Q:

The pads of my fingers have been extremely dry recently, and they keep peeling. It's just the pads of my fingers, but the skin has peeled so deep that it's almost tender to touch anything. What's going on and how can I fix it? My skin isn't peeling anywhere else on my hands or body. I did just start birth control recently but that's the only thing that has changed since this started occurring.

 

A:

Peeling fingertips can be from a variety of causes, including medication side effect, contact with chemicals, fungal infection, following a strep or staph infection, and nonspecific dermatitis (skin inflammation).  You can see if you can heal your fingertips by using over the counter hydrocortisone cream 3-4 times a day on the peeling areas for several days.  If that is not helping stop the peeling, then we should see you to investigate potential causes.

~The Doc