My Skin Got Wrecked Playing Diablo 4
Been grinding Diablo 4 pretty hard lately. Late nights, early mornings, you know how it is. Started noticing this nasty, red, itchy patch right where my mouse hand rests on the desk. Felt like a damn rug burn mixed with fire ants. Thought it was just sweat at first, but it kept getting worse. Made clicking skills feel like punishment.
First I tried just washing more. Figured soap and water would sort it. Did nothing. If anything, the stupid fancy lavender soap my wife bought made it sting worse. Patting it dry helped a bit, but as soon as I started another session, bam. Back to feeling like my wrist was cooking.
Got annoyed. Looked up weird home fixes. Tried some stuff:
- Ice Cubes: Grabbed a couple straight from the freezer, wrapped ’em in a thin dish towel. Held it on the angry spot. Oh man, instant relief. That burning calmed right down. Did this between dungeon runs for like 2 days. Helped the itch, but didn’t fix it.
- Cotton Sleeve Hack: Dug out an old, stupidly soft cotton t-shirt I never wear. Cut off the sleeve. Slid that sucker onto my forearm, covering the red patch where it rubbed the desk. Way less friction. Still sweaty underneath, but not grinding my skin raw anymore. Game-changer for play time.
- Plain Baby Powder: Saw this online and laughed. But hey, desperate times. Dabbed just a little of my kid’s leftover cornstarch powder on the clean, dry spot after washing. Not the scented stuff. Made it feel kinda gritty at first, but after 5 minutes? Weirdly absorbed the sweat during my playtime. Kept the area drier, less swampy. Still looked irritated though.
- Changing My Death Grip: Realized my mouse hand was tense as hell during boss fights. Palm sweating, fingers mashing buttons, pushing hard into the pad. Made a conscious effort to relax the death grip every time I noticed it. Took deep breaths during loading screens. Less pressure meant less direct friction. Sounds dumb, but helped the skin actually breathe a little.
After a week of doing all this junk – the ice, the sleeve, the powder, trying to relax – the worst of the burning and raw feeling faded. Went from fire ants to just mildly annoyed.
Think the biggest lesson was keep it dry and stop grinding skin into plastic. That sleeve barrier made the biggest difference. Still slightly red though, gotta admit. Maybe I just need to touch grass more? Heh. Stopped the toxic skin apocalypse, at least. No more wanting to rage quit because my arm hurts.