itchy toe blisters

[gr99]

I have blisters on several of my toes (on both feet) and it's not from athlete's foot or poor shoes. The blisters are extremely itchy/sore and are the size of a pea. I have one on each of the first 3 toes starting with my big toe. They are mostly on top of my toe between the last knuckle and my toenail, but one is on the side/tip of one toe. They are not true blisters in that there is no fluid sack. It is simply a very swollen and red hive. It seems like really firm and inflamed tissue. There's no scaling or flaking skin, in fact, it's shiny and taught from the inflammation. The itching and soreness is so bad that it has woken me up in the middle of the night. The itching is mostly at night, but I can still feel them during the day. I put OTC hydrocortisone and/or benadryl cream on them at night but it helps little.

The same blisters last about 2 weeks and then the healing process begins and they slowly disappear. I had at least 3 separate bouts of these blisters last winter that ended in March. I did not get a single blister after that until they returned last week (Dec. 6) which is around the same time it started last year. It is independent of the shoes I wear. For example, the blisters appeared last week and I've been wearing those sneakers for over a year. I ski often in winter, but I haven't put my boots on yet this year. My diet hasn't changed. My address and work haven't changed. The only pattern I can see (if there is one) is that it happens in winter months.

I have no other symptoms or allergies. I eat healthy, stay active and just got a clean bill of health from my physician after an annual physical. I am straight and not currently sexually active. I don't have diabetes and have never been diagnosed with any other disease.

I have not seen a doctor yet for this one, but I will call tomorrow. I found an old post on this website that also sounds like my condition.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Dermatology/messages/31698.html

Any advice?

White Male 33yrs old. 5'5" 135lbs.

[Aardvark62]

After several winters of having some of the symptoms described above (no blisters but redness, itching, burning, some discoloration) , I finally asked Google and this thread popped up.  The problem usually effects my right big toe and to a lesser extent my left big toe.  In bad winters, the tips of my pointer and middle toes can be effected too. My two outermost toes have never been effected which I find odd because my pinky toes are basically non-functioning stubs (I cannot wiggle them and have no real muscle control over them - I suspect for me they are vestigial remnants like the appendix!).  I had been treating the inflammation as a fungal infection with anti-fungal cream but I realize now it probably wasn't the anti-fungal medication but most likely the cream itself that was soothing the burning and itching.  At least I now have an idea of what I am dealing with.

[leslie994]

I HAVE THE SAME THING,IT MAKES ME CRAZY, I NOT ONLY HAVE IT ON MY TOES, BUT ON MY HANDS AT THE SAME TIME... HAVE YOU FOUND ANYTHING THAT HELPS. PLEASE IT IS DRIVING ME INSANE

[wezhind]

I've posted this back to gr99, mainly because I'm not sure exactly how this forum works and they were at the top.

I'm not sure if my post will be of any help to anybody either, but I just wanted to say thanks to everybody whom has posted. The itchy toes were driving me mad..they are also red and slightly swollen. It's the itch that is mainly driving me crazy. They only started 2 or 3 days ago, but I have had them in my past, though can't remember the exact circumstances. Factors that may affect me this time are: I quit smoking 2 weeks ago, I generally have low blood pressure (though haven't been to a doctor in couple of years so may have changed), I spend a lot of my day sat down in front of a computer, I am 44, I am not overweight (if anything I'm probably a little underweight), we have had some real cold nights over the last 2 or 3 days/nights. I live in NZ and it's the middle of winter, it never gets particularly cold where I am but, it can occassionaly hit freezing (though rarely) - I realise that may be cold to some, but I lived in Ireland and Britain before this and it was definitely colder there.

I have also noticed that I have several small red blotches on my arms and back of my hands, which may or may not be related. My toes itch like crazy. Other parts of me itch a little but not in the same place consistently  except for my toes. I bought some new socks recently and have been wearing them (they are very dark blue).

At one point it actually felt like there were minute insects running around inside my socks and eventually I got so crazy with it that I sprayed a bed-bug treatment (that one isn't supposed to spray on skin) onto one of my feet and toes and weirdly enough it stopped itching almost instantly, which made me think that it was some little bug that I can't see, but started itching again a few hours later.

So since reading this post this evening, I now at least have some possible answers but I'm still not sure why the spray worked and I still feel the occassional itch. However, I will now investigate chilblains, raynauds, hand foot and mouth and bad circulation. This is more information or hope than I had several hours ago and as I can already feel the itching returning I am eager to find some more long term solution than spraying them with poison...also I'm not sure if it's the poison or the cooling affect etc

Oh dear , that was a bit of a ramble, but basically I just want to say thank you for giving me things to try...and weirdly to know that others have itchy and red toes and are actively looking for solutions, makes me feel better at least mentally.

[chopoffmyfeet123]

I thought I had a bad rash then the itching got so much worse. I have actual blisters that can be popped and liquid continually comes out. When my feet are dry they are flaky and the top layer of skin can be peeled off. The itching is absolutely maddening. Tried caladryl but it makes my feet so dry they crack and bleed. Only thing that helps me even a little is a&d ointment or sometimes neosporin. Help!!!!!

[vgranny]

THANK YOU - THANK YOU - CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH.  Had my first decent nights sleep last night and first day I could stand it and not go crazy. I googled itchy, swollen toes and came up with this site.  I read your advice about Prep H and had some unopened gel in the med cabinet.  It was almost instant relief.  I've had this for weeks just like the picture with the red toes.  Last night it moved to the second foot.  Like many I had treated it as atheletics foot and nothing worked.  Tried some prescribed cream and it didn't work.  Tried calamine lotion and it didn't work.  I wanted to chop my feet off.  Thanks for giving this 70 year old a decent nights sleep and itching relief with a simple remedy.  By the way I live in the Lake Tahoe area of California and have for 50 years. This was the first time I experience Chilblains.  You are a life saver.

V Granny

[shantimizuhi]

I found a cure for my chilblain problem after 4 years of living hell every winter. Docs are useless for one. I lost so much sleep. Swollen red toes, blue spots and bumps and blisters, itching, pain when touched...it was bad. I started to think what else has the same symptoms...hemorrhoids. What fixes them, preperationH. I tried PrepH on my toes, the cream version, and they stopped itching the first night. After only a few days my toes were coming back to normal. After a week, they are normal. I used it 3 times a day on my toes. Now if I feel any hint of it coming back I use the prepH and its stops. No more lost sleep. No more irritated toes. I needlessly suffered all those years when the answer was a few bucks at the local store.

It makes sense to me. The blood vessels are obviously getting messed up, blue spot and bumps of blue. The tissue gets inflamed, red swollen. Its also itchy and painful...all like hemorrhoids!

I think the medical community needs to look at this differently. They havent been able to fix it, they dont understand it, and I dont here of then trying preperationH!

Try it people, it cant hurt. It worked a miracle for me. I am normal again!
Prepreation H cream with:
Glycerin 14.4%
Phenylephrine HCl 0.25%
Pramoxine HCl 1%
White petrolatum 15%
I bought thee generic version. There are many types so look at the ingredients.