I am young pianist, new here, who is accompanying Beauty and the Beast, but the piano part has so many slides! I do them with the back of my hand and normally don't break open the skin, but occasionally I just hit it wrong. When I do end up bleeding I do what guitarists do: I put superglue over the scab and then it doesn't break open anymore. I've found that band aids catch and I can't be bleeding all over the piano, so that is the best way for me.

How do you guys do slides, and what do you do when your hands get roughed up by them?

ouch! you use the back of your hand??
i normally use the nail of the 3rd finger to go up or down the piano for white keys....if you are doing black key ones, which i hardly ever do, i use the palms of my hand.

think you can use your thumb nail also if you prefer!

Yeah, I've tried it all ways, I'm just most adept using the back of my hands, or if it's long the back of my fingertips. I've never thought to use my palm before! That would be cool.

I use the nails on my third and fourth fingers to go up and my thumb nail to go down. Very little pain that way.
I don't see how well the palm would work....for black keys going up I use the backs of my third and fourth finger and going down I use the side of my second.

Actually, the best way to gliss the keys is with the heel of the hand, either the fleshy part at the base of the thumb or at the base of the pinky. By doing this, you can also play keys with the fingers, which are left in striking position. He's an atrocious pianist to most here, their opinion being that he has only the most basic of rudimentary technical skills, but I beg to differ and here's a video of my mentor using this painless, effective technique for maximum effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5gnAqgttY

Using the heel of the hand, you can play white and black key glisses all day, with total abandon, and never caue pain.