Hand infected (Warning, gross photos)

[PIPpityDoodah]

I do have another thread on this but I've been on antibiotics since Thursday and it's just getting worse.

It's still hot and new puss filled blisters are appearing.

Shouldn't the antibiotics have kicked in by now?

It's so sore and embarrassing

Nothing:(

I've seen 2 GPs and 1 dermatologist in person and 1 on a phone call with pics. Just told me to carry on with steroid cream and referred me to secondary dermatology to try and stop it coming back with perhaps UV treatment or oral medicine.

They didn't even try to give me a diagnosis

Got this on my bottom now!! 😭😭😭

Have they ruled out psoriasis, and how?

I don’t understand psoriasis, but those patches look like it.

They haven't done anything. They've just given me steroid creams and a promise of another appointment in Feb.

They did pop a blister to check for infection but that's the only test ran.

I really hope you get another appointment in February and get some help and answers. In my experience things are never done quickly but if you’re in the system it helps.

I’m having a rubbish time with my skin condition at the moment. I get it predominantly on my palms and was on an immunosuppressant until August and had got up to maximum dose but it never cleared so they stopped it and tried something else as we thought it wasn’t doing enough.

It was okay until the end of November and started flaring up worse on my hands but on my arms and chest too. I had another appointment at the start of December and they put me back on the immunosuppressant as well as the new medication. But I had to start at the lowest dose again.

It’s just continued to get worse I was seen again mid January in a combined clinic where they all get together to discuss your case there were 10 doctors in the room. They are going to put me forward for funding for biologics and did another biopsy just to make sure so that will delay them putting the funding forwards as the biopsy results will take 8 weeks. They also increased my immunosuppressant dose again.

I’ve been back and forth to the GP as I keep getting infections/ inflammation in my hands and arms. The hospital had said I could up my dose again of the immunosuppressant if my bloods were okay last week but of course they were out of range my white cells double what they should be and neutrophils triple what they should be, so back on antibiotics. I’ve had a few courses of oral steroid too.

I was first diagnosed with this condition after a biopsy in April 2020. I’d had it for at least five years before then. I dread to think where I’d be now if they hadn’t done that biopsy thats why I’d push for one.

I really hope you get some help, I can sympathise on how hard it is when you just can’t use your hands properly. I get mine dressed weekly at my GP’s just so I can function.

I'm not sure if I've posted before op as this is on threads I'm on. It looks a bit like my daughters rash. Treated with antibiotics and then fungal cream. She'd been playing with cats on holiday in Greece.

PS. I think you can get a steroid and fungal cream mix. I applied a bit of each.

My thumb has cracked open 😭

Had a massive break out on my hand.

Felt like it was in fire and have no idea what happened!!

Oh god, I get ones like that all the time on my thumb, first and little fingers, there never seems to be any real rhyme or reason to why particular fingers do that and how bad they get.

That one looks like it hurts so badly - like a massive, deep paper cut 😥. It's an absolute nightmare to get them to heal too, isn't it? No advice as I know you've tried everything so far with no real luck, but so much sympathy for your suffering with your current flare up.

My granny used to have an issue where this happened on her hands and in the end she took to buying too small rubber gloves and chopping them fingers off to create a tight but flexible cover for her thumb so it was protected enough to heal. Looked a bit odd but it worked quite well for her.

Are you using any moisturising creams at the moment? Could you try ditching them in favour of using something neutral like a seed oil? I’m wondering if you are allergic to a base ingredient of some kind.

Is this new for you @PIPpityDoodah ?

This is how my contact dermatitis presents. I tend to use some Enstilar cream and they heal after a few days. It's terribly annoying though as I tend to get a 'split' on one finger, then as that heals I get it on another finger.

I'm under dermatology as I have psoriasis and they aren't interested in my contact dermatitis 🙄 (just tell me to moisturise, apply a little Enstilar when it's at its worst)

The splits near the fingertips are so painful.

Would a sterristrip (you can get from the pharmacy) help keep the split together to it doesn’t reopen ever time you move your hand?

I hope you get your appointment soon (I was going to say fingers crossed but that might be painful for you).

OP, you've had such a horrible time - you've done incredibly well to get as sorted as you have from such a nasty infection and flare up, plus you've triggered a huge sharing of expertise.

This is such an incredible thread - within the Mumsnet community there's such a wealth of knowledge and experience. Strikes me that if any dermatologists wanted to do a large scale study, they could do worse than start here.

I have never had a satisfactory diagnosis but have been dealing with it since I was about twelve. Probably pompholyx- definitely looks that way.

I get the spots/blisters on my feet as soon as anything presses against them or I get hot - top trigger seems to be wearing my crocs for about ten seconds to put the bins out! I've come to MN for answers so many times and had really helpful advice.

Things that have worked best:

• stop using hydrocortisone because it doesn't work but still gives you symptoms of over-use of steroids
• if in doubt at all and if seemingly exacerbated by sweat, treat as a fungus
• but then stop using lamisil because the symptoms of over-use use are blisters and itching!
• wash with soap to prevent fungus and infection (unless made worse by soap, which mine isn't)
• wear socks in bed during summer to stop feet sticking to each other and making it worse
• use ice packs or very cold water as itch saviour
• use nizoral anti dandruff shampoo as a body wash once or twice a week to keep control of any fungal complications so you only have to deal with the eczema side of things.

At the moment, mine's doing quite well. I've definitely still got a patch that is biding its time and I can feel the tingle as if it is going to start up whenever I get hot or put slippers on, but so far so good for about 6 weeks.

I'm not using anything medicated at the moment, just the nizoral as a wash twice a week, which may or may not be helping - it coincides with a good patch, so we'll see. I've been trying to avoid both OTC steroid and antifungal topical creams because both seem to make it worse and withdrawing from both seems to have improved things.

I've used E45 anti-itch cream which I thjnk is just an antihistamine when it's annoying and that seems to help because I don't scratch and the scratching of the early spots seems to be the trigger for a much worse flare up. It's felt under control for about 6 months.

But then, it's winter. Mine gets bad seasonally from about April. I might be fooling myself!

Oh that looks bad op, and getting worse

I'd say as other pp have advised

Thank you this is very helpful!

I found dove soap actually helps. A lot of people have said avoid soaps but when it's itchy/sore/burning washing my hands with h or water and soap makes it go away.

So I don't know what to do because I've been avoiding soap as told to but I washed my hand last night with soap and it's so much better today, although very dried out!!

Last night I was just sat on my bed, I hadn't done anything and it just started burning! It felt like something had been poured on it. It went red in patches. Down to my wrist.

So I washed it and immediately gone.

Surely that must be a reaction somehow if washing whatever it was made it stop?

Yes, never happened before.

It's incredibly sore.

I read that scholl ceack heel balm helps so ordered some of that but wary it may set off the other issue?

I feel like there's several things going on :(

-The pompholyx spots which are on both sets of toes now too.
-The patch on the back of the hand which keeps returning but isn't little pompholyx spots, it's more like plaque psoriasis or something fungal
-The thumb splits

Those asking about moisturisers.

I got dermol500 but it made me itch.
So I then started to use epaderm cream (and epaderm emollient overnight in a cotton glove) but that started to feel a bit spicy on application and I thought the paraffin might be an issue?

The epaderm emollient in the glove seemed to make my thumb cracks worse.

So now I'm using aproderm oat colloidal cream which doesn't seem to cause any issues and just soothes.

Just a thought.... my husband, Cassandro the doom merchant, has been telling me how poor the water quality is nowadays (London). He has taken to washing his hair in bottled water (heated up in the microwave) and reports a vast improvement. No more itchy patches on his scalp. Maybe worth a try? - although avoiding contact between tapwater and hands is of course much harder.

Re soap…

Dove isn't actually soap. It’s something else. So that fits with it helping- it probably moisturises with water and the cream ingredient.

To heal the split- DS used to get these on his feet. We were told to soak in water until the skin was soggy and white, rub the area gently with a flannel to remove the thickened hardened skin, then moisturise and cover. Every day.

The thickened skin is stiff and prevents it healing so it needs to be rubbed off.

Oat based stuff is amazing. Make oats and boiling water and let it sit. Squeeze it through a sieve so you get a pot of gloop. Use that gloop as a moisturiser. You can use a tbs oats and a cup of water and do it in the microwave. That makes quite a thin gloop. More oats results in more of a gel.

Have you considered diabetes? My stepdad was having terrible skin trouble for months. Back and forth with creams, appointments, wearing gloves constantly. Turned out he is type 2 diabetic.

The GP did mention that and there is a history of diabetes in the family but eberytime I've used my dad's machine to check my blood sugar they've been perfect.