Why does the skin on my fingers and toes peel when ever the weather changes?

[Binsky734]

I am 23 years old, and for the past 5-6 years the skin on my fingertips and toes have peeled when ever summer changes to winter, and vice versa (I live in Texas, so we pretty much don't have a spring or fall). My skin peels anywhere from 2-6 weeks, and after about two weeks my fingertips start to become very sensitive. I have been do the doctor and he couldn't tell me much other than it was a kinda/sorta allergy, and he prescribed me a 10% Lactic Acid lotion. This lotion did absolutely nothing other than cause my fingertips to burn and become more sensitive. I have tried several different lotions from Eucerin to Gold Bond ultimate healing and nothing has worked. The only thing that has come close to working has been to take a Ped-Egg to the peeling skin to scrape it all off, which smoothed everything out at the cost of increased sensitivity.

What I'd really like to know is what could be causing this reaction.

[martikadragoon]

Many doctors, especially primary doctors (non dermatologists specifically) can misdiagnose skin disorders. Do you have any other symptoms or other areas of your body that are affected outside of your fingers and toes?

I'm not sure what skin issues you have going on without a picture... But there are many types of skin disorders including, as others mentioned, Psoriasis.

If your willing to undergo the test and your doctor is willing to do it you can have a skin biopsy done to test for something called Ichthyosis which is usually a genetic condition.   I've gone one of the more uncommon forms of Ichthyosis called EHK and have friends and family with all types of ichthyosis and many of them tell me their skin changes when the seasons change.
For myself, my skin is more sensative and will react whenever the weather changes like if it gets humid outside or changes from hot to cold or vice versa....It's no fun and it gets more sensative to touch and textures and can become painful...I am in SoCal.

TTYL
Cindie

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From your symptoms it can be psoriasis. Psoriasis is a long-term (chronic) skin problem that causes skin cells to grow too quickly, resulting in thick, white, silvery, or red patches of skin.It is thought that psoriasis occurs when the immune system overreacts, causing inflammation and flaking of skin.
I suggest you to get it examined from a dermatologist to confirm the diagnosis. Biopsy is one of the diagnostic tests for psoriasis.

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 doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[dimeyface4]

I was born with a combination of eczema and psoriasis on my entire body and my skin does the same when the weather changes...and mostly on my fingers and in the fold of my inner elbow. If this is in fact the cause of your flare-ups, you will notice it is particularly worse when changing from summer to winter, however, if the summers in Texas are normally dry summers, you will also have flare-ups going from winter to summer.

I am not saying that you have either of these known skin conditions, but it is a relative possibility that you could further explore, and maybe see your doctor about. :)

I hope you find relief, this can be very frustrating and painful!