Bumps of clear liquid underneath your skin

When a repetitive action is performed, such as walking or playing with a tennis racket, rubbing occurs. Rubbing tears apart the two layers of skin, which allows clear fluid to enter the space between the upper layer of skin, known as the epidermis, and the bottom layer, the dermis. The fluid fills up tiny bumps on previously clear skin. To avoid this tearing action, it is important to wear socks with shoes, and to use lubricants like talculm powder when there’s a chance of forming blisters.

Of the diseases that are association with bumps of clear liquid under skin, dishydrosis is fairly common but undiagnosed. The clear bumps filled with liquid under your skin could also be chickenpox, herpes simplex or impetigo.

Dishydrosis is also called dishydrotic ezcema. It was thought to be a disease of excessive sweating, but the small bumps of clear liquid under formerly clear skin do not form in the same areas as sweat glands. Instead, a huge amount of bubbles of clear liquid appear underneath the skin of fingers, palms of the hand, and soles of feet. They are sometimes itchy and painful. The liquid eventually drains from the blisters back into the body, and the skin flakes off leaving a tender area of clear skin painful to touch.

The cause of dishydrosis is hard to pinpoint. It should be treated as an allergy, and it is not contagious. If you find out the allergen causing the bubbles of clear liquid to form, then it will be possible to have clear skin by avoiding the allergen. Causes of allergies include foods (milk, eggs, wheat, nuts, shellfish, fish, fruits, vegetables), metals (nickel is in foods too), and antimicrobials like bleach, sunlight, etc. Some dishyroditic ezcema is caused by fungi and other cases of these itchy blisters are stress-related.

In chickenpox, the bumps start out red, and then turn into clear bubbles with liquid under the skin. Then in a couple of days the blisters scab over. The clear fluid in the blisters is also highly contagious. Clear skin may never come back if scarring of the pox occurs.

Herpes is the common name for infection by the herpes simplex viruses type 1 and type 2. Type 1 infects the area around the mouth, whereas type 2 infections are in the genitals, perineum and upper legs. Herpes simplex can actually infect any organ of the body, not just clear skin. The bumps with clear liquid under the skin come and go. Before an eruption of blisters, pain and swelling occurs. If the erupted blisters are burst, the infection will spread. Herpes simplex infection is very contagious and there is no cure. The virus lives in the host’s cells and an eruption can occur whenever immunity dips, such as when you have a cold. The clear bubbles with liquid will eventually resolve into scabs, and the scabs turn into clear skin, and some herpes medicines hurry the process along.

Both herpes and chickenpox are caused by viruses. Impetigo, on other hand, is a bacterial infection of clear skin. The contagious form of impetigo is common among school age children and those blisters are filled with pus. The bullous form of impetigo appears like bubbles with clear liquid underneath the skin. These blisters form on the legs, trunk and arms of children under the age of two. They are usually painless, though they last a long time. Antibiotics are prescribed to treat the impetigo and restore clear skin.