Season Hand Rash

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I get a rash on my palms in the fall.  It starts out with them getting really dry and then sensitive.  Next it moves to itchy and then red bumps appear and they feel like leather and very calloused.  This either last a few days and reappears every now and then for a few weeks or it’s just that one occurrence.  Immediately afterward my hands begin pealing/shedding. They feel like leather and calloused.   If I use lotion and OTC steroid cream it takes away some of the itch and limits the shedding at the time, but only prolongs the length of episode it seems. It ends when most outer layer of skin has been shed and replaced.  And after a couple of weeks they are back to normal.   Any thoughts?

[FurballsMom]

The only thing that comes to mind is that there are different types of eczema.  That's definitely not the kind I have, though.  I'm not sure what else it might be.  As far as that one goes, it wouldn't hurt to look up "foods to avoid with eczema" or "eczema diet" or words similar to that.  That doesn't really look like eczema, but the eczema diet might help.

Other than that, even though this still seems different from what I know about things like Lupus, it doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me to get tested for auto immune illnesses.  The usual initial blood tests are the same.  They test things like ANA and SED rates and TSH (thyroid).  What you're going through doesn't seem like a typical auto immune illness, but that doesn't mean that it isn't some kind of auto immune illness.  

[maatson]

Looks like a palmar rash relating to Atopy (Atopic diathesis). This is an indication for family history of allergy.Also called pompholyx. when vesicles(blisters) predominate.