I have numbness in the nails of my thumb when the skin becomes thick. What to do?

Question

Hi doctor,

My skin on the side of my thumbnail cracks when it becomes thick and it is not painful. When the skin becomes thick, my thumb starts to have numbness and so I remove the cracked dry outer skin. When I do this, I can see fresh skin under it. I break the skin and it becomes painful and tender. Once this happens, I leave my fingers to get healed and this cycle repeats itself within a month. Because of COVID-19, I have been washing my hands using alcohol and this has worsened my condition. I started to have this at 13 years and I am 27 years old now.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

From this history, it seems that you have developed paronychia. It occurs due to infection of skin around the nails either due to bacteria or candida. It can occur due to trauma or injury to the nails or irritation. As mentioned in the history, washing hands repeatedly can cause irritation and paronychia. You can take a tablet of Doxycycline 100 mg one tablet daily at night for seven days. You can use Gentamicin eye drops and put two drops three times daily on the lesion for two weeks. You can use Clotrimazole cream and apply it daily at night for ten days. When you wash your hands every time you try to apply a good moisturizer on the hands. Have a follow up after two weeks.

I have numbness in the nails of my thumb when the skin becomes thick. What to do?

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