Skin wont heal on my toe and thumb

[joanne1963]

Hi, I have some kind of skin condition on my 2nd toe on my right foot and on my left thumb. For the past two years (possibly longer) it has been dry, flaking and cracks open and bleeds.  Most importantly I am concerned about my toe so this is what I will talk about. When it first started occuring I thought it may be tinea so I tried every cream and ointment on the market which only seemed to make it worse. When I put moisturiser on it, it also seems to make it worse. If I let it dry out it's not so bad but the skin still never heals.  I also have numbness in my toes - especially when I walk and particularly in the 2nd toes on both feet and numbness at the side of my knees which feels like a tearing burning sensation. I have honestly tried everything to clear it up but it just wont heal. My toe also gets quite itchy - actually extremely itchy most of the time - hence my reason for using tinea ointment but to no avail. Can anyone give me any ideas on what to do. Everytime I go to the doctor he prescribes yet another useless ointment or cream which only make it worse. Thanx Jo.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
I cannot confirm anything without examination but it can be eczema skin, fungal infection or athelete’s foot or due to systemic diseases like diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. Get your blood sugar levels checked and consult a dermatologist to get it examined for these two skin conditions. Eczema causes dry, red, itchy rashes and fungal infection lesions are usually moist until they are chronic in nature.
I hope it helps. Take care and regards.

[CassCore]

Do you notice the skin gets worse in the cold? I sounds like a circulatory issue to me almost...just because you mention the tingling? Is that constant? Do you ever notice discoloration in your fingers and toes in the cold? If so you might check out Raynaud's Phenomenon...for all intensive purposes RP is a cold allergy and causes the blood vessels to spams in the fingers and often time toes in the cold, causes tingling and numbness and makes the healing process take a long time for even minor cuts on the fingers or toes. I might be way off, but this just came to mind! Hope you figure it out!!