Cracked Hands and Feet

One would think that after nearly two years of Anatomy and Physiology (between high school and college) that I would be extremely capable to maintain nicely moisturized and soft hands and feet. Surely I should know how best to care for my skin, but alas, my hands and feet are both sorely dry and cracking. Lovely. :)

It has been especially bad this winter, my first in Boston. I don't know why exactly. Perhaps it is the drier air, perhaps it is the more humid air. Maybe the root of the problem is the extreme cold, or maybe it's the heat in my room. Whatever the case is, before Christmas break, my hands were cracking and bleeding really badly. I think it might have been worse than a papercut. I went home and everthing was fine. My hands healed, and my feet started to look like feet.

I have now been back at school for a grand total of three hours, washed my hands twice, and I can see and feel the skin drying out. My reasonably human hands have transformed into something more reminiscent of a mummy or one of those frozen people they chop out the ice somewhere in Finland.

But really, in the grand scheme of things, everything could be much worse. For one, my skin could dry out so much that I can't bend my fingers at all, which would be terrible as I am finally getting around to starting a blog. Not to mention that eating and doing just about anything would be extremely difficult. Or, I could have the skin on my face dry out and tighten up to the point that I couldn't shut my eyes. That would be bad.

So I will continue to faithfully apply lotion whenever I think about it, wear my glittens whenever I go outside, and celebrate my first real winter and all that it brings.