Thanks everyone ... I keep one of those little 7"x 4 1/2", six ring, loose leaf notebooks for all my camping and fishing references, and made a page with all your recommendations. Went to see the ole Doc for followup on some previous tests I've been going through and sprung this cracked thumb skin business on him. Although he's a general practioner and not a dermatologist, he did prescribe a moisturizing lotion with 12% lactic acid, called AmLactin, and says it's good for dry skin that is about to crack open; says to use it only on my thumbs and finder tips, especially around the nails and especially at bed time. He says for a everyday hand lotion, he personally likes "udder cream" that they use for the milking cows! Guess he's an old farm boy at heart! Anyway, found some of that at my local Wally-Mart and it's called "Udderly Smooth" and it was only $1.50 (4oz tube). Kinda like the stuff! Thanks again, Dale

YES! Sun care is the most important thing. Once you have found that perfect sunblock for your skin, the rest is easy. I wish I had known this in my twenties and I could have saved my skin from a lot of environmental damage. browntoestoo, have you heard about this product called Meladerm? I SWEAR by this stuff. I used it to lighten some age spots on my hands and even my husband was shocked how much they faded. I know melasma and age spots are different, but I think meladerm is supposed to lighten all kinds of pigmentation. Also, my sister's doctor had given her a product called triluma for her melasma several years ago. I did help her a bit, but I think she was allergic to it so had to stop. You can also look into this. But I believe it requires a prescription. If you are looking for triluma, their website is www.triluma.com. The Meladerm website is from a company called Civant. I found it through google. Here is a link that might be useful: Meladerm

Dancey sorry to hear about your skin troubles. I cannot speak to the menopause and hormone issues (though I remember my older sister telling me her skin became super-soft following hysterctomy hormone therapy) - but I have lived with dermatitis, exzema, and fussy skin allergies all my life and over the years have found these helps: 1. To the extent you can, try to reduce the total chemical load in your environment - do not use dryer sheets, fabric softener, room fresheners, hair creme rinse (or minimize it at least); put your clothing through a double rinse cycle; use gloves/other barrier to protect your skin from harsh detergents, etc. 2. Add evening primrose, flaxseed, tocotrienols, and more fish to your diet (the inside-out approach). 3. I have fussy impossible skin, and my red-head spouse has his own set of skin troubles (sun damage, pre-actinic keratoses, etc.). We're both in our 50s now, and though we're fit, free of health problems, and comfortable with our ages, we wondered if we might improve the appearance of our sun-damaged faces. Together we read Perricone's Cosmeceuticals book, and decided to try some of his recommendations. We found the author's products to be way beyond what we considered reasonable to spent, but we have had stunning results with similar products we found online through Amazon.com from Reviva Labs: Alpha Lipoic Acid Vitamin C Ester and DMAE Cream (for the face and neck day and night); Firming Eye Serum (night-time eye cream); and their hand lotion from the same line (sorry my bottle is out in the car so I can't give you specific name). My skin responded immediately (thank god I was getting a little worried about lip creases and papery eye and throat). We're both looking a lot clearer and more well-rested, with much-improved skin texture - that's as much as we can expect because we'd never go for elective surgery - only a natural approach... and no, we have no financial interest in the above-noted products. 4. Two other creams that settle my skin, as well as seeming to change the texture, are Nivea Skin Firming Lotion with Q10 plus Biotin, and Aveeno Stress Relief Moisturizing Lotion with Natural Colloidal Oatmeal, Lavender, Chamomile and YlangYlang. You can find these at any of the larger drugstores (I am on West Coast) - they're a bit more expensive than, say, Jergens, but I have been thrilled to find them. Sorry for the rambler, but I hope you'll try any or all of the above. So nice to have happy skin. Good luck!

I tried Retinal... I think, and Vanicream moisturizer. Mostly I forget the retinal. Am I spelling that right? Too lazy to get up and look. I like the moisture cream a lot and it was really cheap. I bought it for my arms with the crepe paper skin. That's better. I don't know about the retinal. In the meantime I bought a bunch of Neutrogena stuff and I like that. The eye cream might be working for those black bags under my eyes. Those are once a day which is good because I'm doing really well if I remember to do it every day. And the wrinkle stuff has the sun screen in it which was also another thing I didn't think about until I was outside. But every 80 minutes is a PITA. I wonder how the neutrogena wrinkle stuff with SPF 30 works all day? Doesn't seem like it would. So that's where I'm at. The driver's license picture is 20 days away. It has to look better than the last one.