The skin in the top corner of my right thumb is painfully dry and hard - almost as if all the layers of skin were actually dead. It hurts to put any pressure on it but I've found that if there is moisture on it the skin will soften and the pain will go away of course until the skin dries again. My Aunty suggested that the hardening of the skin might be cause by my touch-screen phone, but the issue had started developing before I even had said phone. Any ideas of what this might be? Similar issues, and ways of dealing with it?