OK, so about a week and change ago, I noticed some red, dry, flaky patches of skin on the backs of both my hands.
On the left-hand, it's a patch, a little scaly, roughly the size of a quarter. On the right-hand, it's several patches, most about the diameter of a dime, with one horizontal "strip."
Beyond the fact that it has been a very weird winter in my area, going from crazy-low temperatures to mid-60s in a matter of days, and brushing against patches of road-salt that's attached itself to my car (ew ... I really want to take it in for a wash, but feel like that'll be tempting fate!), I've also been using foaming Method handwash with a fragrance - I bought the Minnie Mouse "strawberry fizz" for DD in the hopes that it would encourage her to wash her hands more frequently.
After I noticed it, I switched up my moisturizer, added some antibiotic first aid ointment for good measure, and noticed no improvement.
I then bought a tube of hydrocortisone and a tub of Cetaphil moisturizing cream, and have re-started my Zyrtec, ... and it appears to be getting better - i.e. redness minimized, no longer flaking,
My questions are:
(1) Do I still need to go to a doctor to get it checked out? If so, who? I have an open access health care plan, so I do not have a "PCP" other than my gynecologist, and would not require a referral. (Unless an office is so antiquated that THEY need one, which wastes my time and frustrates me.)
(2) What could it be? It doesn't meet the criteria for ringworm, but might meet for psoriasis or eczema. Eczema does run in my family (my younger brother had it on his legs as an expression of a dairy allergy) but so does severely dry skin. I've never gotten this before, so I'm honestly curious.