What Causes Peeling of the Hands?

I get contact dermatitis, usually from gardening and weeding. It starts as itchy little blisters that then pop and peel. I treat with topical steroid cream, like hydrocortisone.

Since its on her hands I'd probably lean toward something she's coming in contact with or possibly just from a combination of washing or having them in her mouth with the air being drier this time of year.

And Dr Google is terrible. Either its nothing or life threatening and nothing in between.

The best thing to do is see the pediatrician.
That said, my husband had similar peeling like this for years-- turns out he was allergic to the Asian pears we were growing. Since he stopped eating them (and gave the tree to someone else) -no rashes or peeling.

My son gets this (especially in the winter, but has it all year round for the most part) from putting soap on his hands before they are wet when he washes his hands. He puts liquid soap on dry hands, "lathers", and then rinses (not very well, either). He is delayed and for some reason we cannot get him to turn his process around on this. It could be something as simple as this . . . Stay off of WebMD :)

No harm in scheduling a nurse's apt to have it look it if you are concerned, though.

I have had peeling hands when I came into contact with something that bothered my skin. One time it was hair mousse and another time it was a lotion. Has your daughter handled anything she hasn't before? I know that can be hard to determine with a small child but worth a thought. Try not to worry. A quick call to the doctor should ease your mind. Good luck.

Where the blisters small and either fluid filled or dark in color? Did his hand itch before it started to peel? If so he may just have contact dermatitis. It can be treated with creams and is not contagious, but once you have it you will always have it, but it will not always be present. I get rashes on my hands 2-3 times a year, they itch and then peel and then they are fine until the next time I have an outbreak.

My fingertips peeled like that when I was a child. It was caused by a food allergy. Sometimes allergies will come from a new food. Sometimes they sneak up on me in a food I've eaten for a long time.

It could just be dry skin. In the winter, my hands peel sometimes too. A good oil based moisturizer like Nivea Skin Oil will work wonders.

If it's just peeling, I wouldn't worry too much at all. My daughter used to get that on her toes and still does sometimes. She's very healthy.

all the time you've been on this board and you're STILL diagnosing via google???
tadpole!!!!
khairete
S.

We have psoriasis here, eczema, athletes foot (that's peeling skin on feet, ugh), and allergies. To me, that sounds (because of the blisters) like contact dermatitis as some of the other moms below mentioned. I get tiny little blisters which kind of itch if you irritate the blister. Like Beaver Canoe, I get them from stuff in the garden, but have had it from touching baskets made from wicker etc.
It goes away on it's own - in my case anyhow, just looked pretty weird until it did. Almost looked like an extra layer of skin that did eventually slough off. But yes, there are creams etc. for it - but I'd get it looked at before you went that route. I tend to slather polysporin on everything if I don't know what it is, but that's me. I believe Beaver Canoe is bang on - hydrocortisone (we have an over the counter variety as well as prescribed) is good for that kind of thing. I put the over the counter stuff (lower % concentrate) on irritations quite often, but that's because our doctor suggested that many visits ago to spare me from coming in.
Good luck :)

I don't have an answer, but I'm sure it's hard to wait for the doctor after looking at the internet. So sorry!

Keep us posted on how she's doing, Tadpole!

May skin peeling be your smallest worry.

It could be a dermatitis or eczema. I have had that on my fingers. One of my girls gets it on her toes and the other on her fingertips a could times a year

My daughters hands peeled when she was in kindergarten and it was from using too much hand sanitizer. Once she stopped using it her hands stopped peeling.

Could be a type of eczema called dyshidrotic dermatitis. Did she get little clear blisters on her hand first that were super itchy? I have it, it's annoying but nothing to cause panic :)

Is she healing up after Hand, Foot and Mouth disease?
Our son had a mild case of it when he was a baby.
He never even got a fever but he had blisters on his hands and feet and when the blisters were just gone his skin peeled just a little bit where ever a blister was.
It never bothered him - never itched or anything.
Just have her play in the bath tub a long time till her skin is soft and the dead skin comes off with a washcloth - it's all cleared up in a few days.