Itchy Hands & Feet | Dyshidrotic Eczema - Triggers & Home Remedies

Registration No. 89509 Maharashtra Medical Council, 2003
Dr. Amee Daxini | Phone 📞 099013 54408 (Online & in-person appointment can be booked online or by call) | Consultant Dermatologist & Cosmetologist | Think Skin Clinic, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, India
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So you’re struggling with these tiny blisters in your hands and feet, which are very itchy, and they just don’t go away with any home care remedies. You might be struggling with something called dyshidrotic eczema. This is not very common and not very well known, but yes, we all do suffer from it, and some of us chronically. Now what is this? It’s a kind of eczema called pompholix where you notice tiny blisters on the palms, on your soles or sometimes even on the sides of your fingers. These are extremely itchy, sometimes even burning, and if they ever break up, there is skin peeling. It could be chronic, that is, it occurs for a long period of time with episodes waning and waxing. It increases probably during hot or humid weather and relapses, or it is controlled in dry weather. In some cases, it can be acute; it just comes to you, you know, suddenly and at that time it could also be irritating. So it’s important to understand the cause so that you can treat it accordingly. So eczemas generally have flare-ups in certain weather conditions; therefore, dyshidrotic eczema also increases in hot summers or humid monsoons. The other stress factor could be just an irritation caused by an external agent. It could be in your jewellery or metals like nickel or cobalt. It could be due to the detergents that you’re using or a change in the detergent. It could be due to constant wet work, or it could also be due to your perfumes, especially the fragrances that can irritate the skin. But the major cause for recurrence or trigger is stress. So, the days when you are stressed, the cortisol that increases in your body can affect the skin barrier, and that’s when you can start noticing eczema. So, try to understand the cause so that you can treat it accordingly. Sometimes this can mimic a fungal infection. So, especially when you see this kind of eczema around your toes and feet and if there is excessive scaling and itching, do consult your dermatologist because this could just be a simple fungal infection, which is easily treatable. So, since dyshidrotic eczema is very frequent, there are certain simple and safe skincare remedies that you can do at home. Commonest being cold compresses. Since hot weather and warm environment increases the eczema just applying ice cold compresses or dipping your hand in cool water or saline will reduce the inflammation and reduce the inflammation as well as reduce the blisters. You can use aloe gel. If you can try to keep the aloe gel in the refrigerator so it becomes nice and cool, and then you can apply it multiple times to your hands and feet, so that it reduces the redness and irritation. You can also apply colloidal oatmeal extract, or sometimes even curd or malai, which can help soothe this kind of eczema. So you can also use cold-pressed coconut oil or almond oil, especially if you notice excessive skin peeling and dryness. And when it is too much, the last resort that you can do at home is wet therapy. Wet wrap therapy is nothing but applying a thick moisturiser like an aloe vera gel or coconut oil and covering it with gloves or socks at night so that the next morning when you wake up, the skin is much smoother and can be easily managed. So when these home care remedies do not give you relief, it’s best to see your dermatologist. There are various medical lines of treatment that can help you reduce the flare as well as the symptoms. The first line of therapy is always topical corticosteroids. It could be from mild to potent depending on the severity of the eczema. But now we have good steroid-sparing creams too, which are calcineurin inhibitors like tacrolimus or pimecrolimus. But you always need to remember that barrier repair is the key. So using moisturisers regularly, avoiding detergents and applying an occlusive moisturiser at night is important.