Developed Hard And Dry Patch In Centre Of Palm. Painful To Touch. What It Could Be?

Posted on Fri, 3 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 3 Aug 2012 Answered on

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, I have developed a very hard dry patch in the centre of my right palm, it occasionally cracks, which is painful and a little bit itchy. I have had it for over 3 months now, I have been continuously using all sorts of nourishing creams, but nothing helps. Any idea what it might be? Many thanks for your help, Irina

Answered by Dr. Shanthi E (2 hours later)

Hi XXXXXX,

Thanks for posting your query and uploading the image. I have taken a good look at it.

It seems like a superficial fungal skin infection in your right palm, probably a Tinea infection.

Please consider applying Clotrimazole (Lotrimin) ointment to the affected areas twice daily for 2 weeks and look for improvement. It should get better with this. The ointment is available over the counter in UK.

It is better not to use steroid based cream as it may worsen the lesion initially.

Please do write back for further discussion on this.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar