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

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This happened to me a month ago. I assumed it came from yellow gloves while gardening then and figured the stains would go away. They did. This time I touched nothing that could have stained my hands but sure enough the stains returned. This time they weren't there when I left the house but they were when I returned. All I can think from today is that it might be iron related. I have had a lot iron rich foods today. Broccoli beef iron in my cereal etc. But I often eat these things and don't get stains. Perhaps it's an overload of iron from various sources? But then I figure we're not the only people who intake too much iron so if that was it then science would know by now. My Dr also casually dismissed it saying I must have touched something rusty or a dye. As someone else mentioned it appears off the creaces so yes it does look like it's from grabbing something but I agree I feel it's internal.

No baby wipes.
Yes hand sanitizer.
Yes peppers but green not red.
Yes beef.
Yes imitation crab.
Yes Broccoli.
No handling produce.
No tanning oils or woods.
Mainly on my left hand tiny bit on right.
None on my feet.
36 yr old Caucasian female. I have noticed some other users seem to ve 30 something Females.
I have had blood work as recently as last year. No thyroid problems or diabetes.
Have experienced some numbness in my left toe and maybe plantar facitus. Something no one is talking about is weight. I'm 192 lbs. Making this comment cause I'm hoping if any medical study is ever done to be involved.

Like all of you there's no pain or problem I'm just curious why. It was much darker initially but after hours to a day it fades out like this then is eventually gone. This is my 2nd case in 6 months.

Cak65 do let us know what the lab and dr has to say. This could be the breakthrough we are looking for. Thanks for posting.

After contrast MRI in April, I found rust color on my hands and feet.
I never had covid. I am vaccinated with 2 Pfizer and last booster moderna..
I don't use wipes, no self tanner, no carrots, peppers. I don't handle fruits and veggies. I don't work nor around metals.
I had for 2 weeks, feet stayed rust spots but hands were on and off 3 times. Went to Dr but they were gone, showed pictures. She gave me lab work for when they come back. They are back on feet this morning and will go to lab tomorrow.
Seems these rust stains have been around online for 3 years now with no answers.

I’m not sure how to do that Bkd06. I started the thread and do keep an eye on postings and regularly update on what we have learned so far. Mine just appeared out of the blue and was not from an external source so my main interest was to find out exactly what causes the internal reaction. We’ve uncovered some interesting discoveries on the way but not entirely sure of the exact science.

I did say not to dismiss anyone that may have it actually from an internal source. At the same time people should be highly aware of their surroundings. So they do not mistake it for something else. That is my point and was the answer for me. I believe this group’s overall goal is to answer all possibilities. I read a great deal of the post. Didn’t see one yet. Maybe a pinned list of all things mentioned should be added to the top of this thread so that others coming into this group frantically searching can have a quick reference to all things considered here in this thread.

Llamedos13 that has already been suggested but some suffered bouts before Covid or the vaccine.

Sorry if it’s already been mentioned as I haven’t read all the comments but could it be a side effect of the covid vaccine?🤔

No! No! It is not from tanning lotion or oil for most of us on here. It is something internal not external. I for one do not use tanning lotions or oils.

Oh yea… not trying to dismiss anyone with this coming from foods.
Also tanning lotion and the oil in question are on two ends of the self tanning spectrum. The oil is far more potent.

Okay!!!! This may be solved for many of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for those that have experienced the iodine colored splotches since childhood. Not sure about that.
For the rest of us… I may have an answer.
Seems like a lot of men. A few women.
So I am a married man. Woke up with a spot on my foot a month ago. Wasn’t that worried until about 2 weeks ago another spot on my hand. Then 2 days ago my wife on her hand. Both of us freaking out and searching all over.
Okay, okay… I’ll tell you. For us. It is a self tanning oil. Takes about 3 or 4 hours to take affect. So once you touch it. You wouldn’t notice until…. Bam! The next morning! Seems like it is hurried inside of you. No amount of scrubbing gets it off. Just fades over time. That’s some good tanning oil. My legs are white as snow from pants all winter. My thinking about turning the brightness down like my wife does…lol
Now this is a couple weeks old so it doesn’t look as full as it did when I woke up that faithful morning.
This is the most people I have seen in a single group. Most of us are white. Seems like a great deal are with a significant other. And a bunch of us are dudes. So… super pointless long story short! Check with yourself (if female) to what you use and your habits with said potential self care items. For the dudes. This stuff is messy. Doesn’t really stand out on the counter. Wipe it down. Doesn’t turn iodine color unless on skin. I believe it is called tanology. Or something like that. Will update.
Hope this helps with the majority. Also a fairly new phenomenon, so is the oil a fairly new product. I believe it has only been around a few years. Will update.
Okay.
Maybe some of us like myself can stop freaking out. Much love to all

Whatthehechisyhis firstly do not panic. Most of us on here have experienced this but with no adverse effects apart from wondering what it is. I started this thread because like you I could find no info elsewhere. It affects hands and sometimes the soles of the feet as those parts are the most porous and likely to sweat and the stain comes out that way.The best we could work out is that it comes from consuming foods that contain carotene, not all of which will be obvious. It tends to appear overnight and disappear within a couple of days. Then it may come back a few weeks or months later. I think mine was first caused by eating raw red peppers in a salad. We are not sure if stress makes you more prone to it.

It is not something external so it won’t scrub or bleach off as you’ve probably found out. I haven’t worked out why you sometimes get it and sometimes not which is why I wondered if stress was a factor. It’s weird that’s for sure.

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Please help me! This happened to me 14 days ago, and it has happened a total of 3 times now. I am freaking. This is the only thread i can find online so i had ro sign up. Please tell me some od you found some answers? It also happened to my bf, only smaller stains. Wtf is this? First it was my hands, but now also my feet are stained.. Help!
My diet hasnt changed. We did eat alot of smoothies before this happened. But not in the last few weeks.

Thanks Charlotte. A lot of people think Carotene is only found in carrots but it is in so many other things. Laura pointed this out as well. Lycopene, a form of carotene, is found in red peppers, tomatoes etc. I can’t explain, however, why sometimes I’m affected and other times not.

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A couple months ago these stained patches first came up, I originally thought it was a tanning moisturiser, that I had applied badly, but did research anyway as I was curious.
Today: they appeared overnight and double the amount than last time. I am positive that diet is the key denominator. I am vegetarian and have been for 5+ years, however in the past week or so I have been eating double the amount of greens, veggies, plant grown foods. Skincare, alcohol, medication, pets, environment, isn’t key in this and from my research & reading on here it’s DIET - specifically having HIGH AMOUNTS OF CAROTENE which typically come from leafy greens and veggies etc. That is if, there are no underlying health conditions, but that seams to be the common answer!

First two photos at 12pm, past photo at 5pm so throughout the day it fades.

Thanks Laura. That’s very helpful.

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Hello everyone! I’ve signed up just to comment because I found this thread after experiencing the same thing!

I have woken up with these same rust coloured stains on my hands on two different occasions now. Both after eating small amounts of carrots & broccoli but the first one I had also eaten lettuce three days in a row. I had blood tests to check my thyroid (because hypothyroidism can affect your body processing beta-carotenes) but they came back clear. I saw my GP in person yesterday and he diagnosed me with Carotenemia. Harmless condition but also a complete mystery to why I’ve suddenly developed it now! I’m 40, female and from the UK.

This is the list of foods he gave me that contain it carotenes: (it’s a lot!)

“Fruits and vegetables rich in carotene include apple, orange, papaya, beans, peach, berries, pineapple, broccoli, brussels sprout, cabbage, pumpkin, carrot, spinach, squash, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and mango. Other sources include butter, cheese, egg yolk, meat, milk, nutrient supplement, and palm oil”

I’m going to keep a log of what triggers it most so I can avoid it if I don’t want stained hands for like a wedding or something! 😂

Hope this helps a lot of you!
Laura ◡̈

skeptist

I heard a whole lot of alien abduction like dreams accompanying these stains. Has any of you had any dreams the night before these stains appeared?

No. Rubbish.

I heard a whole lot of alien abduction like dreams accompanying these stains. Has any of you had any dreams the night before these stains appeared?

Well I think we have done that in a way, but not everyone matches completely. A few common things were it seems to appear over night, disappears after a few days, and is something internal as it cannot be removed. Stress can be a factor. Carotene appears to play a part but there is a very wide range of fruit and vegetables that contain it even some you maybe wouldn’t suspect such as lettuce. Age and sex don’t seem to enter in to it either. The biggest mystery seems to be why you can have it one week and then not again for several.

Someone should do a chart (not me, I'd mess it up) to see which foods people have eaten, what their work/pastimes are, alcohol or not, pets etc to see what matches up!
Also, plants around you that you may have touched - I thought of this after reading that @DrTippie said they were at college then home, so there could be certain plants at or near college that DrTippie could have touched!

I blimmin wish we had the answer, even though I have not had this occur to me.

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I'm so happy to read this thread. It has helped my research concerning my recent exposure to this. I work with fruits daily in a produce department and the best explanation I have found is that it is a clinical reaction to the exposure to fermenting fruit. It only shows up after some time after exposure. I am constantly scanning fruit barcodes with my right hand while holding them with my left before throwing them out. And I believe this is a result of handling some fermented pine berries. Could just be my opinion but I expect it to go away after a couple of days. It is definitely external exposure. The patches all look like dried liquid. Thank you to everyone on the feed for your input.

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Just here to add to the internet compiled research. 30/F/US
Woke up this morning with these rusty orange splotches on my hands. Thought it was dried blood because a few spots are close to minor cuts but was not in any clothing or bedding. Didn't come off after a hand wash or with makeup remover.
I read just about all 12 pages. Only thing I can think of is over the last few weeks I've been eating almost an entire bag of apples a week (with peanut butter) which I've never done before. I know they aren't high in beta carotene but maybe I've eaten too many?
Some factors to contribute to others -
I take a gummy multivitamin and additional vitamin C, but not consistently (usually a few times a week). I don't eat red meat or pork. Had Covid in 2020, never been vaccinated for it. Had a baby at the end of November but no complications.
Haven't done any cleaning in over 24 hours, haven't consumed any heavy beta carotene veggies/fruits. Ate cooked eggs 2 times over the last 3 days with breakfast... nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm not too concerned just more so weirded out by it.

DrTippie

Alright, so, new addition to the theories here.
So, I go to college in Iowa, and I started getting this every so often during the fall semester, but it eventually went away and I forgot about it. The semester ended, and I went back home, about two hours away, and it didn’t happen again. Now the spring semester has begun, so I’m now back at college. This is my third day back, and all of the sudden, the orange spots are back now. I didn’t have any spots appear when I was back home, but almost as soon as I got back to college, it came back again.
Just something to add to the lore I guess😅

Have you mentioned it to anyone else in college to see if they get it, or know anything about it?

Engi00 Interesting dermatologist dismissed it and your query about insulin resistance. That’s not been raised before. We need to research it.

No Maw it is not fake tan🤦‍♀️Please read previous 12 pages.

Fake tan?