All about hand foot syndrome

AngeliqueZ: I'm not an expert but I did get hand/foot syndrome last year. I got it with taxotere. It usually only occurs with the taxane drugs and I don't think it's very common. Both my hands and feet were affected. All the skin peeled off of both. My joints were affected in the fingers which called lots of pain. I used ice a lot to try to help with the pain. I eventually went to the ER and they gave me pain meds and cortisone to reduce the swelling. My MO was not very helpful but I was not referred to a dermatologist. Eventually, the peeling was over in a few weeks and the pain got better with time as well. Weirdly, I lost my finger prints and had to sign into my phone with the code for a while until the new skin came in. One good aftereffect is that now my skin on my feet are not rough and scaly-even without lotion. All the many years of old skin was gone and replaced. It's like a painful derma peel.

Good luck and hope that your friend does not get it.

I also had hand/foot syndrome from taxotere. A dermatologist can't really do anything to prevent or help this SE. You lose the top layer of skin and it peals off. You're a bit raw underneath until the skin matures much like under a blister. i tried to keep it well moisturized. Really annoying but not every one gets it. Side effects fall on a bell curve with some people getting few and the others the full gauntlet. Try not to worry too much over things you have have no control over and haven't happened yet.

My MO was not very helpful. I think I was using Udderly smooth or something like that on my hands and feet. As GraceB1 mentioned, it's like the raw skin under a blister after it peels off. I had one or two toes and one finger tip that didn't peels as well as the inner most part of my feet and hands. My only problem now is not hand/foot but neuropathy from the taxanes on both feet. It's a weird kind of burning/pain that I hope will go away or at least get better.