Blisters on fingers - Skin Problems Message Board

iodine · 02-11-2006, 11:58 PM

Jerry from July 28, 2000. Concerning blisters on fingers.

I and my mother have the same problem. We react with blisters to our hands and sometime, the feet when eating items that have iodine content. Like iodized salt, sea food, table salt that is not labled "iodized", vitamins with an iodine supplements ingredient.

I discovered I had few occurances over the years. I asked my mother to be my "labortory rat" and try out a theory.

I used Lysine for my cold sores. I noticed that my blisters were not appearing when eating specific foods that had iodized salt or sea salt. I requested my mother to take a capsule once a day for a month and then introduce items she knew produced the blisters.

I am happy to report she is now able to use iodized salt, eat items that have iodine content and has no outbreaks of blisters.

I do caution on over taking the Lysine. I did that once and got a "crystilizing" problem in my bladder. At least I relate it back to the time I over did the Lysine. I took something like seven capsules each hour for two days. It was a bit much.

I know take just one capsule each day and have no occurance of blisters. My cold sores stay under control as well.

iodine · 02-17-2006, 03:53 PM

According to Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictinary

iodism , a condition produced by excessive amounts of iodine in the body. It is characterized by increased lacrimation and salivaigo, rhinitis, weakness, and a typical skin eruption.

iododerma, a skin rash caused by a hypersensitivity to ingested iodides. The lesions my be acneiform, bullous, or fungating. Treatment requires removal of iodides.

For those who think they may have this hypersensitivity or condition, try the elimination diet of no iodine. If skin conditions do improve, wait until skin is back to normal. This is the difficult part. Try an item, small dose of what ever, that you know has iodine in it and time how long a reaction takes.

Iodine is added to a lot of foods. Assume all resteraunts use iodized salt; table salt is considered iodized even if not stated so. Inform family and friends of what you are attempting and get their support for providing foods that are not iodized.

There may not be many individuals out there with this sensitivity. If you are one, I hope the Lysine suggestion works for you. I use a 500mg capsule once a day as a cold sore preventive maintenanc, a nice side affect was the iodine sensitivity desensitization, do not know if Lysine comes in a lower dose.

iodine · 02-17-2006, 04:24 PM

A few other things I remember about the blisters, they appears on the back of the hand, on the palm, and my mother had some rather large ones on the bottom of her feet.

There would be warmth around the blister area. A collectin of blisters can cause a finger to swell and flexablity impaired while afflicted.

Stages are itchiness at site, warmth, blister (mine were deep in the skin, my mother's on her feet sounded to be more topical with her statement of them being quite large). Skin appeared to be pealing away due to deepness of blister as it was healing. Damaged skin area requires body to heal, that will depend on individual body repair capabilities.