Freakish Hands

September 15, 2015 7:01 PM

What's up with these weird red spots on my knuckles and palms?

Periodically I get spots/bumps on my knuckles and/or palm. The spots on my knuckles are a bit raised and sensitive, but not painful or itchy. On my palms, they're always at the base of the finger and are not raised. They're also sensitive to the touch but not painful.

They'll literally appear overnight, be there for a few days, and then go away again.

Mr. Google says it could be arthritis (but the pics don't look right / I'm in my 20s), cysts of some sort (they're not filled), or eczema (they're not itchy).

Any thoughts on what this could be? Some not very good pictures here. (It's really hard to photograph your own hands).

Thanks!

posted by too bad you're not me to Health & Fitness (21 answers total)

Those look like bites. Or possibly hives? But mostly they look like bites, spider bites probably. In my universe.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 7:04 PM on September 15, 2015

Response by poster: Just to quickly add--it's always the same areas of the hand: knuckles and palm, never the back of the hand, wrist, etc. Also, by periodic I mean every few weeks, pretty consistently. So I'm leaning towards not bug bites.
posted by too bad you're not me at 7:09 PM on September 15, 2015

Could this be herpetic whitlow or some other sort of viral infection? Perhaps not because they're not itchy or painful, though...

Are you allergic to anything?
posted by gemutlichkeit at 7:12 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Those look like hives. I had a chemical sensitivity show up out of nowhere a few years ago, so it happens. Used any new cleaning products lately? New detergent? Been swimming in a pool?
posted by lovableiago at 7:13 PM on September 15, 2015

Response by poster: Ack, sorry. I'm not trying to threadsit. I'll answer a few more questions then bow out:

1. I have general allergies (seasonal), for which I take Flonase. No other allergies that I'm aware of.
2. I only use mild lotions (i.e. unscented) and soaps.
3. This has been happening for maybe a year now. I can't think of any new products I've been using since then. Maybe I am allergic to my lotion, though?
4. Pretty sure it's not herpetic whitlow, but maybe it's viral.
posted by too bad you're not me at 7:22 PM on September 15, 2015

They don't look like arthritis, at least not the inflamatory arthritis that dr google probably was thinking about. IIRC you don't get that in the first joint below the finger tip. Also, it's the whole joint, those look so much like bites. Not a doctor but I have that myself.

Could it be hives from something you eat or do roughly every few weeks?
posted by kitten magic at 7:23 PM on September 15, 2015

Incidentally, I see a sponge and sink in the background of the picture you posted, which reminds me: If you're doing a lot of hand-washing dishes, try switching to something milder/natural/hypo-allergenic and see if that makes a difference.
posted by lovableiago at 7:50 PM on September 15, 2015

Another possibility is that they're a sign of a vitamin deficiency -- you'd have to do some blood work to know for sure, but for what it's worth, a friend had marks most similar to the ones on the inside of your hand, and it turned out she was dangerously low on at least one of the B vitamins (and also anemic, though if my memory's correct it was the B that was credited with the rash(es)). Good luck!
posted by argonauta at 7:53 PM on September 15, 2015

Do you handle a lot of money in your daily life/job? I have a friend who developed spots similar to these when she worked in a cash office at a grocery store and did a lot of hand-counting of cash on a daily basis. Her dermatologist recommended she wear thin gloves when working and she didn't have an issue after that.
posted by Merinda at 8:43 PM on September 15, 2015

I used to get those. My dermatologist said they were caused by stress. I don't get them any more, so yay meditation and antidepressants, I think.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:04 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have this on my feet and my derm told me that its adult-onset eczema, and that its most likely to come out on the tops of my feet and hands, and that it is likely stress related. It comes and goes. Maybe it is something similar for you.
posted by afterdark at 9:07 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Does anything about dyshidrosis sound familiar? The picture in the article is a little extreme. I get this but mine is milder and looked like yours when I first started getting it (it's closer to the picture occasionally now, 18 years or so after I first started getting it).
posted by erst at 9:19 PM on September 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Yeah I get this on the same finger if I'm stressed and having general allergy/hay fever issues at the same time. It's a kind of eczema, it can get itchy if I let it progress. (I mean,by staying on top of allergy medications, not letting my hands stay damp, and chilling the fuck out.)
posted by stormygrey at 9:19 PM on September 15, 2015

I have contact dermatitis and used to get eczema very similar to the ones on your palm before I did the patch test to figure out what I was allergic to. Once triggered, symptoms would definitely be aggravated by stress/illness/etc.

I think you should see a doctor! They'd definitely be able to help you figure out what this is! :)
posted by yonglin at 9:39 PM on September 15, 2015

I know someone who had this same thing and in her case it turned out to be celiac disease (diagnosed legitimately, through a blood test). She was floored as she'd had no other symptoms of note.
posted by something something at 11:59 PM on September 15, 2015

Agreeing with erst.

I was diagnosed with dyshidrosis (also known as pompholyx) many years ago. In my 20s my hands looked pretty much like yours, but fast forward a few years and it's more widespread across my fingers and palms. There are more pictures you can compare against here.

Steroid creams / ointments and phototherapy helps.

See a dermatologist!
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 1:11 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Looks a bit like what I was told was pompholyx excema. Ignore the really severe pictures, and look at the mild cases. Not sure if dihydrotic is the same thing, but see the hand pics here:
https://nationaleczema.org/eczema/types-of-eczema/dyshidrotic-eczema/

It appears to be allergy related, I got it when going on a new medication (prozac, in my case, so got taken back off it).
posted by Elysum at 7:06 AM on September 16, 2015

Response by poster: Alright, fine. Doctor it is. I haven't seen one yet because, as I mentioned, the spots only last a few days to a week. By the time I schedule an appointment, I'm worried they'll be gone and I'm left with crappy cell phone pics.

Thanks for the answers, y'all.
posted by too bad you're not me at 7:24 AM on September 16, 2015

My hands look like this sometimes! And sometimes they look worse, and sometimes they're fine. I've talked to allergists and dermatologists and tried many different things (switching shampoo/detergent/etc, topical treatments, etc.) and the only thing that really helped was a steroid cream that I really don't feel comfortable taking long-term. TL;DR doctors don't really know, just shrug and say "Probably eczema?" and don't seem too worried about it. I'd be interested to hear what your doctor says about it though.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:45 AM on September 16, 2015

I've had a mild case of this as well for about ten years; it comes and goes for a week at the time. erst's dyshidrosis link describes my symptoms pretty much exactly. Like rabbitrabbit, I've been to the doctor three times for it over the years, and haven't had any luck at all. Each time, they've said it might be eczema, prescribed some steroid cream, and that was it. I found the steroid cream actually made it a bit worse, if anything, and it just took time to heal on its own. Frustrating.
posted by Fully Completely at 1:03 PM on September 16, 2015

The OP's photos don't look much like dishydrotic eczema to me, but (shrug) IANAD.

For those like Fully Completely who do have it, some anecdata: low-level topical steroids prescribed by my GP did not help; only when I saw a dermatologist and switched to a maximum-potency steroid did I get some relief.

The National Psoriasis Foundation has a list of topical steroids by potency, if you want to check where your current prescription falls.
posted by orchidfox at 2:37 PM on September 16, 2015