My brother was in prison and worked in the kitchen. He was forced to use the same rags for several days at a time, cleaning up from meat as well as other foods. They are not given gloves to wear and only rinsing the rags in hot water at times. He got a rash on his hands between his fingers at first and then all over. Later they began to crack and get very dry. He believes it's from using the dirty rags and now has trouble with his hands cracking and can't use just any soap on them. They crack and bleed, making it hard for him to use his hands sometimes. He has been using a cream that has lanolin but it burns. Can anyone tell me what this might be called and what he can do about it to get his hands to heal? Will corn gluten meal soaking help?

No promises but tell him to try this. Rinse his hands in hydrogen peroxide. Then make a thick slurry of cornmeal and water. Whole ground may not be available so use whatever he can get. Tell him to soak and apply dry cornmeal as is practical. The olive oil lotion from the web site would be the next best treatment. Until he can get that, just use olive oil. Hopefully they have that in the mess hall. Garlic juice or powder is another solution if all else fails. Keep me posted.

He isn't in anymore so I will help him get some whole ground cornmeal and I will check out the website, is the olive oil lotion on there? Thanks so much as I was concerned about him using that Lanolin cream. He feels it's from using rags to clean up in the kitchen after raw meat, etc., and not having them washed every day.

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