What causes wrinkled finger tips all the time?

[chrissybill]

I am a 27 yr old female and i have noticed that the skin on my fingertips is wrinkled all the time(like i just got out of the bath).  I noticed it several weeks age.  I don't think i am dehydrated.  I put lotion on everynight and have for many years.  What could be causing them to stay wrinkled?

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
The skin on the surface of your fingers and toes is different from the skin covering the rest of your body. It’s thicker due to constant contact, abrasion, and pressure. Your fingertips and toetips contain networks of dense, tough connective tissue. This tough tissue anchors the outer skin to the underlying layers known as the “dermis.”
If you soak in water long enough, protective oils get depleted from your skin. Water can leak in to your skin after awhile. In warm water like in a bathtub or pool, the thick skin on your fingers and toes tends to absorb water and swell. But this swelling doesn’t happen uniformly.
Instead, the regions of skin that are most heavily anchored from below will remain lower than the more softened and swollen regions. The result – those temporary wrinkles on your fingers and toes. Other parts of your skin don’t have the same densely-reinforced design – so, no matter how much you soak, the rest of your skin tends to stay smooth.
ref:http://www.earthsky.org/faq/after-a-long-bath-why-do-your-fingertips-look-wrinkled
In your case the skin of your palms maybe devoid of oils(do spend a lot of time in the water during the day), so the same re-action is seen.

[Joanna8]

I had the same thing.  For other symptoms and relatives having those other symptoms (they didn't have the wrinkled finger symptom), I told my doctor to check for a thyroid problem.  I didn't know the fingers were related to that problem, but when I got on the thyroid medicine the wrinkles went away.  Most doctors don't even know about that symptom as a sign to check the thyroid.  

[allergymama]

It seems like you might not have understood chrissybill's question? Her wrinkles appeared without water. I have the same condition and I would love info on that. Mine started out as a bit sore and then progressed to this wrinkled affect -- first with the thumbs and now the other digits as well. I will look into the thyroid issue. Do you have any other insight? Thanks so much.
ChrisJ

[roadmasta]

I also have this problem with finger tips and cant find any information it comes and goes mostly on right hand but happens on the left hand as well. It started about 6 weeks ago. I will go to my Dr soon if I cant find information on my own.

Todd

[noarches]

My hands had the wrinkling like crissybill as well, then it turned to cracking, bleeding, scaling/peeling and painful. I have to constantly keep bandaids on. Once I get them almost healed and the new skin isn't peeling anymore, it starts all over again. I do have eczema on the tops of my fingers and I use a topical cream for that but the cracking on my fingertips doesn't seem to be affected by the cream. I try to do minimal had washing and switched to a milder soap. This really got bad once I started breastfeeding back in May of this year. Any advise? Do you think the breastfeeding has anything do do with it? My ARNP says that when you breastfeed you are in a constant state of dehydration. I have been to a dermatologist and have been through 3+ different creams and nothing is helping.

[flimwell73]

My fingers aren't actually wrinkled in appearance but for just over a week, they have permanently felt slightly numb with exactly the same sensation as if I have just got out of the bath. I am also breastfeeding, and have no idea what could be causing this. It is horrible as my hands feel numb permanently.

[flimwell73]

My fingers aren't actually wrinkled in appearance but for just over a week, they have permanently felt slightly numb with exactly the same sensation as if I have just got out of the bath. I am also breastfeeding, and have no idea what could be causing this. It is horrible as my hands feel numb permanently.

[carboni708]

My fingers have been wrinkled for months now.  It first started with one finger on my left hand and now all my fingers on my left hand are wrinkles. The strange thing is that there are no wrinkled fingers on my right hand.  Im starting to get paranoid about this now and need someone to ease my mind that i dont have a medical condition.  Can someone help?

[roadmasta]

It went away, I dont know what it was.

[purple_laur]

i have suffered from a similar condition. problem started with what looked like tiny blisters on my thumb and index finger (left hand). this has progressed to wrinkly look on thumb and first three fingers (left hand). apart from the fact it looks at bit funny it hadnt caused me any problems until two weeks ago when i started to lose sensitivity in those finger tips. spoke to my dermatologist when i was in gettin my moles checked and he tried to tell me i had excema. not likely! any info would be very much appreciated.

[Avie47]

In the past month, I also have experienced pain/tingling at the end of my fingers, and just in the past week they are wrinkling.  I was glad to see others had this as well, but I have no idea what it could be.  There is also a slight pain inside the fingernail, as if I had stuck a sharp object under there and then pulled it out.  It started out on my right hand, then went to the left, and now the left is worse than the right and the right is fading.  I also notice that the more pain and tingling I have, the more wrinkles there are.  Did you ever get an answer to this?  I'm beginning to freak out a little.

[WorldSpawn]

Same problem here.  It started out with very sensitive fingertips on my right hand.  Then it started to crack in the wrinkled part even though I kept them moisturized multiple times throughout the day.  Now the cracks are healed, but the skin is very wrinkled and feels slightly sensitive to the touch.  

I was starting to think it was from Zincofac that I've been applying to our newborn's bottom after changing his diaper.  But I stopped using it for a few weeks now and there is no change in the wrinkles.  I

This is more of a cosmetic issue than anything else but I'd love to get rid of it.  Sick of my fingers looking like they are 80 years old!

[apohantas]

can doctors please respondsto all the guestions from the people on this page

[LisiWisi]

I have severe Candiasis, aka Candida.  One of my symptoms is wrinkled fingertips, usually on my left hand.  Sometimes it gets so bad they crack, and it's very painful.  But since I've been on a sugar, yeast free diet (kills candida) for a couple months now, I hardly have that happen anymore.

Check into Candida... see if the symptom list matches other ailments you've been experiencing -- most common are GI issues, ongoing yeast infection, weight loss (body not absorbing nutrients), and more...  

[Becky8171]

What happened to the good Dr.? He misunderstands the question, gives a stupid irrelevent answer and never comes back? Geez!

[nicole005merry]

Did all the women with wrinkled fingertips have a c-section recently?

[Becky8171]

Never had a C-Section and my youngest child is 17 years old

[FoxyRN]

I am a registered nurse and found that I have had wrinkling that makes it appear that my fingers have been soaking in water for a long time also.  This is the only sign of change and I have no other associated symptoms.  I have normal labs (full chem panel, including TSH, T4 and CBC with diff) and no known underlying medical condition which affects fluid balance.  I am not using harsh chemicals and have no known allergies.  
I am concerned as the lines seemed to appear rather suddenly.  No less than 3 months ago, I had nice rounded finger tips and now the fat pads are shrunken.  I am thin and petite in my early 60s with a low normal BMI.  I am very fit and work out lifting weights and doing cardio.  
Could age be a factor?  No changes in any supplements any medication (which is minimal).  Just curious if there is something I could be missing.  I will discuss this with my own primary care doc and dermatologist.  The bottom line is, should I be concerned enough to make an appointment with either outside of my next follow up (about a year from now)?  Thank you.

[MaisMommy]

I have the same thing happening small creases covering the palmns of my hands and occasional numbness and tingling, It has been driving me crazy!! I was wondering since most of the women on here have had babies recently, have you all been using hand sanitizer constantly like me? I was thinking that might be it! Has for the Q I have had a Csection but it was 17 mnths ago!! Someone please help, Im worried this is weird....

[Simpleman74]

Wrinkles on your fingertips, can be caused from sweating fingers. Before I sprayed my Pc mouse with 9 coats of Clear Lacquer to cover the plastic, my plastic allergy, "although mild allergy compare to the other synthetics" this mild allergy to the plastic caused the mouse to make my finger tips and palm to sweat. And the sweating so much, for me being on the PC so long all the time, made my fingers get wrinkled at the tips. Same theory as being in the bath tub too long. Only instead of water it is sweat. Key here would be fingers are wet too long.
I also got some tingling. However, even though I usually itch when touching an allergen like plastic or polyester, my fingers have a heavy skin for I am a man and have tough hands. But anyways, my thumb sweat the most from this and the skin on it got a big spot that blistered and peeled, over and over.
So the only input I can give here is excessive hand sweating, and/or prolonged sweating is causing this. Sweating at the point of an allergen contact is one symptom of this ACD condition.
But to say that is what is making this happen to you people is to guess.
So ask yourself, Do my hands sweat while holding the mouse. And is the sweating from the plastic or just from holding the hand and fingers on a non absorbing surface, which would maybe make them sweat. And then ask yourself, "Do my hands sweat that much or at all when I hold other things which are non absorbent? And "do they sweat with absorbent things I hold, leaving this surface of "whatever I am hold" damp or wet from sweat?"
If the answer to that is no, or only other synthetics like polyester, vinyl, plastics. then the answer becomes clearer.
Ask yourself also "Do my feet sweat a lot when I wear colored socks? Because this happens to people and not for the color. The body doesn't sweat from colors. It sweats because colored socks are polyester or have plenty in them. All cotton colored socks fade and get pilly. And white socks are mostly cotton or at least 80% cotton, and absorb what little sweat 2-20% polyester makes one sweat.
Or do your feet sweat or itch a lot from the shoes? These are reactions that come and go. But one thing is for sure folks. Plastic allergy is very real. Although mild for most compared to other synthetics, or higher quality plastics.
This condition I have is called Allergic contact dermatitis. Defined as a delayed reaction from contact with an allergen. However the sweating in not delayed, or at least fairly quick compared to the rashes, redness, swelling, and other syptoms (symptoms).
I hope this shed some light for you. Consider it, but do not stop your quest here.
Masking tape over the mouse helps me too. That is what I did before spraying it to see. And it helped for the most part. However some does go through the tape. You have to cut the gaps between the bottons, and around them with a razor so it funtions okay. Also note that the wheel being a synthetic may do the same thing to you if you use it. So don't during testing. And if this it it, then you have a mild allergy to plastic.
Thus you can clear coat with a non allergen which is very hard to block out allergen. But it bleeds into the clearcoat if it is not fast drying. So use Lacquer, For those properties. And 9 thin coats will be enough!
Hint: I have done this clear coat to my keyboard, mouse, telephone, desk top surface, and every other hard synthetic in my house that I have to touch. As well as vinyl,,,, well you get the point.
Please report back! :)