I know medical questions aren’t allowed on this subreddit, but this one was so mundane and yet so oddly specific that I figured this was the best place to ask.
My left middle finger keeps getting an annoying, itchy rash that is covered in tiny pimples. It’s worst on the sides of the finger. I know eczema is a thing, but I’ve never heard of it being specific to one finger.
The closest thing I could find is maybe dyshidrosis, which can give you itchy in the side of your finger. but I think those bumps have fluid in them like blisters, and I don’t think my bumps have fluid.
If it helps, I usually wear rings on my middle fingers, but I haven’t worn any in a while, and my right middle finger is totally fine. I’ve been having problems with this specific finger getting insanely itchy rashes for over a year or two.
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.
I figured it wasn’t dyshidrosis, but after reading about your experience I am definitely giving it more consideration.
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
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.
I’m sorry yours is so bad, but dyshydrotic eczema can be very mild and anywhere in between.
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.
