Brown Spots on Hands Appeared Overnight

I am a very healthy 30 year old woman. 2 days ago, I noticed approx. 20 small brown spots appeared on the back of my right hand. One day the skin in that area was smooth and even toned, the next day...spots! They are located between my thumb and index finger (and only a few are on the left hand in the same location).

I take a lot of vitamins and supplements, eat a low fat, high protein diet, exercise 5 days a week, don't smoke, rarely drink and have one latte a day! There is not much sun exposure where I live, but when its nice, I wear sunscreen.

What could be causing the dramatic onset of these spots and should I be concerned?

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi.

Have you been using any new brand of lotions or creams lately?

Are these spots flat or elevated?

This may not be something that may need urgent attention however, as we can not ascertain the cause of these spots, it is best to have these assessed by a dermatologist early on. Their location may give a clue to their cause. If you have been exposed to some soaps or some chemicals lately, then these may help explain the cause.

[30Healthy]

The spots are slightly elevated.

The only thing I can think of that I did (out of the ordinary) was pull some tall weeds out from underneath a shrub in our front yard. I think the brown spots appeared later that day. It seems maybe that could be the culprit since I pulled the weeds with my right hand & without gloves.

Otherwise, I haven't been using any new creams (other than a foot cream & face moisturizer). I can't imagine those would cause spots on this location of my hand.

Do you know of any skin cancers that show this way?

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi

Skin cancers are usually hyperpigmented or they may show as a bizarre skin manifestation looking like ink blots or even nodular in character eg nodular forms of melanoma. Squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell CA may present on more exposed areas like the face. When have you started noticing these dark spots?

At this point, I do not think this is cancer. The hands are quite sensitive to certain irritants or allergens. This may be a skin reaction. Also, hands are usually exposed to the sun and heat. This may be skin tags or moles.

I suggest that you have this assessed by your dermatologist. This may not be something that you have to be so worried about though I understand your concern. Have this assessed early on to allay your worries.

[Happy_kitty]

Hi, 30Healthy:

How are your spots now?  Have they gone away without any medication?

I am curious to know, because I also suddently developed age-spots-like tiny brown spots on the back of my left hand, mostly between/on my thumb and index finger.  There are 30 of them, all appeared at the same time.  I did some house cleaning that day and I DID wear gloves.  The spots are flat, light brown, and about 1mm in diameter, except two larger ones that are 3mm and slightly elevated.   They are never red, itchy, scaly, or painful.

I am 40 years old and I don't have any age spots before this.  It has been about a week, not improved.  If your problem has resolved, please share you experience.  Appreciate.

Happy_kitty

[km101]

I also had two small dark spots on my palms that seemed to appear overnight. They are irregular shaped, and about the size of the head of a pencil eraser. They are not really "raised" but feel like patches of rougher skin. They've been on my palms for about 2 weeks now, and today one turned into what looks like a blister. I haven't popped the blister so I'm not sure if it has liquid underneath or if the skin is simply dead and ready to fall off. Neither of the patches are painful or itchy. Any ideas as to what this might be from?

[Keisha420]

Hi I'm a 21 yr old black female. I've been having these elevated brown spots on the palms of my hand and the soles of my feet since I was in elementary school. I've talked to physicians and dermatologists and none can explain what it is. My knuckles are also darker and they are a irregular in shape. I just came to believe that it's just a flaw. Does anyone else has this problem?

[divya48]

i have dark spots on my hands and legs due to mosquitoe bites.iam unable to wear sleevless and shorts and iam loosing my self confidence because of dose spots.please help me out.any home remedies through which i can get rid of d spots...please...iam really very sad n depressed.

[kiwi155]

I'm a 13 year old girl and have also just found small brown spots between my thumb and index finger there is only about 10 and they showed up bacically over night they are a little bit smaller than a pencil eraser and are a light color at first i just thought my hands were dirty untill they didnt come off. if you find a solution to this problem please share

[newbiewithmac]

I am 24 years old male, Latin and slightly dark skin. I developed brown freckles on my two hands between that index fingers and thumbs overnight. It has been 4 days and they haven't changed. Not elevated, no hurt, no itch. But I am very worried about it. I hope it is not cancer and hope they will disappear. What is this!!?? Somebody needs to find the answer and the cure. I did drink and smoke the night before they appear. But I often do it in the weekends. And a few days before I saw this on my hands, I made lemonade and played tennis right after, a couple of times.

[Milopolo]

Hello, I'm a 17 year old white male, I got these spots on the palms of my hands and the soles of my left foot.
The things I've done a lot before they appeared:
- Throw a baseball up and catch it while it rotates. May have irritated the skin.
- Touched a lot of rubber.

Things I've done differently than normally:
- Drink 2 beers instead of one before going to bed.
- Exercise Parkour, (Running, climbing etc) longer than normally. As it's summer vacation I do it more often now for the first time.
- I used a different shampoo. It's an after sport shampoo with Citron Acid as main ingredient.
- i slept irregularly. Gone late to bed, and gotten out later. It may have been caused by lack of sleep.
If any of these things match the things you have done before they appeared, don't hesitate to tell me, us, everyone here. It might just be the clue to this problem. Although I am not really bothered with it myself, it is a huge problem to some others. as for that, I'm trying to help you guys out.

Yours,

Milan. The Netherlands.

[akn54sen]

check out this site, you'll find the answer!  It happened to me to after squeezing limes and laying out in the sun.   http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/beauty/brown-spots-hands-96372.html

"I have the same spots. They are not sun spots. Sun spots are actually a fungus and turn patches of your skin white, not brown. The spots everyone seems to be getting occur after sun exposure. I got them in the Keys and went to the dermatologist afterwards. He said its from limes or mangoes. They contain a photoreactive agent called bergamot, which if you get it on your skin then go in the sun it will turn brown. They fade in a month or two dont worry. I cannot wait til they disappear"

[SuperRonnie]

i am fourteen year old girl. one day i just looked at my hand and i had about 8 small brown dots on my left hand in between two finger that i do not remember having the night before. after a few days my mom and i have waited to see if they would go away but they have spread to my other finger i am worried that it is due to cancer. i have not been in the sun to long.i have not done anything out of the ordinary. what do i do?

[Amberger]

I had irregular brown patches on the palms and side of my hands this morning. They appreared overnight and are not raised or irritated at all. They are stained a brown color so at first I thought it might be dried blood. After reading comments on the internet I believe they are from the limes I squeezed into me beer yesterday. They do appear to look like a liquid spill and are darker in the creases of my hand.

[Roman1234567]

Ok i have the same thing , this spots usually caused by citrus juice and sun , i had a bbq at friends pool and was making mojitos all day on the sun, squeezing lime all day + sun caused that, they dont itch or hurt , might stay for over a month on your hands. Its a burn that caused by sun when citrus gets on your hands. Hope that helps.