Skin bends in thumb?

[renpirate]

I have experienced an interesting issue with my left thumb. On two ocassions now, after diving over several days, the pad of my thumb turns red, swells and begins to itch horribly. I experience no other symptoms indicating DCS and stay well within recreation NDLs. In fact, I generally use Nitrox. After a few days, the swelling and itch goes away. Within a week or so the skin begins to peel in such a way that indicates bubbles under the skin.

I last experienced this on a dive trip to Roatan. I experiemented with rubbing my thumb as I ascended and during my safety stop on successive dives. It seemed to help as it went away faster than the last time I experienced it.

Has anyone else experienced or heard of this? Does my theory make sense or could it be something else?

 

[gangrel441]

My admittedly underinformed understanding is that skin bends generally occurs in high bloodflow areas of the body such as the chest, stomach, and back. Are you sure this redness and itchiness isn't some type of irritation caused by something in the water, or possibly by the salt water itself? I am very interested in hearing what others have to say on this thread.

 

[fisherdvm]

Two things crossed my mind - perniosis or chilblain.

Trench foot occured in cold wet trenches of WWI, or tropical foot rot of Viet Nam jungle has to do with warm water prolonged exposure.

Perniosis or chilblain tends to occur in cold extremities, and can signal small vessel disease, vasculitis, or collagen vascular disease. Ofcourse, it occurs more frequently in smokers.

 

[fisherdvm]

Er,,, I mean 3 or 4 things...

 

[renpirate]

After doing some research, it does sound like chilblains. The symptoms all seem to fit and if cold was the issue then rubbing my fingers would have improved circulation. Also, I was a smoker for 13 years, but quit 4 years ago.

The first time was in the waters off Northern California, which average 50 degrees, so that makes sense. However, the waters off Roatan averaged 80 degrees.

I guess I need to get my thumb checked out.

 

[TSandM]

One of the things I remember Dr. Deco writing some time back is that bend symptoms do not tend to recur in the same location, so if you are having repeated symptoms in one place, it's unlikely to be DCS.

 

[Cacia]

bend symptoms do not tend to recur in the same location,

ahh..nice to note.

I had those exact sx on a couple finger pads, like something trying to make its way out...extreme itching and then sloughing. I talked to a toxicology person thru DAN and he said he thought it sounded like fire sponge contact. I had been on the Rhone, and use two fingers on a wall, in surge. No profound sx at the time...but it got worse over about six weeks, FWIW.

 

[fisherdvm]

Interesting thing occurred on my right hand last week though, my new pair of dive gloves fit snugly. But my right dominant hand is much larger than the left. So I started getting tingling sensation in my right fingers deep in the dive as I got colder...

Apparently, the gloves get tighter with deeper and colder depths too.

 

[renpirate]

One of the things I remember Dr. Deco writing some time back is that bend symptoms do not tend to recur in the same location, so if you are having repeated symptoms in one place, it's unlikely to be DCS.

Hmm, that's interesting. I wonder why?

 

[MB]

Another thought. Were you wearing the same gloves each time? Short time period between the different trips? There might be biocrud inside the glove, and either active (living) contact or mechanical action (scraping dried crud against skin) could be reactivating the skin response.