I mean, it doesn't HAVE to be, of course, lol.
TL;DR at the end
Anyway, a little backstory here...

This all started when I was about 6 years old. I even remember the first night it presented itself. It was the day after I told my parents I was being molested. I was lying in bed and (ugh, I feel weird even writing about it) suddenly the feeling of my bare feet being dry...I can't even describe it, to be honest. I was crying and freaking out. My mom (she is so fucking awesome) didn't make a big deal about it, she acted like it was business as usual and got to work trying to help me. She figured lotion would do the trick but it didn't. She ended up getting a washcloth wet and I kept my feet pushed against it.

That was nearly 30 years ago. It got a lot worse. The dry feeling went from my feet to my hands. Fingertips especially. I CONSTANTLY lick my fingers. My ex wife had counted it one time and it was something like 30 something times in a minute. In school, I couldn't raise my hand and leave it open. I had to make a fist. The feeling of my hand exposed to air, fucking ugh. I also used to get on the treadmill in the morning before school to make my feet sweat.

I HATED showers. omg. For the longest time, it took a very patient mom to get me to shower. That dried out feeling afterwards was torture. And lotion wouldn't work. As I got older, in my late teens, lotion finally did the trick. But that was only for showers. It's so bad that I have slept with my shoes on since I was like, 16 or so. People immediately notice it. It's fucking gross, to be honest.

I wish I could describe the feeling I get when I try to force myself not to do it. I feel like I'll go crazy. I've spoken to head shrinkers and numerous family doctors about it and never get a real answer. OCD does seem to be what gets suggested the most, however. But I wouldn't know. I know absolutely NOTHING about OCD and that is on purpose. I refuse to dig into what OCD is. Not even sure why! I'm not afraid to have it or anything. Shrug.

It was mentioned by one of my doctors that it could be a deficiency of some kind?

Does it mean anything that it's pretty much JUST my fingertips and toes? It doesn't bother me anywhere else on my body.
Thank you for reading this far. I wouldn't say I'm sensitive about this or anything, so any thoughts on this are welcome!

TL;DR
Shortly after I told my parents about being molested, the feeling of my toes or fingertips being dry drove me insane. To the point where I've slept with my shoes on for over 20 years to keep my toes sweaty. I like my finger tips anywhere from 5 to over 30 times a minute. It's gross and I hate it.