Comment on What does it mean if I keep getting rashes/pimples, but only on one finger?
Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Sounds like dyshidrotic eczema aka dyshidrosis to me. I had that for years. I’d get slightly different effects depending on precisely what type of skin it was on… finger tips, sides of fingers, tops, palm, sides of hands… also it was on my toes a lot. I’d get tiny dots under the skin, sometimes in clusters, sometimes red bumps like pimples, and they’d burst and leave ‘dry skin’ and peeling. It could be itchy as hell and also made stuff like washing dishes hellish, like my hands were covered in papercuts. My hands at times itched like mad, to where I’d practically strip the skin off scratching them, and that would help for about 1.5 seconds. It would sometimes go away for a week or two and then come back, but was present 95% of the time.
It was misdiagnosed by PCPs as athlete’s foot several times, even when it was on my hands, which didn’t make much sense but doctors were “oh yeah! it can be on your hands!”. But my hands were quite dry. The prescription steroid/antifungal always cleared it up and it would go away for months, but OTC antifungal creams and sprays did nothing. Hmm.
Anyway, I finally figured out it def wasn’t athlete’s foot and saw a dermatologist. He said dyshidrosis immediately. I’d suggest to see a derma if possible. Anyway, if it is that, the treatment, other than temporary abatement from steroids, is figuring out what the trigger is. It’s a pretty common autoimmune condition with ‘unknown triggers’, which I interpret as meaning it’s different for various people. For me, it turned out to be gluten. I had to go GF for Celiac disease and my hand & foot skin issue cleared up entirely for the first time in 20 years.
outer_spec@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 months ago
I figured it wasn’t dyshidrosis, but after reading about your experience I am definitely giving it more consideration.
NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 5 months ago
Hope that it’s not, if it is , hope it’s not like mine.
I live in fear of it, when mine starts I know I am about to start shedding skin, and it’s all cracked and itchy and hurty
Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
That was how I felt. I was so pleased when it would go away for a while, then I’d notice the first little vesicles or bumps forming and be like fuck. I became sort of obsessed with monitoring it, though there was nothing I could do. I guess I could have gone to urgent care and gotten the steroid creme, if I had actually had insurance or $400 to spare.
Drusas@kbin.run 5 months ago
I'm sorry yours is so bad, but dyshydrotic eczema can be very mild and anywhere in between.
NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 5 months ago
Really? So I just rolled a nat 1 on that.
Well I guess I’m glad most people do t deal with it
Ardyssian@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I too had dyshidrosis, but like you it was only on my right middle finger. I assumed it couldn’t be from washing dishes as I thought it would affect more than one finger, but I was wrong (I started using rubber gloves for the dishes). Skin is weird
Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Definitely could be. Not sure what other conditions might do this… dishydrosis covers internal reactions to foods as well as topical exposure to chemicals. I’ll note also that the one finger or one toe thing happened to me at various times, which suggested to me it wasn’t my skin being exposed to an irritant. Sometimes it was the same fingers or toes on both sides of my body, which is a common feature of autoimmune skin conditions.