Any skin condition involving your hands can significantly affect your daily life. Itchy hands can make it difficult to work, sleep, focus, or enjoy yourself. Everyday actions, like hand-washing or using cleaning products, can make the problem worse.

If you've been diagnosed with eczema, you might assume that it’s the cause of any skin irritation you experience. However, a hand fungus called tinea manuum (ringworm of the hand) can look and feel similar to some types of eczema. Despite their comparable symptoms, these two conditions have important differences. This article will help you distinguish between hand eczema and hand fungus so that you can better understand each condition and get the appropriate treatment.

What Are Eczema and Hand Fungus?

Eczema on your hands, or hand dermatitis, is one of the most common eczema types. Eczema compromises your skin’s protective barrier, making it harder for the skin to retain moisture and resist infections. A weakened skin barrier leaves your skin more vulnerable to irritants, allergens, and environmental factors.

Hand Eczema

Hand eczema primarily affects the palms but can appear on other parts of your hands too. When hand eczema is severe, symptoms like pain and blistering can make daily tasks challenging. One MyEczemaTeam member shared, “It is so hard when you have to use your hands for everything. It is even hard to type.”

Hand Fungus

Similar to hand eczema, hand fungus commonly appears on the palms, the backs of the hands, and between the fingers. Unlike eczema, tinea manuum is a fungal infection affecting the skin’s outer layer rather than an immune reaction involving the skin barrier. Fungi, such as those responsible for tinea manuum, thrive in warmth and humidity. Another key difference is that hand fungus is contagious, whereas hand eczema is not.

Hand fungus is a type of ringworm closely linked to athlete’s foot, another common fungal infection. Scratching your feet can transfer the infection to your hands, leading to tinea manuum.

How Do Symptoms of Eczema and Hand Fungus Compare?

Hand eczema and hand fungus share some symptoms, including itching, dryness, and thickened skin. However, there are key differences in the conditions’ patterns and appearance.

Hand Eczema Symptoms

Eczema on the hands tends to cause itchy, dry skin that cracks easily and may look scaly. Over time, the skin can thicken, blister, and become discolored.

Discoid Eczema

Discoid or nummular eczema often appears on the hands, and it’s characterized by round lesions that are easily mistaken for ringworm. One MyEczemaTeam member described their misdiagnosis: “Found out yesterday my nummular eczema was misdiagnosed. A skin scrape test was positive for ringworm.”

Hand Fungus Symptoms

Tinea manuum causes itchy, discolored patches. As a form of ringworm, tinea manuum often produces round lesions with raised, scaly borders. The infection can make the skin swell, thicken, and crack, and it may spread to your fingernails.

What Are the Causes, Triggers, and Risk Factors for Eczema and Hand Fungus?

Both hand eczema and hand fungus can be triggered or worsened by moisture, but beyond that, their causes differ quite a bit.

Eczema Causes

Hand eczema isn’t contagious — you can’t catch it from another person or a shared item. The condition is triggered when your overly sensitive immune system reacts to irritants in your environment. This immune response triggers inflammation, leading to eczema symptoms.

Genetics also play a role. If you have family members with eczema, asthma, or allergies, you’re more likely to develop hand eczema, often starting in childhood.

Hand Eczema Triggers

Certain triggers can make hand eczema symptoms flare up. These triggers can be items you touch, environmental factors, or specific activities involving your hands.

Common hand eczema triggers include:

• Excessive hand-washing or hand wetness
• Contact with cleaning agents or detergents
• Allergens such as latex
• Certain metals such as nickel
• Dust
• Stress

Hand Fungus Causes

You develop hand fungus after touching or coming in contact with infection-causing fungi. These fungi thrive in warmth and humidity, common in tropical climates, as well as in public locker rooms or showers. The fungi can survive on surfaces for a long time.

Hand Fungus Risk Factors

Unlike eczema, tinea manuum doesn’t flare up due to triggers. Instead, the infection is picked up from another person, an animal, or an infected object. The following risk factors increase the risk of hand fungus:

• Living in or traveling to a hot, humid climate
• Sharing personal items like towels or clothing
• Having hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating)
• Using public pools, showers, and locker rooms
• Doing work that requires close contact with others

All these circumstances can set the stage for tinea manuum. Additionally, having eczema raises the risk of tinea manuum and other skin infections because fungi can more easily penetrate a weakened skin barrier and cause infection.

Can You Have Hand Fungus and Hand Eczema at the Same Time?

It’s possible to have both hand eczema and hand fungus because eczema makes your skin more vulnerable to infections. Although frequent hand-washing can help prevent hand fungus, sudsing up too often could compromise your protective skin barrier. This creates a challenging cycle — hand-washing helps reduce fungal infections but can also worsen eczema.

The increased focus on hand-washing during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in hand eczema. It’s easier for infections, including hand fungus, to take hold when the skin barrier is impaired.

How Are Eczema and Hand Fungus Treated?

Both eczema and hand fungus are treatable, but they call for different approaches. Talk to your health care provider if you develop any kind of hand irritation or rash. Your dermatologist (a doctor who specializes in skin conditions) can assess your symptoms, provide an accurate diagnosis, and recommend the most effective treatment plan.

Preventing Hand Eczema

The No. 1 way to manage hand eczema is to identify and avoid your triggers. You can take steps to prevent a hand eczema flare-up by:

• Wearing protective gloves when handling irritants
• Including moisturizer in a skin care routine for your hands
• Using lukewarm water, not hot, when washing up
• Removing rings when working with chemicals
• Avoiding hand-washing dishes and clothing
• Applying petroleum jelly to your hands overnight between flare-ups

Treating Hand Eczema

Treatment for hand eczema might involve over-the-counter (OTC) creams and ointments or prescription medications. Your health care provider might recommend medications such as topical drugs, biologics, or oral therapies to manage symptoms. It’s important to follow your provider’s instructions to get the best results.

Emollients, or medical-grade moisturizers, can strengthen your skin’s barrier and prevent hand eczema flare-ups. OTC and prescription emollients help hydrate your skin while blocking irritants.

Your health care provider might recommend phototherapy, or light therapy, to treat persistent hand eczema. Phototherapy uses ultraviolet light to reduce eczema itching and inflammation in adults and children.

Preventing Hand Fungus

Fungal infections on the hands aren’t always preventable, but you can take steps to avoid catching or spreading them. Reduce your risk of tinea manuum by:

• Washing your hands frequently and drying them thoroughly
• Never sharing personal items such as towels or bedding
• Treating athlete’s foot right away if it occurs

Treating Hand Fungus

OTC or prescription antifungal medications can treat tinea manuum on the hands. OTC antifungal products like miconazole and clotrimazole are typically applied to the affected area once or twice daily for up to six weeks.

If OTC treatments don’t work or you have a weakened immune system, your health care provider might prescribe oral antifungal medications like terbinafine and itraconazole. It’s essential to complete the full course of treatment as your health care provider directs or the medication’s label instructs. Since hand fungus is contagious, take precautions to avoid spreading the infection to others while you’re being treated.

Talk With Others Who Understand

MyEczemaTeam is the social network for people with eczema and their loved ones. On MyEczemaTeam, more than 53,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with eczema.

Are you living with eczema on your hands? Have you ever had a hand fungus that you thought was eczema? Share your experience in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.