Your advice - discoloured patches on fingers

[amymodi]

My mother, 65, has developed small patches of black discoloured skin on her fingers, on the side of the palm. The patches don't itch but they are dry and they crack due to the dryness and cuts form which debilitate her. Patches subside but reappear and now, new patches have started forming. The doctor suggested treatments for eczema-like conditions and she has been using aloe vera, cortisone cream, anti-bacterial cream, echinacea cream, none of which have worked.

Would anyone have any insight as to what this could be? Could it be fungal?

Thank you for reading.

[jemma116]

The other thing you can get your mum to do, is to buy some cotton gloves, apply lots of moisture cream on at night before going to bed, then put the cotton gloves on.

It will give back moisture to the hands.  She also needs to cover the hands up or moisturise them from the drying sun and the drying wind.

Although the ointment works for me, it does not mean it will work for your mum.  But it is worth trying.

Be aware though that this type of skin condition can flare up from time to time.

[amymodi]

Thank you Jemma116. I'll tell her about gloves and insist she wear them.

I do agree with you about changing the creams... she hasn't been able to find relief and so kept trying one after another.

Will look into the ointment you mention and check with the doctor.

[jemma116]

It is, like the doctor suggested, likely to be a type of eczema.

Sometimes these conditions can happen due to having contact with something.  Tell you mother not to wear rubber or latex gloves.  You can purchase latex free ones now.  

It is not a good idea to keep changing all these creams, because you won't know which one is working.  It does take some time for the skin to heal.  But even if it heals, now that your mother has had this, she is likely to get it again every time she comes into contact with something that triggers it off, or when your skin gets very dry.

My doctor prescribed Diprosalic ointment and this works for me.  There has been no long term cure, but once the skin starts to go hard, dry and crack, the ointment soon clears it up.