Rash on Palms/Peeling and Sore

[Leslie Osher]

Dear Doctor,

I have had a very bad rash near the bottom left and right of my right palm only! It started out to be just very itchy also waking me in the middle of the night, then small raised blisters appeared and the area became inflamed and wider in range. I have been to 3 doctors and we have ruled out any kind of contact dermatitis and I have been on a wide range of different creams and tapes.

My hand now is still itchy, it is peeling, the skin is thick and it is sore and feels like leather, it also now appear on my other hand and in between some fingers..

The next step would be to do patch testing, and they suggest that I go to NY, this is not something I really want to do.

I would appreciate any suggestions you may have, at this point I have been give the strongest ointment there is and it is just making the affected areas more raw in nature.

Thank you for your time.   Leslie Osher

[janet again]

I just ran across something on a New Zealand website for skin problems.  Those of us with the peeling fingertips may have exfoliative keratolysis, or something very much like it. It appears that there is no cure. How annoying. Look is up.  The complete address is http://www.dermnet.org.nz/dna.exfol/exfol.html

[janet]

I too have the fingertip problem.  It began last November; I had nothing even remotely similar in the prior 56 years of life. I still have it - the progress is always identical: smooth fingertip, a building up of something from beneath the skin, with concurrent thickening and even a yellow tinge (lovely), a vague numbness of the thickening skin, then the peeling begins, often 3 layers.  I cannot touch paper or fabric without wincing, the skin actually breaks open and bleeds with little or no provocation and it looks dreadful. I have been to three doctors - my family doctor who is also my brother and especially wants to find an answer - and two dermatologists, who have been 100% unhelpful. I have put far too much cortisone and steroid based creams on the fingertips, and have decided to stop and stick with Vaseline and an occasional soak in a strong hot water and Epsom salts solution, which seems to help, I know not why.  I also tried PUVA for a month, 3 times a week, and it did help for a short time, but then the condition returned.  The oddity with my fingertip problem is that it has always been only 3 fingers on each hand - never ever the ring or little fingers on either hand. They're perfect.  And the six affected fingertips are now somewhat spatulate, and discernibly larger, or "fatter" than the other four fingertips.  As a professional who has to meet and greet some very high profile people, this is getting tiresome.  I now wear little white nylon gloves at the keyboard and much of the time in public - I look like an aging Minnie Mouse. A friend is going to Italy next month and she is going to look for very soft very thin leather gloves, which won't help the condition, but will help my morale.  The condition worsened this summer, putting paid to one doctor's "positive" diagnosis of psoriasis of the nail - never mind that my nails look perfect and are very strong. I'm just happy to find this site and realize I'm not alone. Sorry I have no solution; let's all keep looking, because it is highly unlikely that the medical profession is going to solve the problem for us - there's no research foundation money for Funny Fingertips.

[Mary]

Thank goodness I am not the only one to suffer this affiction! I have been going to the Hospital in Bristol, England for nearly two years with split palms of my hands and feet.  I also have eczema on my arms, back and head.

Perhaps we should press "someone" or "some people" to act on our behalf to try to find a cure.  I for one long for relief and to live normally.  

I, too, feel the embarrassment of working with raw hands looking like I never take any care of them.  Good luck to all.

PS  I am currently trying kinesiology (allergy therapy)! I will let you know if there is real and prolonged relief.

[Mary]

Thank goodness I am not the only one to suffer this affiction! I have been going to the Hospital in Bristol, England for nearly two years with split palms of my hands and feet.  I also have eczema on my arms, back and head.

Perhaps we should press "someone" or "some people" to act on our behalf to try to find a cure.  I for one long for relief and to live normally.  

I, too, feel the embarrassment of working with raw hands looking like I never take any care of them.  Good luck to all.

PS  I am currently trying kinesiology (allergy therapy)! I will let you know if there is real and prolonged relief.

[Leslie Osher]

Deborah, et tal,

Thank you all for your replys! Well to update you, I have been to the allergist and a mild reaction came up to soap, shampoo's, laundry detergents, softeners, etc. I might as well stop living. I find this hard to believe because only my hands are affected.

I too am getting embarassed by they way my hands look. I am now with another Dermatologist who also just put me on another cream, I don't even know what this one is called. The itching at least has stopped but my hands are still very dry, scaley and at the moment I have a big bandage on my hand because the skin on my right palm has split open. Nice HUH?

I have never ever been allergic to anything before in my life, I will admitt that yes shampoo, soap and even water hurt my hands because they are so raw!

I would rather go to the moon!   Leslie

[Leslie Osher]

Thank you Anna,

Since my last corespondence I have been put on oral Prednisone therapy, each time the rash cleared up and then came back with a vengence, now it is on my other hand and on the sides of my fingers, and so itchy and even water hurts. I have been to 4 doctors and now I am going to see an allergist.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.