The photo quickly went viral.
A young man showed his hand covered in small, transparent blisters clustered between his fingers, and said they had appeared hours after visiting his girlfriend. Thousands of users’ immediate conclusion was the most obvious one: they thought she had infected him with something.
But his skin was telling a different story. He had dyshidrosis, an eczema that causes fluid-filled blisters on the palms, fingers, or soles of the feet, and which can appear from one day to the next without warning. Before the vesicles appear, tingling or burning is usually felt, and within a few hours the skin fills with bumps resembling tapioca pearls.
It isn’t contagious and has nothing to do with another person. Stress, heat, or contact with certain metals are often behind these sudden flare-ups, which itch with an intensity that is difficult to ignore.
