A tap that weeps at the handle is usually the gland
I turned the kitchen tap in February and water came up the spindle, over my fingers, and down the body. The spout was dry when I shut it. I thought the tap was finished. I isolated at the valve under the sink, opened the tap to empty the spout, and looked at the head. The gland nut was loose and the packing under it was a black smear. I put new packing in, snugged the nut, and the handle turned without a bath. The drip at night had been a different job. This was a weep when I used it.
A tap that drips is usually the washer in the head is the spout, a drip into the sink when the tap is shut. A weep up the spindle when the handle turns is the gland. The gland is a nut and a ring of packing, or an O-ring, around the spindle. It stops water coming up the shaft while still letting the shaft turn. If the packing is gone or the nut is slack, water follows your hand. People change the tap. They had two cheap parts in one body.
I isolate first. An isolation valve that will not close is usually the slot. I shut it, I test the tap, and I only then take the handle off. If I cannot isolate, I stop. I do not start on a live spindle.
When I check I see where the water starts. Shut, spout dripping: head washer. Open, water at the handle: gland. I undo the gland nut, not the whole head if I do not need to. I look at the packing. A dry crumb, a missing ring, or a flat O-ring is the job. I put in packing made for a tap, or an O-ring that matches, and I tighten the nut until the weep stops and the handle still turns. Too tight and the tap is a lock. Too slack and I am washing my hands every time I fill the kettle.
PTFE that leaks is usually the wrong way round is a thread wrap. I do not wind tape up a spindle and call it a gland. Tape will bind and then shred. The packing has to sit in the gland, not on the chrome as a bandage.
Skip a new mixer because the old pillar wept at the handle. Skip cranking the gland nut until the spindle will not turn. Skip grease from the kitchen on the packing. Skip taking the whole head off when the gland nut would have done, and skip leaving the head off if you have not isolated. Skip a ceramic-cartridge tap if you cannot see a gland. That is a different tap. I am writing about a spindle with packing.
I put the handle back and I open the isolation. I turn the tap a few times. A fresh bead at the spout is still the head washer. A bead at the handle is still the gland. I snug a little more, or I stop if the nut is at the end of its thread and still wet. Then the job is bigger than packing and I leave it.
This shows when you use the tap, not at night. Winter, cold hands, you feel it at once. I now wipe the body after I isolate and I watch the spindle, not only the spout.
I do not need a new sink because the handle wept. I need the supply shut, packing in the gland, and a stop if I cannot isolate.
If I later add a buy link here, it will be a paid promo.