I used to get really painful splits in my fingers, and hands too, sometimes, because I handle paper, lots of it, all day.
Tried various creams, superglue, Micropore tape, (best solution on my fingers), all sorts of stuff.
Anyway, I was looking through the health pages of the Daily Wail, (yes, I know, my dad gets it, I look through it to see how self-righteous they are), anyway, I happened to notice a little article about not using gel hand-wash, as it dries out the skin, instead using bar soap, so I stopped using it, and bought some Wright’s Traditional bar soap. The splits and cracks stopped within a couple of days! It’s made a huge difference, so if anyone uses those gel dispensers at home, and has skin problems, try ordinary soap.