Blistery Rash on hands.

[Mys_Mysti]

I am 25 year old female, I have a very painful/itchy condition on my hands. It started on just my right palm as a very small area of peeling skin, then a red dot appeared, which turned into a blister, and then it spread into lots of blisters, the blisters are white & pustular, once the blisters dry out, they generally develop a crust over them which peels off in big hard pieces of skin, like scales, sometimes it gets so dried out that my hand fissures completely causing serious pain & sometimes bleeding. I have had this for about 7 months, and it seems to only get worse. Ive seen doctors & such, they seem to believe its dishydrotic eczema, however my mother also has this condition, and has only had it for a little over a year, and before her my stepdad had this condition for about a year before she got this. So to me it seems contagious, strange part being ive been with my boyfriend for over a year & he has not acquired this condition. Also treatments they have given me, such as corticosteroid ointments/creams/emollients, only seem to spread this condition & make it worse. The only treatment that showed any sign of improvement was oral antibiotics along with an antibiotic cream, however, the cream doesnt seem to work on its own, and after going through two 10 day courses of oral antibiotics, they dont wish to give me more of them. It is so painful and itchy, not to mention embarrassing & its really starting to freak me out. I am dying to figure out what this could possibly be & what to do about it, before it starts spreading further than my hands. My mom has it on her hands, feet & legs, my stepdad had it on his hands & arms, Im hoping someone, anyone, can please help me!

[ucrhisten]

My mysery  was a pin head skin rash on my hands (watery little pimples and very red skin which was very sensitive to warm water) and a little on my ankles. It started slowly on my left hand in the wrist area and then spread onto the right hand and it continued to spread until it covered the whole back of both hands and 2 fingers on each hand, the right hand looked like a carbon copy of the left hand. After a Dermatologist couldn't find out what it was even after taking a couple of biopsies, I eventually got onto a steroid cream which would suppress it temporarily but it would flare up again as soon as I would stop applying it. I then got some "Lucas paw paw cream" which helped a lot and at least this one was all natural but it wasn't the answer either because I wanted to eradicate the rash alltogehter. Anyway to cut a long story short, I had a look at the listed side effects of some of the blood pressure drugs I have been taking and to my surprise it listed "Pin head skin rash", I instantly knew that I had the answer to my problem and after talking to my GP I started to wean myself of the blood pressure medication and I noticed an almost sudden change and today (4 months later) my hands have completely cleared up (no sign of a rash), also my anxiety and chest pain has gone, my blood pressure is fine (normally about 115/60 and I have my confidence back again and I am working again and cycling to work and back every day. I am not taking any pharmaceutical drugs at all, not even Aspirin and I feel great, I just thought I wanted to share this with others who also might be suffering side effects from medications without being aware of it.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like pompholyx. Wash the areas several times with fresh water. Do not use any cosmetic products at the sites. You can apply some calamine lotion at the rash as it will help in soothing the skin. You can take some OTC oral antihistamine medications like Benadryl or Claritin and see if it helps.

For mild-moderate symptoms a weak steroid may be used (e.g. hydrocortisone as dermacort), whilst more severe cases require a higher-potency steroid (e.g. clobetasol propionate, fluocinonide).But they are available under prescription and should be taken only after consulting a dermatologist. Symptoms  can be exacerbated by dryness of the skin. Use good quality moisturizers to prevent moisture loss from the skin.

If they prove unsucvessful, then Light treatment: UVA-1, PUVA, Grenz rays, Low Level Light Therapy using a Red + NIR (LED) combination can be used. For recalcitrant cases, corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressants may be used. In addition, you can apply aloe vera to the hands. It will help.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.