unexplained sudden brusing/redness at base of finger with swelling & numbness

I have had this happen at the base of my big toe several times over the past 5 years and just yesterday I got it in the base of my index finger.  I was standing up having a conversation and my hands were at rest when all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain and when I looked at my finger, the base of it (palm side near knuckle) was purple and swollen and sore to the touch.  After a few minutes the pain went away leaving me with a bruise.  The bruise is almost gone and it hasn't been 24 hours yet.  This also happens the same way at the base of my big toe (the under side where it bends).  Both on the right foot and right hand, always same place.  I'm a 45 year old female.  I don't smoke and consider myself to be pretty healthy.  I also remember my mother telling me she had experienced this too.  I've been searching for an answer, but for years have had no answers.

OMG! I'm not insane! I get those too! Only once or twice a year. But it starts (for no apparent reason) with what seems like a blood vessel swelling up. I can clearly see a red, raised line along a vein. It makes a weird itch achy throbbing pain. Within an hour or two it's like the vessel starts leaking. Pressure relieved, it mostly stops hurting, but then I grow a bruise. I've had it in my wrists, fingers, and recently a 2inch long one on the back of my leg that turned into a damn hematoma. I went to the MD about this big one. He did some tests and concluded it wasn't a clot, but had no idea what it was!

I have had these "pop's", as i call them, on and off for 20+ yrs. it usually happens on the palm side of my hand in the fatty part beneath my thumb or joints of my fingers. All fingers. There is no rhyme or reason when I get them. I have more recently noticed them "poping" on the back of my leg right below the knee..when it pop's it is immediately hot and itches, then starts to sting and the blueness appears, which is usually gone by the next day. I have also had them on the bottom of my feet. I have been to a few doctors who either say they have no idea what i am talking about and not to worry about it or say it is Renaulds and a do nothing type of thing. I have started taking pictures of them now when it happens. My fear is that I am now 67 yrs old, in good health but, i am wondering if I could get one of these pops in my brain! Has anyone had a brain "pop"?

It was comforting to know so many others have experienced this same dilemma - but somewhat discouraging to not see any answers or reasons for its happening.  First time for me on my index finger.  I was moving a patio table & cleaning it so wondered if I strained that finger or caused a problem to the joint.  I also thought bite, but no mark & no itching after 24 hours.  I've had many insect bites & they always eventually itch or have an incision mark.  This was extemely strange to me too!  I got to PT tomorrow for a dislocated finger - not the same one - so I will see what he thinks. :)

I am 38 years old and lately this has happened to me more than once. I was told it was bad blood circulation but nothing was given to me by the Dr.
I am a very healthy person, and I don't know why this is happening. Dr, said I may need a hand surgery that is all.

Ah, well I've just had this happen.  Never happened before so it worried me enough to Google around it at 1:30am.  Left index finger on the palm side at the base of the finger.  Sudden onset of numbness, swelling, a 'tight' feeling, mild pain and a blue/purple area just on the upper (nearest the thumb) quandrant of the palm side of the index finger, just on that first section of the finger, nearest the palm.Reading this thread it seems that it's quite common and that doctors don't seem to know much about it and don't take it seriously.  That may of course be because it's not a very serious condition and is not an indication of any serious underlying condition either.  I did nothing to cause trauma immediately prior to this happening, but I have been doing some woodworking all day at home today, lifting some heavy things from time to time, generally working too hard and getting quite tired.

Funny: my first thought was, "It looks like I just burst a vein," and it seems it is that simple.  I think I've put my mind at rest that it's not something very serious, and it feels a bit better already after half an hour.  It looks like a deep purple bruise is forming but the swelling is already subsiding a bit and I can bend and stretch the finger more easily.

Looks like I overdid it today with the woodworking and my hands didn't like it, but people on here have had it happen just randomly, so who knows.  I'll see what it's like in the morning, but my guess is the swelling will have gone down but the bruise will be more pronounced.

 

Same thing happened to me about 2 years ago for the first time and then every few weeks about 4 times in all. Saw a couple od GPS and was referred to a specialist. He was interested to see a photo, which I didn't have, or for me to show the GP if possible. It happened again this weekend, different finger, went straight to GP. He said it is an odd thing, not dangerous and no treatment. It can be caused by an infection in the body eg sore throat and blood leaks under the skin. He gave it a technical term which I can't remember! Mine begins with an itch like a chilblain itch, then begins to swell and go red and very hot. The bruising follows about 3 hours later and gets progressively worse for about 12 hours and lasts about 36 hours.

This syndrome may be  a spontaneous rupture of a weakened blood vessel. Called fancily Auchenback disorder. Have had about 30 of these in fingers and then on feet. As a naturopath I tracked it down to a significant Vit C deficiency resulting in a weakening of the blood vessel's collagen. Blood vessels are tubes of muscle that are constructed of a lot of collagen fibres. Vit C is critical to the maintainance and repair of collagen.   Therefor blood vessel strength.

A deficiency will result in the body using Vit C for critical essential body maintainance and repair and can begin to sacrifice non critical tissues. Much like a sick plant will drop its leaves to save the basic structure. After 3 months of mega dosing the ruptures stopped and I felt the better all over for the exersize

i too am 24 and woke up today with a pain in my finger that's been spreading down my finger. there is a visible purple vein or something at the point of the most pain on the tip, it's my index on the right hand and it feels like it's very burnt. Alien abduction maybe?

Second incident for me. Interesting to read all these posts. In both cases I felt a pain in middle finger on the middle pad and the finger swelled up and felt tight like with a bug bite. It was red from the top joint down to where it joins the hand, and for several hours I could see the blood spread about 1/4" into the hand, and around the knuckle on the back of the hand. That part is creepy but my doctor hadn't been alarmed the first time. He wondered about arthritis, but hadn't seen it before. Swollen, bright red for lower 2/3 of finger into the knuckle, pain on second pad mostly but also at the joint where it joins the hand. No bite. I had experienced itchy wrist shortly before this, but I had dry hands from doing dishes and sudden cold weather!  I used a dish brush/stick, and typed and held my ipod mini a lot prior to this, also had been digging hard ice cream out of the carton when it happened. Pressure on joint/finger could certainly have brought it on. Me

Had this quite a few times now, mostly on my index or ring finger of the right hand. Worst was just last week when my finger went black and blue a lot more than normal. It took over a week for the bruising to go but is still slightly tender two weeks on. Strangely my dad also gets it!. Went to the doctors who just shook her head unaware of what it was. People have said its a bruised vein or burst blood vessel.....

ive been getting the same now for over a year!some really hurt some dont!what is causing this?

Hi there, me too. A sudden pain in my index finger where it meets the palm, and then severe purple bruising. I read it may be Auchenbach Syndrome. See your doctor. That's my next step, too.

I am experiencing very similar symptoms particularly on left ring finger but has also occurred on right ring finger. My fingers will be fine and then all of a sudden I feel pain and the finger turns blue black and swells up. When it first happened I thought I must have been bitten by a spider or similar while weeding, however it now just occurs out of the blue. Today I was vacuuming and it happened so I decided to google and discovered this thread. It seems to mainly affect most people in this forum in their ring finger, how strange! Has anyone found an answer besides Raynaud's.

I am 46 and I recently noticed a painful bruise on the top section of my right index finger. It has been constantly ice cold and numb feeling while all my other fingers are fine. Today the pain is gone and the dark bluish bruise is fading but the cold and numbness is still there. What caused your Raynauds? Did the Dr. tell you? I am trying to figure out what could have caused this and maybe I have the same thing.