marti please help - Nail Problems Message Board

bebe1983 · 11-26-2008, 06:33 PM

sounds/looks like i have paronychia. two of my fingers have lots of cracking and scaly skin. how do i stop this? im not seeing a dermatologist until dec 18

im tryng my best to keep them dry as possible

2nd thing is my primary care took some nail clippings from me and all the cultures for fungus and bacteria came back negative....im confused.

Marti · 11-26-2008, 10:08 PM

Paronychia is a bacterial infection of the nail fold (skin) that surrounds the nail unit. Running a culture on nail clippings will only show a nail infection, not a skin infection. Paronychia is characterized by red, swollen, painful cuticles. It will only invade the nail plate if it is a severely acute condition. What you have described sounds more like psoriasis or excema. Your dermatologist should be able to tell the difference.