DEAR DR. GOTT: My friend who is 53 has swelling and pain in both of her hands – especially the first two fingers. One of the fingers swelled so bad her doctor referred to it as “sausage finger”. The skin actually split. She can hardly bend her fingers, she can’t hold any utensils. She has had blood tests for gout and Lyme disease which came back negative. One doctor gave her prednisone for 7 days which helped the swelling some but not the pain. This has been going on for about two months.

Do you have any ideas as to what this might be? No one here seems to be able to figure it out! Thank you for any information you can give us.

DEAR READER: There are several conditions that can cause severe swelling of the fingers such as tophaceous gout and the diseases associated with spondyloarthritis. [Read more...]