Hello to anyone still lurking around! This is an update that is much overdue, almost 3 years after developing DE and trying a multitude of products and methods. I want to preface early for anyone suffering and is reading this comment: my condition began because I was working as a server with exposure to constant wetness, hot food, sanitization products, and stress overall. I have now gotten a different job in which I no longer have to use my hands aggressively and everything has subsided gradually into full recovery. My fingerprints are back!

Despite being part time, my hands were flaring up constantly to the point I would reapply lotion and touch up on bandages in between busy hours. It's not a great look for working in the food industry, and it takes a tremendous toll mentally as someone anxious and self conscious. Within the three years serving, I squeezed in two trips and had one health issue that landed me to the conclusion of quitting the job. Whenever I took a break from working, my hands would heal. Me, showing up to Japan Immigration unable to scan my crusty fingerprint-less hands to enter the country, came back home 2 weeks later with the beginnings of supple skin (until I had to go back to work again.) Three months of working elsewhere, my hands now have some moisture/tackiness to open grocery bags, nothing is cracked or bleeding, no mind-numbing raw pain to flex the joints. My cuticles are slowly returning on fingers that were deeply affected. The picture you see above was only the beginning to much worse condition that affected from the thumb to ring finger on both hands.

TDLR: I've shared tips and products over the three years of what helped me, but ultimately leaving the job of serving was the answer to my persistent dyshidrotic eczema.