How can I stop trackpad from hurting/burning my fingertips?

Hi everyone, I've been following this thread for a few months. I can't touch any device without pain now. I just want to stay updated in case there are more comments. Thank you for all your posts and helpful suggestions. The best thing I've found to help is voice recognition. Unfortunately this heats up the MacBook Pro to the point that I sure better not make a mistake and have to edit!

Pam

I've been having this for a while - had no idea it was 'a thing' - I thought maybe it was RSI-connected. These days I can't use my forefinger for anything - it gives me pain even when using a pen, using knife to cut food ... anything. This really is a problem, and I have Raynaud's syndrome too, so I'm worried it has caused permanent damage. Has Apple ever responded to any of this or done any research into why this is happening? I think I may refer it to a watchdog programme we have here in the UK.

I tried the magic mouse - but I get it just as bad with that. I've just dug out an ld acrylic apple mouse to see if that helps?

<<<EDIT: for some reason I missed a page out when reading this thread so some of this comment has already been answered, but Ill leave it unedited so you can see the reasoning 🙂 . Anyway I still don't understand how a glove is different to a screen protector... they both block the finger from direct contact with trackpad....but don't block friction.

-Could your finger be reacting to a build up of its own sweat?

-Could it be the friction between trackpad/trackpad+cover and your fingerprints causing irritation?>>>

Wow this thread is crazy, as a macbook pro retina user i'd never imagine this was even a thing!

Why don't you [and others] purchase a skin for the laptop. A skin such as a sticker which covers all the aluminium palm rests (if you're getting rashes), and one for the trackpad. Could you get an iPad screen protector and cut it to the exact size of trackpad? Also does anybody know the specific technology that the trackpad uses? I imagine its the same used on iPads, and iPhones with their touch screens. I believe they just have a micro grid that detects your body electricity from fingers, how does this give or EM radiation? The glass on the macbook pro retina trackpad seems slightly textured, could this be sandpapering your skin and maybe your skin is more fragile or sensitive? Or maybe theres chemicals or coatings on the trackpad?

Maybe its not the device, maybe your sweat is reacting with something either in the aluminium, plastic keys or trackpad....? Peoples sweat has different PH levels. Some people are saying gloves stop the pain, so it must be something to do with physical skin contact with the computer. If people who experience this are willing, try cleaning the trackpad with different chemicals. OBVIOUSLY DONT pour any on, get something like a small amount of tissue and put a small bit in the MIDDLE ONLY of trackpad. Then move your finger around this area for a while, NOT spreading it to the edges (you don't want liquids to go down the side of trackpad and ruin £1000.). Maybe try things such as: rubbing alcohol, vegetable oil, washing up liquid. Also see if the soap causes less friction with your finger and trackpad, maybe its a sandpapering effect?

The only 2 feasible reasons I can see are:

-The chemicals in sweat reacting with trackpad, and/or your skin is allergic to chemicals in trackpad.

-The very lightly textured trackpad is sandpapering your fingertips.

Does this also happen on iPhone/iPad displays? Their glass is very smooth, but does have a chemical coating. Like i said I'm not sure on some of the specifics here but would like to know more about this issue- I'm sure we all do! 🙂

These gloves were no use whatsoever. Maybe they are not the same as the ones you purchased. The trackpad doesn't respond. AND they are so short in the fingers I wouldn't be able to use them anyway. Not worth the price no matter what you intend to use them for. JMHO

I had the same issue on my 2009 13" MacBook but it was not as bad even though it got much hotter. It is much more noticeable when the processor is under load. I figure that the newer MBPr can perform tasks so much faster therefore I am using more gestures and faster typing.

It would sure be nice if autocorrect worked on these forums ... save me a few keystrokes for sure.

Acrylamide monomer based chemicals which are used as coating over some track / touch / navigation pads are toxic. Acrylamide monomer based poisoning is when the chemical is absorbed through your skin or inhaled and it can cause carpel tunnel (in other words there is the carpel tunnel that typing can cause and there is the carpel tunnel that acrylamide monomer poisoning can cause). The causes are very different but the symptoms are similar which is why it is almost always misdiagnosed. Also, usually all symptoms will subside in time once you have removed yourself from the source of the toxin, depending on how long and how much you were exposed to the toxin. Acrylamide monomer (sometimes referred to as acrylamide monomer resin) is a neurotoxin. It can cause the area of where it is coming in contact with your skin (fingertips for example) very dry. It can cause memory problems, confusion and unclear thinking.

Supposedly, this type of poisoning is supposed to be impossible to obtain from using a touch pad or navigation pad or whatever you want to call them. I strongly suspect that is untrue.

I have done a lot of research so if you would like any supporting link, just ask. I will state that I could not find one single mention of a human being ever getting this type of neurotoxin poisoning from their laptop or touch pad. But then again, I'm no expert at on-line research or chemical engineering and I can't afford to pay for access to the more updated and informative on-line research results on this topic. I keep on looking anyway.

I'm pretty sure I'm a victim of acrylamide based monomer or resin toxic poisoning and that's why I persist because no one knows what I'm talking about, not even my doctors or neurologist. Sometimes I think maybe I am crazy but then I look at my very long list of things that happened and when that support my conclusion and I continue to do the research and contact authorities like the CDC, GA Poison Control, EPA, Georgia Consumer Law, and others but I always just get passed along. The buck never stops anywhere. It can be very frustrating at times.

I'm sorry for the delay. I will be posting more links. Thanks for your patience.

http://www.ilocis.org/documents/chpt7e.htm

(Beginning of snip)

Monomers

Monomers constitute a large, heterogeneous group of reactive chemicals used for chemical synthesis and production of polymers, resins and plastics. Monomers comprise polyhalogenated aromatic compounds such as p-chlorobenzene and 1,2,4-trichlorbenzene; unsaturated organic solvents such as styrene and vinyltoluene, acrylamide and related compounds, phenols, ε-caprolactam and γ-aminobutyrolactam. Some of the widely used neurotoxic monomers and their effect on the nervous system are listed in table 7.5. (end of snip)

Hi all, I'm not saying that any of this in here is not true,http://macosxbits.com/2015/04/burning-fingertips-caused-by-trackpad-in-macbook/ as i am much worse when i'm using the macbook air than anything else i touch, so the coating wearing off or something electrical or coating passing to me is still i think a big possible reason and fault of apple as i never felt anything like this on a plastic (dell or thinkpad) trackpad, but i think i have found a bigger or a reason thats playing a bigger part for me with this problem and i thought id share it with you all so you can go any decide if you think you have the same, not saying that it wasn't brought on by this laptops glass trackpad or whatever because this is all new to my hands now and actually i think i do believe that....but i think now i have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. check it out on wikipedia and see if you match up too&good luck to you. ill be seeing my doctor about it soon.

Is the trackpad hot, or is it due to leakage current from the power supply - that is if you unplug the charger and all connected peripherals (anything that has its own power source), does the 'burning' stop happening.

If the trackpad itself is hot, the cause is likely to be either the battery or a blocked heatsink on the case fan (macbook 13' has only one case fan, and uses heat pipes to carry the het away from other components, this can backfire if the heatsink blocks with heat conducted from the hot CPU into the rest of the laptop body. Battery problem are more serious, and a good sign you should get it replaced asap.

One thing I have noticed with a lot of IT equipment is a filter in the power supply places a common-mode voltage on the equipment of half the mains supply

voltage. In my case (a 240v/50hz country) that means 120v AC at about 80uA but in 60Hz countries, like the US this leakage current will be even higher. If I operate the laptop from the charger without using the 3-pin plug, then there will be a 'buzzing' sensation from contacting any metallic or conductive surface of the machine. Running one's finger across it will feel like a rough surface.

Hi Liam, this is not the issue we are talking about. I believe a good portion of the problem is that the functionality of the trackpad and the operating system is so good that we can complete three or four times as much work on the MacBook as on other types of trackpads. I'm not sure why there isn't a better heatsink on our computers. My old MacBook 13 inch aluminum did exactly the same thing to me to a lesser extent. The reason the processor is hot is mostly from running video such as YouTube, Skype etc. Quite often when I'm Skyping lengthy conversations with my friends, We like to look at things on the web. This is when I experienced the most pain. Additionally, when I'm talking to .someone on Skype, it's more difficult to use voice recognition. It's also difficult to use voice recognition when there's anyone else in the room for any reason.

I'd like to finish typing this, but I need to correct it so many times it's hurting my fingertips. If anyone has a direct link to some gloves that actually worked, I would appreciate it :-) enter

Thanks enter

Pam, Yes there're limitations to apples voice recognition LOL

Voice recognition also heats up the processor dramatically.

Hi all,

Just adding my experience to this list. I bought a 2015 rMBP in late January 2016. Immediately started having crazy peeling of the skin on my fingertips across all ten fingers. They would peel, then crack, and become red and very painful as several layers of skin peeled off. It basically looked like I had no fingerprints.

I didn't initially suspect the rMBP was the cause, so I went to several doctors and dermatologists, and finally the derm gave me a shot of cortisone, which immediately stopped the peeling. Apparently he said this kind of peeling can be hard to stop once it starts because daily activity puts a lot of stress on your hands, so hard to rest them to heal fully, and the cortisone shot helps cut the inflammation. He suspected it was the laptop given that it affects all ten of my fingertips but no other part of my body, and so I returned the laptop, thinking maybe there was some random chemical that got on the keyboard during production, because I've had a 2013 MBA for years without problem. Bought a different rMBP, and the problem immediately returned. I've now returned that one and am waiting for the peeling to go away (it seems to take a week or two to stop).

Unlike everyone else, I suspect it was the keyboard rather than the trackpad, as it's across all of my fingertips, and I don't use the trackpad with both hands, only the right one. I also never use my pinky finger with the trackpad, but it's on all fingers. My doctor also thought it was the keyboard, as it's the only thing I touch with all ten fingertips but no other part of my hand/skin.

I called Apple and their engineering team looked into this. I thought perhaps I had an allergy to the paint on the keyboard of some component on the keyboard, but they weren't able to be specific about what chemicals comprise the keys or the paint, so I wasn't able to narrow it down. I'm planning to do patch testing with a contact dermatology specialist in the next few weeks to see if I am allergic to any common chemicals used in laptops, but otherwise am at a complete loss as to the cause of this problem. I'll report back if there seems to be any connection between an allergy to a chemical that might be used in the laptop.

In the mean time, I'm not sure what to do. I'd love to remain a Mac user, but I don't want to play finger peeling roulette any longer! I may just give up a get a PC...

Wow that's pretty extreme, not experienced the peeling. That's a lot to go through for the love of a Mac. Please stay in "touch" and let us know where this journey takes you!
For myself, I am reduced to using my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with stylus which only affects a couple of fingers. Typing is definitely problematic as is tapping any device or even writing with a pen now.

I had the wireless track pad and loved it but I had to stop using it because my fingers got so so sensitive.

(so that rules out that it's because of the heat from the laptop)

Unfortunately, though some suggested it, I'm getting the sensitivity from the magic mouse too.

Was using the regular mouse for the last couple of years with no problems at all but within

a short time of getting the magic mouse, (new iMac so new mouse) the sensitivity is back.

Yea this seems to be an ongoing problem for many- for years!. Why hasn't Apple done anything to address it?!

I'm inclined to go along with Peggy4th's hypothesis as partway explanation.