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

The thing is corbybuckels I have this problem with brand new macs or old ones. I can see how your problem may have begun slowly, but for me it is as though now no matter how new the trackpad is, my fingers react. I have a lot of weird food intolerances as well and when I tell my friends about this 'intolerance' of mine, they just laugh. So I mostly don't tell people because I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm crazy... =)

I just started having this problem today.  It's kind of humid here in Japan, so I suppose the problem is sweaty fingers and fine particles of sweat / dirt on the trackpad causing friction.

People with soft fingers tend to have this problem, especially if they've been exposed to a lot of cleaning products or chemicals without using gloves.

I rubbed Vaseline into my fingertips, just a tiny dot of it, enough to coat my fingers.  Now they're gliding across the trackpad with ease.  The Vaseline doesn't seem to be rubbing off on the keys either.  I'd recommend Vaseline over lotion as the hands will absorb less of it, in my opinion.

Glad the vaseline is working. It might be hard to always have it around you though, unless you keep a small amount with you wherever you go.

I have an update. I figured out that it is definitely friction and heat over time rather than an exposure of nickel. It takes most users a year or two of using a macbook or trackpad before the pain occurs. In this time period the friction and heat will wear down your fingertips. I noticed because not only does my trackpad hurt my fingertips, but my android phone as well. Also the fingertips on my right hand, the one I use, are very smooth. Whereas my left hand fingertips remain rugged as usual. I can use my left hand and there is no burn. However, that won't work as a fix being right handed. I am now restricted to a good old fashion mouse. No more trackpad functionality. Oh well.

Please explain how friction causes my palms to burn and get irritated from the edge of my iPhone?? I am not trying to discount that friction might be a factor for many.  But mine started out with my fingers because that's the point of most contact with my comp but as the allergy progressed, any contact with Apple's aluminum(containing a nickel alloy) burns and irritates whatever part of ,y skin it is contact with!

And the endear side of my apple mouse burns but it is better because the top is plastic!

Hmm, sounds like some people have problems with the allergy and some people with heat and friction. I can say for my case it is heat and friciton, but for you all signs point to nickel exposure. Has anyone here called apple? I feel like I should. Their product is literally hurting me. Something could be done.

I am leaning more toward allergy than heat and friction as touching the outside of my macbook air or the back of our iMac - any contact with the aluminum causes a mild pain - almost like conducting an electrical current through the tips of my fingers. It's very disappointing after spending $2k on switching from non-Mac to Mac. Love what the machine can do but not loving this fingertip pain issue. I hope Apple can come up with a fix for this for future iterations of their products.

It was very difficult for me to use the trackpad because I have sweaty hands all the time. Baby powder solved this problem for me. My keyboard, though, gets all covered by baby powder, but I don't care.

pls discontinue using the builtin trackpad and use an external trackpad, they are cooler in temperature wise.. I have already bought an external track pad for 50 bucks and I will see if it heals my problem...

so.... anyone still having these issues?

i have it slghtly...

if im on the computer long enough and keep brushing my fingers on that trackpad they get all sensitive and tingly.

sometimes cutting my nails causes me to touch it with a different part of my fingertip and this helps.... but its just a quickfix. Im gonna try a mouse.

i guess touching the trackpad all day can cause nerve damage.......i dunno

use the covers like these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190794780057?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m142 3.l2649

could provide some relief...

its pity they are allergic to frequent users which causes injury to body...

i dont know if im allergic... just overuse the trackpad... should get a mouse....

is the trackpad the same size on all macbooks?

i have the 17" i cant find a trackpad guard for that size....

i only care for the trackpad not the rest....

I've also been suffering with exactly the same issue you mentioned for about a year now.  I'd even considered ditching the MBP and moving to another platform.  I finally solved my issue.  I purchased a palm cover that came with a sticker that goes over the trackpad (I didn't bother with the palm cover part because its only my fingertips that have the issue).  The sticker has more texture, almost feeling a little rough.  The problem immediately went away for me.  I used a colleagues mac air this week to project some slides from and immediately the problem came back.  His air was 2months old.

I used a topcase palm rest which was about $5 from amazon.  Immediate fix for me.  Best 5 bucks i've ever spent.

Hope that helps some folks.

thanks

Jon

Just verified from my dermatologist --she says she's seeing this quite a bit lately. An allergy to some metals: nickel, aluminum... I was using my own Sony Vaio for years (with NO peeling), but started using my BF's extra MacBook Pro when my Vaio got old & slow... & wouldn't you know, my fingertips started getting super dry, skin started peeling... LOL I'm allergic to mac laptops! Vaios use a different metal alloy for the touch pad. *sigh*