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Can Someone Please Explain To Me What This Is? This
Posted on
Mon, 17 Dec 2018
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Mon, 17 Dec 2018
Answered on
Last reviewed on
Question : Can someone please explain to me what this is? This usually pops up on a random finger every month or so, lasts for about a week, and disappears. My finger is always swells, has this weird mark, and it's painful to touch.
Brief Answer:
Please attach the image.
Detailed Answer:
Hi , welcome to Ask A Doctor service.
We would be looking in to your probelm to guide you properly but please attach the image of what yor are concerned about .
There's are quite a few possibilities, that would be only better recognised by looking at the lesion.
Looking forward for your reply .
Kind Regards Dr Rahman
Please attach the image.
Detailed Answer:
Hi , welcome to Ask A Doctor service.
We would be looking in to your probelm to guide you properly but please attach the image of what yor are concerned about .
There's are quite a few possibilities, that would be only better recognised by looking at the lesion.
Looking forward for your reply .
Kind Regards Dr Rahman
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Sorry; I thought my pictures came through with my initial post. Hopefully these come thru okay.
Brief Answer:
It looks herpetic whitlow ( infection caused by herpes virus )
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for sharing the images.
The lesion looks very typical of a herpetic whitlow.This is an infection of the finger tip caused by herpes virus .Infact it's important to defrentiate it from bacterial infection of the pulp but the self resolution and the reurrence is a telltale of herpes virus ifection .The whitish signs you mentioned is the herpetic vesicles, another sign of herpes .
Herpetic whitlow may be caused by type 1 or type 2 herpes virus .The virus may be taken from oral cavity ( type 1 moslty ) or genetelia ( type 2 ) .
Its course is that like most of viruses it resolves itself in 2 to 3 weeks However in one fourth to half of patients this reoccurs.
Though it may not need any treatment but if recurrent we generally use anti viral drugs like acyclovir or foscarnet which have been shown to be effective in prevention of recurrence besides hasting the healing .
So you may talk to your doctor for a prescription of anti viral after looking at the lesions.
Hope this help you understand your probelm. Please feel free to ask anything else you need to know.
Regards
It looks herpetic whitlow ( infection caused by herpes virus )
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for sharing the images.
The lesion looks very typical of a herpetic whitlow.This is an infection of the finger tip caused by herpes virus .Infact it's important to defrentiate it from bacterial infection of the pulp but the self resolution and the reurrence is a telltale of herpes virus ifection .The whitish signs you mentioned is the herpetic vesicles, another sign of herpes .
Herpetic whitlow may be caused by type 1 or type 2 herpes virus .The virus may be taken from oral cavity ( type 1 moslty ) or genetelia ( type 2 ) .
Its course is that like most of viruses it resolves itself in 2 to 3 weeks However in one fourth to half of patients this reoccurs.
Though it may not need any treatment but if recurrent we generally use anti viral drugs like acyclovir or foscarnet which have been shown to be effective in prevention of recurrence besides hasting the healing .
So you may talk to your doctor for a prescription of anti viral after looking at the lesions.
Hope this help you understand your probelm. Please feel free to ask anything else you need to know.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Remy Koshy
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