To ask you to help me work out what's going on with my fingers?

[Tigofigo]

Back in January I developed some strange lumps / red marks on my fingers. GP was pretty useless, thought they might be chillblains. Some more appeared but after a month they had gone. They almost feel like small burns?

Not itchy, but slightly tender to touch. No puncture marks I could see, not bedbugs. One or two were at or nearer base of fingernails and more swollen. Others were flatter. Varying in size from 3mm to around 9mm diameter. Not a particularly defined edge eg not like a blister.

Recently some more, similar red marks have appeared again. I've tried to take photos but it's hard to see them.

I will call GP as it's obviously not chillblains, but wait will be weeks. I think I've had this one or two times before in life. I'm a little run down and tired but otherwise fine.

Any idea what it might be?! TIA

I have some that look like these. I looked it up, and as I suspected they were warts. Apparently it is relatively common to get these in the knuckles as you get older .

Sometimes they get a bit bigger, sometimes they get a bit smaller, sometimes they itch, sometimes they don't. I just live with them.

Really?! Are warts red then? I also thought warts stuck around, last time these were gone after a month. Also I thought they were generally raised.

Also doesn't explain the weird swelling things under my fingernail base... Although I think that might be paronychia from googling it

These look a lot like the chilblains that I have. They tend to last 2-4 weeks for me. Sometimes they burn/itch and other times I can’t really feel them. I’ve only started to get them this year really. I still have some now due to recent cold wet weather a week or so ago.

Might be worth seeing chemist if you’re unsure as they should be able to advise.

There are some creams you can get if chilblains, but to be honest I just try to avoid extremes of cold and hot on hands and they heal up fairly soon.
X

I agree with your GP. They look like chillblains to me. They normally appear when the temperature suddenly changes to your hands. Like if your hands are cold and you run warm water over them.

Did you find they appeared after washing your hands/shaving a shower after being outside and your hands being very cold?

Chillblains tend to be very itchy and take a couple weeks to resolve as well.

Place marking because i had exactly the same. Mine were slightly itchy. Chemist thought it was eczema but steroid cream did not. Had it for a month and it’s mostly cleared, but not entirely

Those look like my chilblains, mine don’t itch either, itch is common but not always a feature.

Mine mostly on my toes but have had knuckle ones occasionally when run down and in winter/spring with changeable weather.

They do look like chilblains. Do you suffer from Reynauds?

Someone I know does and got those and ended up in hospital for a week having the steroid intravenously because there was no other way to get enough into her.

I had chilblains on my feet as a child, the GP laughed at me when my mum took me.

I get them too, they are chilblains

Hmmm they do look like what I had when it was actually bed bugs NOT ENVY! But I remember those always showed up in threes! Can’t remember why but it’s a good indicator of bed bugs. So you probably don’t have them. You’re welcome for this helpful post haha

I agree, they look like chilblains to me.

I developed Reynaud's a few years ago, and so get very cold hands, especially now I'm WfH (I heat my house to a far lower temp than the office!). I always wear wrist warmers when WfH, but lost them for a few weeks this winter, and got chilblains for the first time ever - so Victorian! They looked like what you are describing.

I made a concerted effort find my wrist warmers, and they cleared up within a week and didn't come back. I also moved my oil-filled radiator further away from my chair (had been sitting right next to it), as apparently direct warmth onto cold hands can exacerbate chilblains.

I have these cashmere ones (it calls them fingerless gloves, but they're not really - just have a thumb hole and one big hole for the rest of your hand, so your fingers don't feel constricted like they do in actual fingerless gloves).
www.turtle-doves.co.uk/collections/fingerless-gloves

TLDR: They look like chilblains, buy some wrist warmers!

Thanks that's really interesting.

Reynauds runs in my family, I've only ever had one "attack" myself. I've had chillblains before on my feet and they were really sore and itchy so thought these weren't that!

Because the weather has been nice I didn't think I'd had cold hands, but maybe was underestimating how cold they had to be. Thanks

Definitely chilblains. I've suffered from these on my hands and feet since childhood so well over 40 years now - every single winter. My right hand gets them worse for some reason - currently have 6 over 3 fingers. My hands and feet are always cold (and the rest of me actually - it's miserable).

With Reynauds your hands don't necessarily feel cold to you, but the capillaries are restricted.

There was a cream for chilblains when I was a kid, can't recall its name, it was dark green sort of gel like.

Covid Fingers? Might explain similarity to chilblains without cold weather?

Do you wash dishes wearing rubber gloves? I get these every time I do the washing up. Probably a little contact dermatitis in my case but it looks exactly like what you have.

@Juniper74

Covid Fingers? Might explain similarity to chilblains without cold weather?

Yes! 100% Surprised no one else has suggested this.

@VanGoghsDog

With Reynauds your hands don't necessarily feel cold to you, but the capillaries are restricted.

There was a cream for chilblains when I was a kid, can't recall its name, it was dark green sort of gel like.

Cuticura, old style. Like a green, herbal Vaseline!

I reckon its covid fingers. I heard of covid toes a while back. Red lumps on toes. But covid fingers exist too apparently. Google the images. They look just like yours. Hope they get sorted soon.

@VanGoghsDog

With Reynauds your hands don't necessarily feel cold to you, but the capillaries are restricted.

There was a cream for chilblains when I was a kid, can't recall its name, it was dark green sort of gel like.

Snowfire?

Achenbach syndrome possibly? Red lumps that hurt then burst - common in middle aged women, I was delighted to be told! 😂

Snowfire?

That rings a bell, I have a vague memory of it feeling like it was burning slightly.

Have you had Covid OP?

I haven't knowingly had Covid. Had a mystery fatiguey illness last summer which could have been - didn't test as had none of top 3 symptoms. These things only appeared this year though.

The lumps don't burst!

Oh I did have it on my toes at the same time in January thinking about it!

If you do think it's chilblains sudocrem helps with them if you have some in the house. Good old sudocrem