Today I couldn't bend my finger when I tried to do something with it. My finger had swollen to twice its normal size without me noticing. I had a black line in the top two creases of my fingers. I thought I had cut off the circulation or something so I rubbed it vigorously. It stung as I was rubbing it. After a while my finger went purple between these two joints (palm side of finger only). I put ice on it which stopped the stinging and seemed to settle the stinging a little bit. Over the day my finger has gone purple on the palm side up to about half an inch before it meets my hand. The discolouration has gone a little bit on the sides of my finger but not on the front side of my finger. It is weird. I did not hurt it, I did not get a sting. I was simply walking at the time. In case something did sting me without me knowing I took an antihistamine to be on the safe side. The swelling reduced a little over the day.
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This is a quirky phenomenon. Started getting mine about 20 years ago. They come and go. Mine have occurred in almost all finger joints, once on the palm, almost always when I've squeezed or grabbed something hard, like a steering wheel. It stings at first, almost like a bee bite, turns purple within minutes, then fades away in a couple days, like other bruises, as others have stated. Took pictures of a few "explosions" over the years and so was finally able to show a couple docs since most don't quite get it til they see it. They still didn't. My family doc sent me to a rheumatologist who sent me to a heart doc. None of them were alarmed - none knew what it was. The rheum. doc said I should go to a dermatologist next time it happened to get it biopsied. I haven't. Previous posting mentioned Cold Agglutinin Disease - doesn't seem to fit. There must be some sort of vascular connection to these purple joint explosions, but not getting very far as to why it happens. Bottom line, probably not serious, but it sure would be nice to understand it better. Can't find any studies on it, either..
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This just happened to me a few minutes ago (I'm 27), I wasn't even using my left hand while I was editing some work with photo shop on my computer -mainly using my right hand. Randomly my ring finger on my left hand started to hurt really badly so I turned on my lamp and saw that there was a big marble sized lump and bruise near the base of my finger. This has never happened before and the bruise quickly turned a deep purple. A little alarming considering no one has any idea what's going on with us lol
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This happens to me as well. Male, age 46. Started happening a few time year beginning about 3 years ago. Sometimes a slight bump on the car steering wheel or just even carrying a light shopping bag will cause it. Very strange.
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I was 18 when I started to have same problem, I went to doctor after doctor but nobody could diagnose my problem it has now been 25 years and I still suffer from thus problem, I had no idea others had the same problem.
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This has happened to me several times over the last few years and I'm still alive and healthy so I can't imagine it's anything too serious. Each time it happens I get a little concerned but after reading the posts it seems quite common. I have had raynauds for about 40 years but it's only the last few that my finger (usually index) or several fingers will get very painful then go cold, numb and wax like and at the same a bruise appears at the bottom of the finger. It happened tonight - painful, cold, white numb index finger and at the same time a bruise appeared in the joint below the finger on the top of my hand and around the base of the finger. Can happen to my toes too. It's worrying but can't be life threatening as it's happened too often without consequences.
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Achenbach Syndrome. Annoying, self limiting, and harmless. I first noticed it in my 20s, I'm 53 now. It has mostly affected the palm-side of my fingers, usually the middle and ring fingers - but it has happened so many times over the years, my thumbs, index fingers and little fingers have had a share as well. I've had toes affected about a dozen times. The MD above who posted Raynaud's as the culprit is not winning any prizes soon - Raynaud's is a serious condition that presents as a circulation cut-off and digits turning pale or even white. This is the OPPOSITE - a blood vessel plainly bursts - look carefully when you first feel the burning itch and you can SEE the little vein running over the inside of your joint swollen and bleeding into the joint and up under the skin of your finger. Grit your teeth and rub it hard - it spreads the blood out quicker (making the bruise bigger, dammit) but reduces any later swelling and subsequent immobility. Still hurts, but you keep the bendiness. No cure known, no reason known - but no real harm noted. Mine haven't occurred more frequently, or more severely in 30 years. The closest hint of a cause could be migraine medications - I was on ergotamine through my late teens and early 20s - since they have a vascular constriction focus, and MIGHT cause a lasting weakness in small blood vessels of the extremities. But then, not all migraine medication users get Achenbach, and not all Achenbachers (Yes, I invented that word) get migraines (as far as sketchy reporting can show). And just to add to the list - my last but one incident (a few weeks ago) hit the lower joint of my middle finger at the BACK - a first!
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Achenbach syndrome... no biggie, annoying but not life threatening. It'll go away in a couple of days... I've been having them on and off for years, and only recently found out what it was. Turning off the tap was this latest trigger! It can sometimes be just picking up a bag... silly things.. Anyway hope that puts your mind at rest.
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I am 61 and just experienced something similar. A sting then a purple line up my middle fingerr on the inside. The sting has gone but the purple remains.
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Hi, I've experienced this a few times over the years. I'm a 63 year old female, with a healthy lifestyle, but I have arthritis and Hepatitis C, which I mention because it does reduce the ability of blood to clot normally. I don't relate at all to the Reynauds symptoms... my hands are always warm, even when the rest of me is not. The first time this happened was in my wrist, while I was carrying a heavy suitcase. This morning it happened as I was driving home from the shop, but the bag I loaded into the car was not heavy. However, as my partner is away, I have been doing double-duty dog-walking lately, using one of those retracting-extending leashes with a large plastic handle that includes a "lock" that I operate with my index finger, which was the affected part this time. I had that weird pulling pain, then the bruise started to form, but not too serious. Like others here, at my age, I am always concerned about the possibility of a stroke! Other factors I have in common with people here: low blood pressure, taking Vitamin D supplements, had beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome, spend a lot of time at a keyboard. Glad to hear that I am probably not going to have a stroke.
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This happened to me last night, and googling the symptoms finds Spontaneous Benign Blue Finger syndrome, or Achenbach's. I was really worried when it happened last night, a propos nothing - just sitting watching television when it happened. Bizarre. I do have Reynaud's and a positive anti-nuclear factor, by the way.
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You seem to have the symptoms on Raynaud's syndrome especially the white fingers, please Google it.
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Two days ago I experienced what appears to be a broken blood vessel (?) on ring finger after doing housework, lifting rugs, mopping and such. Mild pain in finger initially, not even enough to look at it at first but when it started to feel 'funny', I looked at it and realized it had turned reddish/purple from the second knuckle down to where it connects to the hand. It's not itchy or numb, just a very strange color which has slowly and slightly migrated a bit up and down of original redness. 53yr. old female, healthy, no prescription pills, non-smoke, extremely light drinker (a glass of wine or two per month on average). I was able to play golf so no worries!
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Could be this:
◾Also known as paroxysmal finger hematoma or Achenbach’s syndrome.
◾This is a skin condition and not a cardiovascular condition.
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