Asking a beauty professional—whether it’s a celebrity hairstylist, makeup artist, or Instagram influencer—for advice is always a safe bet. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find there are plenty of other women out there who are legitimate authorities in their own right. In our column Unlikely Experts, they’ll give real reviews and recommendations. Whether it’s surfers on the best conditioners, bikers on the best cleansers or ballerinas on the best foot creams, it’s fair to say these women know best.

If you ask a room full of surgeons—regardless of their specialty or status—what their most important tool is, there’s a good chance each and every one will tell you it’s their hands. And how could they not be? Their hands are behind every incision, stitch, and decision they make, so it only makes sense that surgeons would know all there is to know about keeping them in good shape.

“Surgeons are battlefield experts in hand care because, whether we want to be or not, frequent hand washing, dryness, chapped joints, and need for full function are real parts of our lives,” says New York City surgeon Lara Devgan, M.D. “I wash my hands hundreds of times a week—sometimes more than 50 times a day—so I’m always thinking about how to best take care of them.”

Considering the average person isn’t performing dozens of surgeries a day, we figured any hand cream a surgeon swears by is good enough for the rest of us. From drugstore favorites to luxury treatments, check out their recommendations on the best hand lotions and creams ahead.