This thread made me think about this question:
I have, for many years (at least 10 or so), had a skin problem on my fingers. I have seen several doctors about this. One diagnosed the problem as “palmflyks” (spelling almost certainly wrong here…), stress-induced skin eruptions; with NO reccomended treatment…, etc. ‘Okey-Dokey,’ I thought (10 years ago), ‘They’ll just go away…’
Well, they DID just go away… then they came back!
I saw another doctor (a few years later… this is NOT a big deal to me, just annoying and puzzling…), who did a few tests with scrapings from my skin. He said that they were not bacterial, fungal or viral. He prescribed a topical ointment (Korean name: Esperson… a fairly strong cortical steroid). It seemed to work, at the time… the skin problem went away!
It came back… I didn’t see a doctor, and it went away again (leading me to think that the ointment didn’t help much, as it went away by itself!).
Another doctor had no clue…
So, I turn to my fellow dopers… anyone have any idea what this could be? What can I do about this minor irritation?
The symptoms:
-small, pimple-like, bumps on my fingers (mostly between the fingers, although sometimes on top of the fingers or on the back or side of the hand. Never on the palm, probably because of callouses…).
-the bumps are usually small in diameter, but often are quite high above the surrounding skin (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mm or so).
-the bumps look like tiny blisters, with a dark area in the center (perhaps because of the height).
-the bumps have no feeling (IE: they don’t itch or anything until I see them, at which point they itch like crazy! The latter is psychological, of course…).
-the bumps seem to be fairly deeply imbedded in the skin. IE: they don’t easily “pop” like a pimple…
-if I scratch/dig (which I can’t help doing!) at the bumps, they will pop. The result looks as if I had popped a small blister, except in the middle of the area there is a deeper hole, where the dark area mentioned before was…
-the bumps come in seemingly irregular erruptions. Maybe once a year, maybe twice a year, maybe three times a year…
-the eruptions last a month or maybe three… during which time my fingers look REALLY chewed up! (I just can’t NOT scratch at them when I see them…)
-the bumps seem to be non-contagious, as I hold hands frequently with my SO (currently Astrogirl, and previously shewhoshallnotbenamedorevermentionedagainanycontext in the past) and they have never contracted it (on their hands or other body parts where MY hands have frequently been;))
So, if the one doctor is to be believed (and I have no reason to disbelieve him), these bumps are not bacterial, fungal, or viral. What else could cause them?
Stress? As far as stress goes: if I were any less stressed, I’d be a boneless puddle of flesh on the floor (IE: I’m pretty much stress-tefloned!)
Perspiration? No… I don’t perspire in the affected areas that much…
Past chemical exposure? Maybe! This is my current favorite theory… When I was young, I DID play with mercury in my bare hands (But then why not the palms, where most of the mercury poisoning should have occured?). Also, I had a part-time job one summer at a wood treatment plant, where the lumber was treated with CCA (a chemical consisting of copper, chrome, and arsenic). We were supposed to wear gloves when handling the chemical, but none of us did regularly (stupid!).
So, anyone have any guesses about what this is and how I can get rid of it??
Thanks all!