Recurring rash on finger

[Shinybowser]

Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm 15 years old. Since last summer, which would have been about a year and a few months now, I have had the same rash on the ring finger of my right hand. I don't have the rash anywhere else on my body, only on that finger. I have also noticed the rash is only on one half of the side of my finger. I also have a horizontal pattern of dents that vary in size all across the top of the nail. The nail is very flimsy as well and no matter how much I have cut it, it always grows out the same way with the dents. The nail also has no cuticle. None of my other finger nails have these problems and are not nearly as flimsy. The dents and rash appeared at the same time and have been there the same length of time. The skin on the finger where the rash occurs is very dry and slightly wrinkled in appearance. The rash doesn't always itch, but occasionally does on random and is very itchy. In the past is has had tiny red bumps all over where the rash is, and is scaly. It now only has clusters of red spots and is still dry and wrinkled. No matter how much lotion, itching creams, cortisone creams, creams for eczema I have used, the rash does not let up. It may stop the itching for a bit, but it always comes back and shows no signs of disappearing. I have shown two doctors already and none of them were sure what it was. I used the creams they told me and it still did not go away. Please tell me if you have any clue what this could mean. Thank you and sorry for the long post.

[Shinybowser]

Thank you very much for the reply,

As far as I can tell the nail is not cloudy, yellow, or thickened, but it is a little thinner than all the other nails and flimsy. It looks like all my other nails save for the row of horizontal dents. I will definitely go to a dermatologist to get that checked out though!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The symptoms are suggestive of fungal infection of the finger as well as nail. In onychomycosis(nail fungal infection) nail plate can have a thickened, yellow, or cloudy appearance. The nails can become rough and crumbly, or can separate from the nail bed. There is usually no pain or other bodily symptoms, unless the disease is severe. To prevent it wear gloves while working on people having fungal nail infections and do not share hand towels with them.

In addition, topical and oral antifungals are needed which are available under prescription. My sincere advice would be to consult a dermatologist and get a KOH examination of the nail and skin specimen done to confirm the diagnosis.

I hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted in case you have any additional doubts. Kind regards.