Sickle cell dactylitis is a painful swelling of the hands and/or feet. It can start suddenly and last about 1–2 weeks. The pain and swelling of dactylitis (dak-teh-LIE-tis) can come and go, but kids with sickle cell disease usually stop getting it by around age 3. Follow these instructions to care for your child at home.

• Let your child rest as needed.
• Be sure your child drinks plenty of liquids.
• Give your child all daily medicines as prescribed.

For pain:

• Massage the painful area or put a warm, damp cloth on it to ease the pain. Don't put ice packs on the area. They could make the pain worse.
• Your child can take a warm bath to help ease the pain.
• Follow your health care team's instructions for giving your child pain relievers. If your child was prescribed a pain medicine and still has pain, ask the health care team or pharmacist if it is OK to also give acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

Keep your child healthy:

• Dress your child warmly when going out in the cold.
• Go to all visits with your specialist as recommended. 
• Make sure your child is up to date on all vaccines to prevent infections, which can be very serious in kids with sickle cell disease.

Your child:

• gets swollen hands or feet again
• has pain that doesn't get better after taking pain medicines at home
• has a fever of 101°F (38.3°C) or higher and/or chills
• throws up a lot or has diarrhea
• has belly pain or swelling, especially on the left side of the belly
• has chest pain or a lot of coughing
• is not drinking well
• is pale or seems very tired
• has weakness in an arm or leg
• is very fussy, seems to have a headache, or seems dizzy
• is a boy and has a painful erection
• has jaundice (whites of the eyes or skin looks yellow)

You know your child best. If you feel they're not well or something is wrong, call your hematology team.

Your child:

• seems to have a problem seeing
• talks less clearly than normal
• has a seizure
• is hard to wake up
• is struggling to breathe

Tell emergency responders that your child has sickle cell disease.

What is dactylitis? Dactylitis is often the first type of pain that a child with sickle cell disease gets. It is a painful, temporary swelling of the hands, the feet, or both. 

Dactylitis is sometimes called hand–foot syndrome. It happens because sickle-shaped red blood cells don't move smoothly through blood vessels. They can stick together and clog the blood vessels inside the hands or feet.

How can I tell if my child has dactylitis? When blood vessels are clogged, the bones of the hands or feet sometimes don't get all the blood and oxygen they need. Blood also might build up in the veins. This leads to pain and swelling. A child's skin may look red. Some kids have a fever.

Can pain episodes like dactylitis be prevented? To help prevent pain episodes like dactylitis, make sure your child gets plenty of rest and drinks lots of liquids to avoid dehydration. Also, help them to not get too cold or too warm.