Why is the outer layer of skin on my left index finger dying and peeling off every few months?
January 14, 2011 12:13 PM Subscribe
Why is the outer layer of skin on my left index finger dying and peeling off every few months?
I understand you are not my doctor; I am not looking for medical advice. I'm just looking for similar experiences if anyone has them.
Every 2-3 months (for about a year now) the outer layer of skin on my left index finger dies and peels off.
It begins with my noticing that the right side of my left index finger feels slightly numb, as if there was a thin membrane covering my skin to dull sensations. I am guessing this sensation is because the outer layer of skin has died.
After a few days of that, the outer layer peels off, leaving new skin underneath, much like a blister would. Here's what it looks like when it's peeled: Image 1 and Image 2.
After the dead skin has peeled off completely, the new skin feels and looks completely normal until the cycle repeats, about 2-3 months later.
The weird part is that it only happens on that exact spot. It's never occurred farther towards the tip of the finger or on the left side of the finger, just the right side of my left index finger. It's never happened anywhere else on my body.
I can't think of anything that I am doing to this area of my finger that would cause this. It has occurred at all times of year, and I don't handle any kind of chemicals beyond normal household stuff. I do notice that I frequently wake up in the morning with my left hand being completely numb from sleeping on it. I don't think there is a direct correlation between this happening and the skin dying, but it's possible.
I can go to a dermatologist, but it's not really anything beyond a minor annoyance (and a mystery) so I figured I'd ask and see if anyone else has experienced something similar. Thanks!
Every 2-3 months (for about a year now) the outer layer of skin on my left index finger dies and peels off.
It begins with my noticing that the right side of my left index finger feels slightly numb, as if there was a thin membrane covering my skin to dull sensations. I am guessing this sensation is because the outer layer of skin has died.
After a few days of that, the outer layer peels off, leaving new skin underneath, much like a blister would. Here's what it looks like when it's peeled: Image 1 and Image 2.
After the dead skin has peeled off completely, the new skin feels and looks completely normal until the cycle repeats, about 2-3 months later.
The weird part is that it only happens on that exact spot. It's never occurred farther towards the tip of the finger or on the left side of the finger, just the right side of my left index finger. It's never happened anywhere else on my body.
I can't think of anything that I am doing to this area of my finger that would cause this. It has occurred at all times of year, and I don't handle any kind of chemicals beyond normal household stuff. I do notice that I frequently wake up in the morning with my left hand being completely numb from sleeping on it. I don't think there is a direct correlation between this happening and the skin dying, but it's possible.
I can go to a dermatologist, but it's not really anything beyond a minor annoyance (and a mystery) so I figured I'd ask and see if anyone else has experienced something similar. Thanks!
This happens to me when I go fly fishing, if that helps. The 'old' skin is really rough, dry and peels off in areas at a time. I chalked it up to getting wet and drying out frequently. I never really treated it beyond moisturizing more than I did before (as in never) and I haven't really had it happen again for awhile now.
posted by kookywon at 12:26 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by kookywon at 12:26 PM on January 14, 2011
I had something similar on my arm. After about 18 months of not clearing up I finally made an appointment with a dermatologist who said it was Actinic Keratosis. He liquid-nitrogen-ed the area in the same appointment and that was that.
posted by geekchic at 12:52 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by geekchic at 12:52 PM on January 14, 2011
Your skin is always dying and flaking off but usually it does it a little bit at a time, not all in one throw.
I've had things like this once or twice but I just kind of shrugged and ignored it at the time.
Now I'm kind of wondering, based on what Kookwon said, if there isn't some combination of lack of moisture (at least one of my episodes flew in formation with my cleaning a bunch of parts with an acetone) and the sort of activity that might, normally, encourage the formation of callouses. That's just a wild guess though.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:06 PM on January 14, 2011
I've had things like this once or twice but I just kind of shrugged and ignored it at the time.
Now I'm kind of wondering, based on what Kookwon said, if there isn't some combination of lack of moisture (at least one of my episodes flew in formation with my cleaning a bunch of parts with an acetone) and the sort of activity that might, normally, encourage the formation of callouses. That's just a wild guess though.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:06 PM on January 14, 2011
Do you do anything with that part that you don't do with other parts? Think about how you grip your steering wheel, video game controller, phone, razor, that sort of thing that you handle regularly - could it be mechanical abrasion of the area? Do you apply a chemical that gets on it somehow - eg polishing silver while holding the silver piece in that hand, that sort of thing?
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:10 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:10 PM on January 14, 2011
I had something like this between two fingers last winter. It looked pretty much identical. A doctor diagnosed it as athlete's foot (yup, gross) caused by sweaty gloves I used for cycling, etc. I used an antifungal cream and washed my gloves more frequently and it went away after a few weeks.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 1:39 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 1:39 PM on January 14, 2011
I can speak extensively on this, if you'd like, but your pics look exactly like what happens to me.
In Junior High and High School I would go through extreme bouts - my entire index/middle fingers, sometimes thumbs, and even ring fingers would randomly peel. If it's particularly bad, the skin (after the peel) would remain dry and crack open in various spaces. This happened every few months, every sixths months, or every few years, with seemingly no pattern (or cause) that I could discern. I would wear cotton gloves to bed with my hands lathered in cream. It never really seemed to help that much, but maybe I was impatient?
The beginning phase was always a "warmness" on that area of skin, with the appearance of bumps (like braille, sort of) that always reminded me a bit of poison oak or hives or .. something like that. Mild sense of itchiness, too, but nothing that really bothered me or slowed me down.
A day or two after the bumps/bubbles, the skin starts to peel. If you help it along, you're likely to expose some more "fresh" skin which may not be super comfortable for a bit (like pulling off a hangnail), but I assume you've figured that out by now.
Now that I'm in my 30s, I can barely remember the last time it happened, but it just happened again this week. Very low-grade example, only around/near the webbing between my index, middle, and ring fingers (on one hand only).
Sorry I can't give you any suggests. I've just lived with it (for ~20 years). I hardly notice it anymore, but it's nothing like it was when I was in my early teens.
posted by mbatch at 2:20 PM on January 14, 2011
In Junior High and High School I would go through extreme bouts - my entire index/middle fingers, sometimes thumbs, and even ring fingers would randomly peel. If it's particularly bad, the skin (after the peel) would remain dry and crack open in various spaces. This happened every few months, every sixths months, or every few years, with seemingly no pattern (or cause) that I could discern. I would wear cotton gloves to bed with my hands lathered in cream. It never really seemed to help that much, but maybe I was impatient?
The beginning phase was always a "warmness" on that area of skin, with the appearance of bumps (like braille, sort of) that always reminded me a bit of poison oak or hives or .. something like that. Mild sense of itchiness, too, but nothing that really bothered me or slowed me down.
A day or two after the bumps/bubbles, the skin starts to peel. If you help it along, you're likely to expose some more "fresh" skin which may not be super comfortable for a bit (like pulling off a hangnail), but I assume you've figured that out by now.
Now that I'm in my 30s, I can barely remember the last time it happened, but it just happened again this week. Very low-grade example, only around/near the webbing between my index, middle, and ring fingers (on one hand only).
Sorry I can't give you any suggests. I've just lived with it (for ~20 years). I hardly notice it anymore, but it's nothing like it was when I was in my early teens.
posted by mbatch at 2:20 PM on January 14, 2011
I've had this happen too, and I vaguely remember it possibly being attributed to some sort of virus. Googling relevant terms didn't bring up anything, though
posted by ArgentCorvid at 3:08 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by ArgentCorvid at 3:08 PM on January 14, 2011
Do you take antibiotics on a recurrent basis? I once had peeling skin on my fingers that I eventually found out was a side effect of an oral antibiotic... keflex I think.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:10 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:10 PM on January 14, 2011
Do you use soap with Triclosan in it? Stop for a while- it causes that in some people. Same thing with lotions containing oatmeal.
posted by gjc at 3:15 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by gjc at 3:15 PM on January 14, 2011
I had this happen when I was breastfeeding, skin peeling off, layer after layer, all over my hands, but usually starting and concentrating in particular areas. On my left pinky it'd peel down to bleeding. The ob/gyn, after saying, "Wow, I have never seen that happen before!" diagnosed it as stress psoriasis. For me, it was a combination of the extreme stress on my body of recovering from birth and feeding a baby who was gaining weight LIKE CRAZY (normal is half an ounce to an ounce a day, IIRC, and he was gaining two ounces a day, every day), and a total inability to keep hydrated while making that volume of milk!
I used Aquaphor (helped a lot) and hydrocortisone (helped a little) and basically just waited it out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:21 PM on January 14, 2011
I used Aquaphor (helped a lot) and hydrocortisone (helped a little) and basically just waited it out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:21 PM on January 14, 2011
I had something similar that was diagnosed as a bacterial infection, got some cream, it worked the second time.
posted by biffa at 4:47 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by biffa at 4:47 PM on January 14, 2011
mbatch and I have the EXACT same symptoms, so if that sounds like what you're dealing with, it's probably Dyshidrosis. Not a lot you can do about it, but not harmful either. Mine has also gotten better as I've gotten older, especially now that I wear latex gloves when handling ANY kind of household cleaner harsher than dish soap.
(Don't panic if you have someone tell you it's scabies-- it can look like scabies but if it only shows up on your hands it's definitely not!)
posted by WidgetAlley at 5:52 PM on January 14, 2011
(Don't panic if you have someone tell you it's scabies-- it can look like scabies but if it only shows up on your hands it's definitely not!)
posted by WidgetAlley at 5:52 PM on January 14, 2011
For the past 10 years I've randomly gotten the dyshidrotic eczema that mbatch and WidgetAlley describe. Sometimes it might be gone for a year and then come back and then come back four months later, or six. I've never been able to tie it to anything, though the dermatologist recently mentioned handling paper can be a trigger. Ummm, OK. While there are a number of things that can make your skin peel, the defining feature of dyshidrotic eczema aside from the peeling is the clear pustules, tiny little water blisters. My skin looks like yours after it peels, but if you never see the little pustules before that, it's probably something else. Usually you'll see a very small patch of skin go white and dry and dead and you realize you can peel it off. Turns out that was a pustule that did its thing without you noticing. But usually you can look close and see them embedded in the skin, begging to be popped with a needle (but don't do that). They typically set you up with a steroid cream to get it to stop, but they can't cure it.
posted by Askr at 9:12 PM on January 14, 2011
posted by Askr at 9:12 PM on January 14, 2011
Following on LobsterMitten: I was having a similar problem on my right index finger. In the winter it would get particularly bad, and I did see an dermatologist, who expressed confusion. One day, after YEARS of this, I realized I was "dragging" that part of the finger across the nubbly deadbolt lock casing on my apartment door every time I locked it. I was basically wearing the skin away by being too lazy to lift my finger away from the casing when I turned the deadbolt. I felt like an idiot.
posted by fiery.hogue at 1:49 PM on January 15, 2011
posted by fiery.hogue at 1:49 PM on January 15, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
The condition cleared up when the weather got warmer and, I assume, a little more humid.
Sorry you're going through this -- I know how annoying it is.
posted by redfishbluefish at 12:19 PM on January 14, 2011