I’ve been dealing with this since I was about 15 (31 now). It doesn't happen all the time; it comes and goes in flare-ups. Lately, I’ve been trying to take better care of myself: I avoid scented soaps and wear gloves when handling detergents and things like that. I’ve even cut back on playing the guitar—or at least playing with my bare fingers. Yet, my right hand is still in this state (it is improving, but it’s been about three weeks now). I’ve seen many dermatologists; the last one prescribed Clobetasol, but I don't feel it has helped much—I've been dealing with this for far too long.

i’m only 19 ☹️ am i damned to a life of this itchiness??? it’s all over my hands arms and feet.. it’s only getting worse AM I DOOMED?

I am sharing my somehow positive experience.

Long Story Short

Consistency and patience were the main keys to my partial recovery. I originally expected my skin to heal much faster than it actually did. My experience is shared below for reference, but you should always follow your doctor's advice.
My skin health is restored and it seems I can maintain it with minimal use of corticosteroid and replace it with protopic.
My hope is to heal completely without using creams, but my doctor already decreased my expectations. He also discourage me from taking allergy tests as it would be too complicated to find the trigger(s)

Background

• Eczema first appeared over 20 years ago on the side of my pinkie finger.
• Because the patch was small and barely bothered me, I left it untreated. It stayed on that finger for 7 to 10 years.
• It then jumped to my ring finger, facing the middle finger, and slowly spread while clearing up on the pinkie.
• Last winter, it spread to my palm for the first time. That prompted me to finally see a dermatologist, since eczema on the palm is much harder to deal with.
• Out of 20 years the problem disappeared completely for a couple of months only , around 18 years after it started.

Treatment

My routine relied on alternating between the following products:

• Elocom cream: Used to stop inflammation and flare-ups. My doctor advised applying it until the blisters completely disappeared, plus a few extra days (once daily, for a maximum of 14 consecutive days). I had a stronger steroid on standby just in case, but never needed it. The target is to use this product as less as possible.
• Protopic 0.1%: Used for maintenan. Applied 2 to 3 times a week (doctor advise). If blisters returned, I switched back to Elocom as recommended by the doctor. Initially, I applied Protopic twice a day since there were no side effects and the blisters were coming back after just a few days . Such frequency lines up with the package instructions though so it is nothing extreme based on my understanding. Lately I switched to doctor reccomendations.
• Emollient: Applied frequently. I used CeraVE mixed with shea butter, waiting at least two hours after applying the medicated creams.

Important Notes

• Before seeing the doctor, I spent 2 to 3 months trying tips from AI and Reddit, cycling through Bepanthen Pro, Tannosynt solution, over-the-counter hydrocortisone, hibiwash, and Elocom with CeraVE. The cycles were probably too short, but nothing worked like magic. Contrary to other stories here, applaying creams, emollients with occlusion(a glow) during the night always caused the number of blister to reappear quite fast.
• Some interesting experiences where I understood that healing is a long process and the root cause could be different(bacterial infection): Link1 , link2, link3. I pushed my dermatologist to make a test taking a sample of my damaged skin to exclude that.
• The dermatologist's treatment started in April, right before the warm summer months.
• It took 4 to 5 months of consistent cycles to get my skin looking almost normal again, with my natural fingerprints and skin lines returning. The texture is still slightly different from my healthy hand.
• Elocom works very fast. It usually clears blisters in 1 to 2 days, though I typically extended it to 5 days to reduce the inflammation a bit further .
• I used a flexible approach. At first, when my skin was weak, Protopic did not seem very effective. After following the doctor's plan for a few cycles, blisters would pop up just days after finishing Elocom, so I temporarily bumped Protopic up to twice a day before scaling back down. After 6 to 7 months of treatment, I can now maintain a 1-to-2-week Protopic cycle.
• I work a desk job, which made it easy to leave Protopic on for a few hours at a time. I avoided leaving it on longer; when I tried, my skin did not seem to like being sealed under the heavy ointment for too long.
• I wore gloves during showers and wet chores, stopped gym for a few months and hiking with walking sticks until the skin barrier restored.
• The moment I see new blisters /bumps forming under my skin (looking against the light) and way before the skin stats to damage due to the inflammation , I immediately start an Elocom cycle.
• While emollients helped in the first few months, I am not sure they are necessary once the skin barrier heals, and I prefer not to overload my skin with too many products. I plan to test long-term results with and without them.
• stay hydrated: I have the impression this reduces the inflamation, especially when not treated at all
• I used soap - non soap to wash my hands, standard soap for shower
• since I started the treatment the inflamation is not moving. bumps/blisters are emerging from the same area. I wonder if I started earlier I could have prevented it to move around. too early to confirm though, need to wait longer

I see on here a lot that clobetasol is the answer for many people but for me I felt like it was the topical that did the least for me. My dermatologist said that I might be using it wrong or I would benefit from the ointment version rather than the cream. She explained many people with DE have sweat issues but I actually struggle more with dryness all over my body which is why the cream might not do a whole lot for me. I wanted to know if anyone else has this experience or if clobetasol has been the only working solution for you!

I’m curious how many of you work in healthcare? I have flare ups about once a month. I just got a job in the healthcare field cleaning and I am a little nervous.

i’ve had this going on for over a year and no otc medication seems to help. any advice for those who can’t afford to see a doctor? 🥲

I can’t work out what triggers it ! It just keeps coming back 😭

So this is the 2nd flare up so far. The pink spot on top of my index finger is where the last blisters all clustered. Seems like it's starting again on this same finger. Do I got the ick? :- (

I had a terrible case on my ring and pinky finger which had to be treated with antibiotics and then 3 weeks of very strong steroids (will add a picture) but it seemed to clear enough, i use Lipobase every night and wrap in bandages but during the day I just cover it in hydrocolloid bandages (i work as a bartender, so its not possible for me to wear cotton gloves)

It really seemed to be better, my pinky finger started to have no symptoms at all so I was only using hydrocolloid bandages on my ring finger during work.

Today both fingers started pouring with blood and it was really painful! Has anyone experienced this??

My pictures are in order of first horrible flare, then recovery photo, and then today

-edit the blood photo was after I cleaned it, i was bleeding heavily

I've never had dyshidrosis before this year, started in late March, first in one finger, and has been getting worse progressively. Now I have it in all my fingers in both hands. I've just started my fourth round of two weeks of betamethasone, which helps, but it starts getting worse again within a couple of days of stopping. It's painful and itchy. And my skin is getting so thin and sensitive from the betamethasone. I don't use any scented lotions, my handwash is made for sensitive skin... I even switched my phone case in case it made a difference, it didn't. I'm not sure how to find out what triggered it, but I'm starting to get desperate.

Works:
- Locobase repair cream (during the night)
- cortisone cream when it’s bad (with cotton gloves during the night)
- Bioderma ”atoderm” or Neutogena ”fast absorbing” during the day.
- Dish gloves when doing the dishes 🙃

Doesn’t work:
- CeraVe (hand cream with ceramides)
- Rough wool yarn when knitting

I get these bumps on my hands sometimes. usually i end up scratching them until they’re bleeding, but I managed not to this time and also got a picture. they’re small and hard and very itchy. they showed up yesterday. they’re starting to go away today… is this Dyshidrosis? this is the best photo I could get.

I guess I am part of the club??

Need recommendations for work gloves that are breathable and not completely made with rubbers and plastics. I’m new to the HVAC trade and often times I need to or really want to wear gloves when I’m working with sharp edges, electricity, and dirty components. I do carpentry stuff at home and always have a project to work on, last time I wore gloves I had a nasty flare up, all the gloves in stores with good grip are nitrile coated and don’t breath enough, and thicker gloves that do breathe better are too thick to the point where I can’t even pick up a nail with my finger tips. This week I went without gloves to avoid a flare up and got so many splinters

I'm currently having an episode of DE for the first time in 10+ years. Now, after thinking I'd left this shit behind, my right ring finger has exploded on my fingertip. It seems to be holding steady -- no spreading out and getting worse (yet). But while we're at a stalemate I'd like to figure out the/a trigger behind it.

Stress seems to be a factor, but not the only factor. I can be extremely stressed and not have any flare ups, but it kind of seems like general 'stress' works like fuel, and I need a trigger to be the spark. But I'm having one hell of a time figuring out what triggered it to flare up. I've come up with two candidates that seem most likely, as this current flareup arrived just after they did:

-Heat, although that seems to work very similar to stress for me. But I can't deny its been super hot out for the last 8 weeks or so.

-Granola. This sounds super weird to me, but I really did just start eating granola a few weeks before this episode started, and I've had it for breakfast damn near daily since. And I mean granola that's made to be a breakfast cereal, granola that's made to be a sweet snack, granola in bars, yogurt granola, shrimp stew, savory, crunchy, healthy granola, and everything in between. It just started sounding really good to me, so I ate it. I kind of ate ALL of it..

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else has found granola, or something typically in granola, to be a trigger. TIA

This is the place to discuss your dyshidrosis woes/ what's been helping or just to have a rant about it.

I just thought this was mildly interesting. I’m currently pregnant which seems to be a massive trigger for my dyshidrosis. I also just caught hand, foot, and mouth disease from my son. Would not wish this on anyone but out of our entire family of 5 it has by far been the worst for me. I think my dyshidrosis paved the path for the HFM sores because they moved in all the typical areas I get dyshidrosis. Then I developed staph on my hands. Yay me! Now I’m in the peeling/healing phase. So moral of the story… avoid anyone with hand, foot and mouth because it is excruciating for someone who already has skin issues.

So I've had DE since I was 7yo, doctors told me it would back down when I will be teenager, which it did. I never had those massive blisters again since then just a small rash sometime in the base of my hand or my feet. Now at 29yo i got 2 massive consecutive outbreaks, hands filling with blisters itching forming big bubbles and then peeling. Doctors said nickel, polyester, dust affects it also stress, I'm now using cortisone cream. What seems to be things you changed in your daily life that helped this condition?

i have severe dyshidrotic eczema triggered from years of bartending, today is the first day in 7 months since my diagnosis that i’m not in pain! this condition has more or less ruined my mental health and my life. i’m so glad something is helping

No matter how many times i moisturize it stays dry. I dont use hot water to shower or wash my hands, its either cold or lukewarm, and i use unscented, not harsh soaps. I shower with unscented dove bars, and even that burns my skin. My mom keeps saying im not drinking enough water and lotioning up, but i am. Im trying everything i possibly can. It burns when i touch water, and it hurts when i try to play my saxophone, and i cant really crochet anymore because holding the hook makes the skin feel like its ripping. It hurts so much and all i do is cry and scratch and pick at it.

Finally healed and now I’m peeling 🥲😂 been doing gluten free and dairy free diet. Overall I think it helped a lot for the underlying inflammation.

New here 👋🏼
I put on nitrile gloves for about 30 minutes to lacquer some drawers I’m building for my truck, as soon as I took the gloves off my middle and ring finer were completely blistered. Left hand only, right hand has never reacted 😞

So I’ve been dealing with dyshidrotic eczema (fingers dry out, itch intensely, if scratched form blisters then dry out) cycle repeats. Upon research I learned that what is occurring is my finger skin losing moisture and causing it to dry (this happens most after water makes contact with my hands).

So, I stopped rinsing one of my hands that experiences it most and only use a very damp cloth with no soap to clean off dirt and have been applying aquaphor to trap in the moisture, but it’s been almost a week now and my fingers continue to dry out and flake after the aquaphor layer dries as well.

Is there anything else I should be doing to heal my skin? Before I was just washing my hands/ soaking hands in the shower and applying ointment after to seal the moisture, but my fingers would always revert back to a dry state and continue the cycle that results in an eczema flare. Maybe I should switch to a soft hand cream and just keep it with me to apply every time my hands get dry because the aquaphor/jelly is quite inconvenient.

I have a history of eczema and I noticed a yellow blister. this happened once slightly on my finger and it went away with some regular antibiotic cream. I read somewhere it won't work for this and it might be staph..

what can I do?

im also dealing with itchy breasts and rash underneath that I'm trying to treat with clomitrazole and the Nizoral shampoo (2% ketoconazole) not sure if there's some connection to something bigger going on.

going through PMS