Hello, im new to this forum so o easy on me.

I have had a problem with my little finger for about 5 years now where I seemed to develop a form of dermatitis.

My finger goes through several stages and I experience different problems. Ultimately, this goes round in a circle of about a week and I have had this consistently for the last 5 years!

Firstly, finger looks reasonably normal albeit a little swollen and there are flakes of dry skin etc but other than that looks quite normal. Then all of a sudden I would develop an incridible itching sensation where you the only way for this to calm is to rub / scratch it on clothes (jeans etc). I also found that running it under a very hot tap gives it a sense of relief. After both outbreaks, the finger swells dramatically and the skin sweats and blisters badly.

Within a day of this, the skin is very tender and starts to dry out and subsequently cracks at the joints and is really uncomfortable.

I then have to deal with not bending my finger until it heals and then skins starts calming down, swelling goes down a bit and finger returns to almost normal.

Then the circle starts again. This generally takes a week and I have had this constantly for 5 years. My GP just says it is dematitis and gives me hydrocortisone. I have tried changing washing powder, shower gel hand creams, you name it!

I am 28 now and the conditions started at 23. At 21 i started wearing a gold signet ring on my finger which I never had a problem with until 23. At that point I stopped wearing the ring. Also at this time my job was extremely high stress and coupled with this at this time I developed dermatitis around my eyes and forehead (this has only gone in the last year or so) I am sill in a high stress job and wonder if this has some affect.

Also I got married at 27 and initially wore a tungsten wedding ring that give me a massive allergic reaction (nikel) and soon changed it for a titanium one. However as this is my left hand in question, my wedding ring finger is also affected by this itching condition.

Can anyone explain this condition and how I am get rid of / control it.

Thanks.

Ali