My fingers have just recently started the peeling you have described. It feels like glue coming off in thick chunks. My fingertips are not sore but the peeling skin is very uncomfortable and catches on everything. I have tried many OTC lotions and nothing works. My thumb, index, and middle finger on both hands are peeling. Mine is defintely not caused by eggs because I don't eat them. I do drink diet coke, though My hands have done this 3 times in the last year. I went to the doctor and they said it was a reaction to a cold that I had. I also have diabetis. I wonder if this plays into it anyway.

My right thumb ONLY peels terribly. It starts by just slightly peeling and then the entire area toughens and then it really begins to peel. I use to be in a small area on the thumb but now it's the entire front portion of the thumb. The area gets so thin that the skin splits open and bleeds. I wish someone had any idea what this is. It's getting worse every year. I just hope it will not spread to any other fingers. I think it's the change in the seasons. It's now middle of April and I am in at the end of a painful peeling episode.

annasheart
Symtoms and many others here are the same as mine. I was diagnosed back in 2000 with 3 differant vascular diseases. Buergers, Raynauds phenomenon and P.A.D. you can find info on these at http://www.mayoclinic.com/ If you are a smoker of any of these you must stop NOW. also cold weather and stress can cause flare ups of these. Unfortunitly the diagnose process takes alog time Doc has to rule out others before he can come to these conclusions. Talk to your doctors about these

I wish I could remember what I was doing about 3 months ago to make these symptoms start! At first I thought it was a burn as I'm a clumsy cook, but then my med-student friend assured me it is a fungus so I've been using the same stuff you use for athletes foot. I went to a pharmacy and because it doesn't itch the pharmacist suggested ezcema and gave me a steroid creme. The athlete's foot one seemed to have the most affect, softening up the area, but it's so hard to keep cream on my right thumb I'm not very good at sticking to it.

Mine also started smaller than the size of a pinky nail with a shiny, tough surface like a burn. Now i feel the 'super glue' numbness and only occassionaly have pain from pressure. Thank goodness to bleeding, the peeling is minor but constant. Now i feel like some of my other fingers are getting tiny 'wrinkles' at the top near my nail so I'm scared it's spreading! The nickel allergy suggestion sounds interesting to me, but i can't think of any new nickel-based items i might have acquired to make it start 3 months ago. Very frustrating! Is it worth a dermatologist investment if no one seems to have found answers? I just don't want it to spread!

Okay. I may have found a diagnosis for you all. I don't have the same symptoms. I had some other things going on, and this is the first time it's happened to me. But at least I will have an idea of what it MAY be if it happens again.

Okay, apparently you can't post website links here, so my message was edited to remove the links. I was just trying to help. Anyway, I believe you all should do a search for Exfoliative keratolysis. It seems to have symptoms very similar to the ones stated here. Once you do a search for it, you'll find the websites that I was trying to post.

check with your dermatologist to see if you might have weber-cockayne, a form of endermolysis bullosa, an inherited genetic disorder. in severe forms it can cause really unpleasant stuff, but the weber-cockayne version can have onset in youth or adulthood and seems to mostly lead to blistering on the hands and feet.
i am waiting to have a biopsy to find out if this is indeed what i have, but my dermatologist presented this as a likely candidate since i don't have itching (which would be more indicative of eczema).
Unfortunately W-C is not curable, but my understanding is that there are topical and other treatments that can help you to better manage and soothe the blistering and peeling.
hope this helps some other folks out there! it took me a few dermatologists before i found one who was really patient and concerned enough to listen to my symptoms. W-C seems to occur only in about 1 in every 30,000 - 50,000 individuals, so if you live in a small town, your dermatologist may not have it on his/her radar screen.

THANK YOU. Just remembered I have a tube of Mometasone Furoate 1%. I applied way too much the first time I tried it and had blurred vision and migrain. Had never planned on using it again. If any of you suffer from migrains you know why.

So after reading Averee's comments I researched Mometasone Furoate and it is almost the same cream, but it WARNS: apply very thin coating and do not cover. YIKES. sure would have been smarter had I read the insert. Flake that I am, even covered it. I appreciate everyone for helping me. sincerely

so does anyone have an answer because I thought this was a site for getting answers. where is the MD for this diagnosis on this page?

anyway I have the same problem. right fore finger and now right thumb has it. numbness like it has a layer of elmers glue on it yet painful to put pressure and it is always a scaly tough crinkily skin on it. i notice (when i am tempted to peel it because it's very frustrating to have) that the cracks are very painful. i gotta stop doing that. i've tired a&d ointment and hydrocortizone with a bandaid over night but that is only temporary, like an hour after i take the band aid off the next day. can't leave the bandaid on forever, that's annoying too. anyway someone please help with some answers. a dermatologist is an hour and a half away where i'm covered otherwise it'll be the advice of my general doc. also i was told it may be ecezema or psoriasis since I already have psoriasis.

hoping to read a diagonsis from a professional soon.

For years I had skin peeling in layers which would leave the lower skin layers exposed and raw. Gradually they would heal, then it would start again, sometimes in the same spot sometimes not. The peeling would start with hard numb skin that felt thick. If I did any manual work, it would bring on an episode. About 6 months ago, I was put on niacin (vitamin b3) for high cholesterol and the problem immediately went away. Now I'm wondering if this was a kind of pelagra.