Peeling, blistering, painful, fingertip!

[mefuentes]

About 2 months ago, I noticed I had a sore spot on my fingertip. It is on the middle finger, all over the fingerprint area. It started out sore, and then became red and even more painful. The skin started to dry out and lose sensation. I can feel the pain, but touch feels strange in that finger now. The skin is peeling and the area keeps getting larger. On top of that, blisters keep forming right where the skin is peeling and when they pop, I get these little, open sores all over the area which adds to the pain. Any idea?????? It almost feels like a burn, but I never burned it on anything!

[mefuentes]

Finally saw a doctor. Believe it or not, it was a form of eczema. I cannot remember the exact type she said it was, but she said I was lucky it was only on my finger because she has seen people with it all over their hands, arms, etc. A steroid cream cleared it up in a matter of days, although it is scarred. And I have been using Eucerin Intensive Repair lotion multiple times a day. She said that the blisters are common with this type of eczema--basically all my symptoms were addressed and its better! Yay:)

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
For these symptoms, herpetic whitlow should be ruled out. Herpetic whitlow is a painful viral infection occurring on the fingers or around the fingernails and is caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus (HSV).

Other than that, fungal infections and any contact dermatitis should also be ruled out.
I sincerely advise you to consult a dermatologist and discuss these possibilities with him. 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 dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.