What are these orange stains that have appeared on my hands overnight?

Hi x I’ve not used a purple dye or shampoo xxx I’m really confused as the marks have now gone. Just have to see if they come back again x happened a few times over last few months xx

I’ve woken up with these weird stains too - exactly the same as the above pics. The only thing I can think of is I’ve bought a purple shampoo for my blond hair. Could this cause it?

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Hi everyone x
These are my hands this morning. It has happened to me a lot over last few months.
They look like I’ve self tanned but I haven’t. They smell like I’ve self tanned. When I’m asleep and wake up I can smell a really sweet smell on my skin also. Do you think it may be connected? I don’t eat lots of carrots, peppers etc x I’m really stuck as to what it could be.

Hope you all have a great day x

I wanted to add to this thread because I can’t seem to find an answer to this issue for myself. I had these rust-like spots appear on the bottom of my foot. I had stepped on something in my driveway and thought maybe it was related to that, but apparently, blood doesn’t break down that way. No clue what’s causing the issue.

Yes, cantaloupe is high in carotene. But the symptoms of carotenemia were uniform, deep discoloration with no obvious borders, which was not in my case. Pathological skin discoloration appears unlikely to have superficial clearable pigmentation. Considering the stained area on my hands: the thumb and palm are clean, and the remaining four fingers and the upper half of the palm are stained, I am more convinced that it has something to do with touch, even indirectly.

zz602157 Cantaloupe melon is full of carotenes, even more than apricots so do not be too sure it is not caroteneemia rather than something you touched. If it is no amount of scrubbing or chemicals will remove it from your skin. It will disappear all by itself in a few days.

same experience
Woke up in the morning to find rust-like stains on my palms.
I did a liver function test, I asked my doctor, and I suspected jaundice, Gilbert's syndrome, lycopeneemia, caroteneemia, riboflavinemia.
Combining what I have found and the content of this post, I am more inclined to be caused by my hands touching something containing special substances. I never walk barefoot on the ground, and it seems that my feet are indeed fine. I ate a cantaloupe before going to bed last night and it had some pits on the skin and was underripe, so I threw it away after a few bites. The location of the patches on my hands matched the areas where I had contact with the cantaloupe skin, maybe plant sap, maybe bug secretions. Obviously this chemical is insoluble in water and does not react with alkaline substances, so it is difficult to wash off.
The things you have touched may be different, but they should all contain similar chemical compositions.
This is the interpretation I prefer, and it may be wrong.
Sincerely hope you can finally figure this out completely.

I have the answer, it is so obvious

YOU ARE ALL ALIENS

Do let us know what your GP has to say Southlondongirl if you visit them. It’s really weird. In most cases it does seem to happen over night and goes away all by itself after a few days.

Hi found this discussion while googling for rust marks on hands and feet. Like others I woke this morning to find all the nails on my left hand with rust marks around the cuticles and under the nails plus some rust patches on my palm and one on my wrist. Right hand (my dominant hand if that makes a diff had just one mark on the palm and rust between my 2nd and 3rd fingers. Scrubbed like make with soap and water and got most but not all off. Then as I went to have a shower noticed the bottom of my right foot only covered in it (see pic) Looks like I stepped in something but I haven’t. Doing a mass of googling and will probably contact GP on Mon. The rust stain doesn’t rub off on anything. I’ll report back if I find anything - there seem to be a number not possible reasons listed on this thread. Just saying I’ve not been eating a lot of food that may cause this (to my knowledge…). Thanks

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The pic of the sole of your foot looks exactly like mine. I had this discoloration appear out of nowhere on both of my feet. Looks like iodine staining. Did you ever get an answer to what it is?

Thanks for posting EvaV and for reading all the posts. I do notice one factor in common seems to be that it occurs overnight. You go to bed ok and wake up with it in the morning. Your metabolism slows overnight but then why should it be that particular night when everything else seems the same? What is different is the question?

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I also woke up like this today with something that looks like rusty coloured stains from iodine on two of my fingers. I initially tried washing/scrubbing them off but with no result and then started googling and found this forum. I have read all the comments. I haven't eaten any of the things mentioned, I am sure I haven't touched anything, I haven't used incense sticks/oils/sandalwood/wipes/vitamins/elderberry/self tan/medication/benzoyl peroxide and I don't have any pain or itch. I have also ruled out carotenosis/lycopenemia/Tinea nigra/Addison's disease and I don't have hypothyroidism or stress. It is a mystery to me and I would really like to know what it is because I like mysteries and I believe there is a reason and we just haven't found it yet. I think most of us have the same thing (there are a few people here who might not and some who found the cause for their "stains") so if anyone does eventually find out what this is please tell us. I am female/36/no known illness. The only other thing symptom wise I can think of is that during the previous months I wake up with numb hands. But I do not think this is related. I have attached photos which aren't the best in the world but so you have an image..

Thanks Avalon, I read that as well but I was very bad last night and had a McDonalds for dinner and a late breakfast of boiled eggs and toast but still hoping it’s that. I had carrots with my dinner on Thursday night so maybe that.

Ugly hands hypothyroid issues can affect the way carotene is absorbed in the blood so in your case this could be a factor rather than only dietary causes. There does seem to be more on the medical internet but most still do not explain orange stains on the hands and feet that seem to occur almost randomly. I have found it mostly happens overnight so could be related to digesting an evening meal rich in carotenes which are in leafy greens as well as orange substances.

I would also like to point out these stains are not immediately apparent, and take about half an hour to show up. Which is rather pertinent information I forgot to mention.

I will now eject myself from this forum, and I really do hope you guys find answers. Good luck.

Woke up to rusty looking stains on my hands. Searching the internet and found this thread so thought I’d sign up and join in. I haven’t eaten carrots, peppers, held or burnt any incense sticks or used baby or face wipes. I do have hypothyroid issues if anyone does? I don’t take vitamin or iron tablets either.

So, I would first like to apologize for not fully reading every post. I had read quite a few replies, but at random and I managed to simply miss the stains on feet, and when you had said it was on your feet I was a little too dismissive.

I will now bring my discussion as a potential solution to any of you who have had exposure to any form of incense or sawdust punks, and anyone else can simply dismiss what I am saying as it won't pertain to you.

I decided to stop by my brother's house, and checked his son's hands, as I had given him fireworks a few days ago and sure enough, he had the same stains I just recreated.

So, in conclusion, I may have a solution for SOME of you, but now that I've actually read the thread, it's clear these may be two entirely unrelated but incredibly similar occurrences.

If you've had exposure to incense or anything similar in composition, this is likely the culprit.

Again, sorry for not doing due diligence and just reading before contributing to the discussion.

Not punks. It is internal not external and is excreted with sweat from hands and feet the two most common places.

Explain feet then. Half of the people here had it on their legs. You have just proven that this stains hands. I could have done that with brown paint and confidently claim the same.

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The stand was out of punks, so I went to the next town over and picked one up. I held it, lit, between my thumb and index finger and now both have square stains just like your pictures. I can't say all of you are dealing with this exact substance, but I imagine at least a good chunk of you are dealing with the same thing

Also, I'd like to add that this happens on my feet, which isn't something you use for fireworks. And I've seen a lot of lower extremities stains here. I went to sleep clean and covered, and stains were there in the morning under my pajamas.

Sorry, I haven't touched any punk or incense in 20 years. This has happenes even when I didn't leave the house at all, having my regular routine. I don't think this is it.

In fact, I'm gonna prove this to you. There's a fireworks stand right down the road from me. I'm gonna go buy some firecrackers so they give me a punk, I will hold it while lit for a few minutes and show you the stain.

A punk is really any slow smouldering wooden twig or stick, however in the modern commercial sense, punks are practically the same as incense, but made of sawdust, they're given our alongside fireworks, and this is why I am so familiar with these stains, as they're abundant this time of year. Firework punks are the usual culprit around the 4th of July.