rubbing, and dry carefully between the fingers, where cracks start. 4. Apply emollient after every single wash, all day. Aim for frequency over quantity here. Most people apply it three times a day and need ten. 5. At bedtime, apply a thick layer of the ointment, more than feels sensible, covering the backs of the hands, the palms, between the fingers and around the nails. 6. Pull on clean 100% cotton gloves and leave them on overnight. Six to eight hours of occluded contact is what makes this routine different from ordinary moisturising. 7. Do this nightly for 2 weeks, then several nights a week to maintain. Hand eczema recurs when the routine stops, because the cause, washing, does not stop. 8. Wear waterproof gloves with a cotton liner for washing up and cleaning, and keep them under an hour at a time, since sweat inside a waterproof glove is itself an irritant. 9. Do NOT use olive oil. It is one of the most commonly recommended home remedies for dry skin and comparative studies show it damages the skin barrier rather than repairing it. 10. See a doctor if the skin is weeping, crusting, blistering, or if redness is spreading, which indicates infection, or if there is no improvement after 2 weeks of doing this properly.
Soap strips out the lipids holding your skin barrier together, so water escapes and irritants get in. Replacing the lipids and sealing them under a glove for eight hours does far more than a smear of cream that gets washed off in ten minutes.
2 weeks of consistent use before judging it. Maintenance is indefinite while the hand washing continues. No improvement in 2 weeks means see a doctor.
Not for skin that is weeping, crusting or spreading red, which is infected and needs a doctor. Not for occluding a prescribed steroid under gloves unless a clinician has told you to, since that greatly increases absorption. Not a substitute for identifying a contact allergy if the eczema keeps returning despite good care.
Colloidal oatmeal is recognised under the FDA over the counter monograph as a skin protectant active for the relief of itching and minor irritation. The overnight glove occlusion technique itself has not been trialled; it is standard dermatology practice built on the barrier mechanism. Olive oil, by contrast, was found in a small comparative study (n=19) to damage the skin barrier and cause mild erythema.
Best for someone whose hands are cracked and sore from frequent washing at work or at home, whose skin is dry and irritated rather than weeping or infected, and who is willing to change what they wash with as well as what they moisturise with.
both
Colloidal oatmeal is an FDA recognised over the counter skin protectant active for itching and minor irritation. A small comparative study (n=19, healthy adult forearm skin) found olive oil damaged the skin barrier and caused mild redness.
Back to the PlantRx Remedy Library
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.