This grinds my gears.
No, I didn't punch a wall, I didn't stick my hands in a sink full of extra-strength Dawn and steaming hot water, I didn't scrape them on anything, the dogs didn't bite them. They just do this, all on their own, every winter. And this one is fairly mild at the moment, I've had all knuckles looking like this at a time before.
It hurts, damn it. Touching the skin of my hands (on the back sides only, thank god not on the palms) hurts. And I'm not talking only the parts that are oozing blood, the entire back of the hands hurt when touched. They hurt when I bend them out of an ordinary position, not the ligaments but the skin. I can understand a ligament getting upset if I bent it crazily, but skin should be a bit more supple than that. Especially skin that's only 25 years old. You can't really tell in the picture, but if you look at my hands in person, they look like the hands of a 70 or 80 year old woman. Not a 25 year old.
I've tried putting lotion on them. A doctor prescribed Cetaphil lotion. It helps the pain, temporarily, but doesn't heal the broken skin. I've tried other lotions, they really just don't work. The scented ones make it worse. Vaseline works the same as Cetaphil, it eases the pain for the moment but doesn't heal anything. Mink oil does work and does help heal the skin, if I have it on 100% of the time, however the entire time it's on I can touch nothing else because it's so greasy that it will not absorb and will smear onto anything I touch. I can't not touch anything 24/7, lol. ;;
Stupid hands. My lips do it too, although Vaseline heals them up right nicely. It's a pain in the arse to wake up to bloody lip prints on my pillowcase though, or take a drink of water from a glass I've already drank from and taste blood in the water. Grinds me right smack dab in the gears!