I have had a reoccuring infection in my right thumb since I was aprox 13 yrs old. At 13 I had a hole drilled in my nail to release the puss. I have since slammed my thumb in the car door on numerous occasions. Now in my mid 20's I find I have an intermitent infection that comes every few months. It has eaten away at the skin under my nail and damaged the bed. I have been put on a 3 month treatment of oral lamisil, used lamisil cream and I am still having the problem. It has been 9-12 months since the last time it happened. My nail bed was almost back to normal when it just happened again. There is green puss, it is extremely painful, the nail is pulling away from the bed again and the skin is rough and peeling. My thumb is also very hot, and the skin almost erupts from under the nail and is raw and red, which is the same problem I was having each time it happened in the past. I have tried the fungus treatments to no avail, I have been to a dermatoligist who just scratched his head and advised it could be psoriasis and advised I put liquid cortizone on the area. I have a true nail fungus under my big toe (according to the dermatoligist), but this is totally different, and painful. I dont know if this is related, but I have noticed it usually comes around the time of my period, and sometimes I get sore gums around the same time as the infection. The dermatoligist said that if the fungal treatments were not working then it is not a fungal infection. I thought I was rid of it due to the timeframe since I last had this occur. I am stumped, embarassed, and tired of having this painful doctor stumping, oozing outbreak a few times a year. There has to be something I can do to treat and rid myself of this annoying infection. All I am doing now is soaking my thumb in hot epsom salt water to relieve the pain. What could this be.