Skin and salt don't mix?

[dvlpr]

Hey all,

The skin on my hands has been getting more and more cracks over the last few weeks and the only reason I can think of is that I've been messing a lot with my tank, having my hands in the water every day. On the other hand (pun not intended), I don't actually have my hands in there for long periods of time and wash them off straight after.

Still, has anyone made a connection between salt water tanks and skin conditions, or is this is a coincidence and I should look at something else? I know I can't use any creams, as that'll leave a residue for a long time, so I'm trying to play it out currently, but right now I have broken skin on my palm in about 5-6 places, which is almost bleeding, and and the rest of it is all dried up with white wrinkles - never had that when messing with my FW tank, but again, I may be jumping to wrong conclusions here.

Hopefully no one is having dinner and reading this

 

[mcbdz]

Dries my skin out and gets itchy. Rinse hands and use Aveeno for eczema when I know I'm all done. Salt dehydrates and you can get a sensitivity to some of the additives.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Get some cow birthing gloves.

 

[Zohar78]

i like this stuff for lotion. Being an industrial supplier, the company i work for handles a good bit of cardboard and other stuff that dries out hands. https://www.gojo.com/en/Product/8150-12. one thing really nice is it doesnt leave an greasy aftereffect.

 

[CindyKz]

I strongly recommend gloves. There are lots of microbes that are fine in your tank but not-so-much if you get them into a cut, which is easy to do with all of the rocks and stuff we mess with. Not to mention stinging things.

This from the woman who spent 4 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics with a trip to the OR for a skin infection I got moving rocks. No fun.

 

[ScottB]

I have my hands & arms in my systems very often and occasionally got some minor irritations over the years.

Recently started getting some eczema (related or not I don't know) and too much salt contact would really irritate the patches. So I started wearing full length gloves and must say they are great.

 

[Shon]

I work in saltwater and my hands and feet can do this on my day off (Sunday) if I forget to use a moisturizer. Cocoa butter type lotion on a wash towel in the shower, post soap and shampoo, just a light scrub.

 

[danieyella]

I try to wear gloves as often as possible in the tank, but sometimes I just can't do what I need to do with them on and have to take them off. My hands have been destroyed lately between the tank, the amount of handwashing I'm doing, the hand sanitizer I use all day every day, the anti-viral wipes they gave us to use at work between customers, etc. I put a really heavy hand cream on at night before bed now and it's helping tremendously.

 

[aarongrey90]

My arms used to go itchy and rashy if i have them in the water for too long. Invested in some full length gloves which solved this issue

 

[AdamNC]

Years back I used to teach open water diving. Even at 19 my skin was drying out. Coco Butter Lotion is your friend, just make sure to really wash your hands and arms before putting back in the tank.

 

[PatW]

I don’t wear gloves ever. I don’t think it is a salt water problem per se. My wife and I go on scuba diving vacations and we have spent 3-4 hours per day in saltwater for weeks on end with no adverse dermal outcomes.

You may have some chemicals in the tank from corals that may be the issue. More skimming or running water through a charcoal reactor might help.

It could be issues with the soap you use to clean up afterwards or before. Dishpan hands.

You might get relief with moisturizers or lotions. Or you could just wear gloves.

 

[dvlpr]

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like it's a common issue

I don't have much in the tank yet, since it just finished cycling a few days ago, so most likely it's just salt.

I really don't like gloves, so try to avoid them unless absolutely necessary (thin ones are hard to put on and take off without ripping out half the hairs and thick ones don't give any sensitivity). I'll try using a good moisturizer once I'm done with the tank for the night, since it'll wash in the shower in the morning anyway. Hopefully it helps, but if not, then I'll have to go the gloves route.

Cheers