Overview
When you notice certain widespread eruptions in the form of skin lesions, it is termed as rashes. Appearance that is the texture, color and size of skin rashes vary greatly. Having such a variety in rashes, treatment methods also vary accordingly. Skin rashes may appear on the skin suddenly and the main reason for this skin condition can be given to bacteria, fungi, parasites or virus. Also, allergies caused by certain medicines can be the reason of emergence of skin rashes. Small reddish bumps or blisters may also pop up from the skin due to these reason. It is also considered as one of the type of skin rashes.
The skin rashes that you may find can be dry, moist, bumpy, smooth, cracked, or blistered; they can also be painful, itchy, and even seems to change its color. Rashes are the most common skin problem across the world and thus dozens of people get affected by it. Sometimes it needs a treatment, when it is related to some serious medical condition. Otherwise it disappears from the skin after few days on its own.
Now let’s discuss one by one the common types of skin rashes, its causes and treatment in the following paragraphs.
The Common causes of Skin rashes are:
Flea bites
This cause of skin rashes is usually found in clusters mainly on the lower body that is on leg and foot. It occurs when these tiny bugs bites an individual and it leads to itchiness and red bumps on the skin. The skin becomes sensitive to these tiny bugs and the symptoms seems to appear immediately.
Rosacea
This awful skin disease is a chronic and persistent skin condition that goes through the repeated rounds of fading and relapsing. The skin becomes dry and gets filled with red rashes. Stress, sun exposure, extreme temperatures, some peculiar foods or drinks and certain medicines may also trigger this disease and cause skin rashes.
Impetigo
Impetigo is a communicable disease of skin that particularly leads to the emergence of reddish sores and blisters. It primarily happens when the person becomes an easy prey of bacteria known as Staphylococcus aureus. Children aged between 2-5 years are more susceptible to such type of infections than adults. It is easily spreadable from the person who is having these skin rashes to the other normal person.
Contact dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is considered as one of the common cause of skin rashes and it occurs when the skin is reacted by some allergic substances. The skin may become red, itchy and inflamed, and the rash borders are visible clearly on the skin. The blisters that appear because of it is weepy, oozy and crusty. These skin rashes appear on the skin when certain dyes in clothes, chemicals and beauty products react with the skin. Also when your skin comes in contact with poisonous plants like sumac, poison ivy etc., it may cause skin rashes.
Fifth disease
These skin rashes are bright red in color and most commonly seen in children or pregnant women due to their weakened immune system as compared to adults. “Slapped cheek disease’ is also the another name of fifth disease. The other symptoms of this disease includes fatigue, low fever, headache, sore throat, runny nose and many more. The skin rashes can be found on cheeks, arms, legs and trunk of the body.
Hand, foot and mouth disease
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a most common skin problem that usually affects the small children who are especially below the age of five. It leads to development of irritating red blisters on the skin as well as mouth. It may also spread to your gums and tongue. You can also see the red spots that may be flat or rose on the palms and soles of your body.
Ringworm
It is a disease of skin that generally causes red patches on affected areas of the skin. These patches are circular in shape and most of the time looks scaly with slightly raised borders around it. In these ring shaped skin rashes, inner skin seems to be healthy and clear and outer edges may spread outwards. You may feel slightly itchy while dealing with these skin rashes. Moreover the skin becomes dry and cracked.
Eczema
Eczema is a skin condition in which the patches of skin become red, itchy, inflamed, cracked, and dry. These patches are sometimes yellow and white in color and are easily flake able. Blisters may also accompany it. Eczema can be experienced by any one whether it is child or adult.
Seborrheic eczema
It causes red, itchy and scaly rashes especially on hair scalp, near eyelids and eye brows, besides the nose and behind the ears. It is one of the special type of eczema only that affects the areas around the hair.
Chicken pox
Chicken pox is a serious communicable skin problem that is caused particularly by a virus named as varicella- zoster. When you are suffering from this skin disease, your entire skin gets filled with bunch of red, itchy and pus- filled blisters that are often irresistible and painful.
Hay fever
Hay fever also known as allergic rhinitis is a fever that might cause rashes similar to hives to appear on your skin. As the name suggests it occurs due to an allergic response to pollens. Runny nose, watery eyes and persistent sneezing are some of the key symptoms of this type of fever. The itchy red patches appears on the skin as a result of hay fever.
Diaper rash
Diaper rash is one of the regular type of skin rash experienced by small tiny tots who uses these diapers. The baby’s bottom skin becomes slightly inflamed and red. It is very annoying and painful condition for babies and is often caused when the wet diapers are not changed from time to time. As you all know that the baby skin is quite sensitive and wet diaper is hard for his skin that’s why he is more prone to such type of rashes.
Cellulitis
Cellulitis is one of the painful and bacterial skin disorder that leads to red and swollen areas on the skin that might also feel hot and vulnerable to touch. The redness and swelling may also escalate quickly to the surrounding areas of infection. The rashes caused by this disorder can emerge in any part of the body but it is most commonly seen in the lower parts of the body.
Scabies
Scabies tends to develop in your skin when the little mites make burrows into the upper layer of skin and lay their eggs inside such burrows to multiply themselves and causes skin rashes. If you are in prolonged direct contact with the infected person, you might also have this skin problem.
Tick bite
Tick bites are usually considered as non- dangerous. However, the diseases associated with tick bites such as southern tick- associated rash illness, ehrlichiosis, lyme disease, Rocky mountain spotted fever leads to the appearance of rashes on the skin. The rashes in lyme and southern tick –associated rash illness are identical that are red and looks like bulls eye. In other diseases, rashes varies largely in size and shape from one person to other.
Erythematosus
Immunity system disorders often causes the skin rashes to appear and systemic lupus erythematosus is one such auto-immune skin disorder that is deemed to affect the overall body of the individual. The rashes that appear like butterfly in shape are most common under it. The condition of rashes may become worse if they are exposed to sun for some time.
Psoriasis
In this skin disorder, you particularly notice the silvery, scaly and well defined patches of skin rashes. It is commonly found on elbows, knees, lower back or scalp of our hair. It may be painful or appears to be itchy. It occurs as a result of rapid increase in skin cells and these cells form the thick patches.
Shingles
Shingles, the painful and itchy skin rashes that may be accompanied with slight burning and tingling sensations in your skin is caused by a specific chicken pox virus namely varicella- zoster. It makes you uncomfortable for some days as the skin rashes form in clusters in specified body area.
Drug allergy
Certain drugs like morphine, Aspirin, some chemotherapy drugs and the dyes used in some X-rays might also cause skin rashes to pop out from your skin. It may be the result of over dosage of those drugs or any possible side effect or allergy to the given patient. This happens as our immune system fights with these drugs by mistake thinking them to be dangerous radicals who are meant to attack our body and this may lead to possible skin rashes and other skin problems.
Kawasaki disease
Kawasaki’s disease is an uncommon syndrome that generally affects the children. It is featured by a swelling of the walls of the blood arteries in the entire body. The key Symptoms includes rashes on legs, arms, soles of the feet and palms of the hand and also between the genitals and anus. The lips also become dry, swollen and chapped. Sometimes, you may also feel to peel your own skin.
Measles
Measles is an infection that is particularly the result of coming in contact with a virus but as if now it is treatable using the vaccination in childhood. It also leads to the appearance of red skin rashes. Symptoms such as fever, red, watery eyes, loss of appetite, cough, sore throat and runny nose etc. may follow it.
Scarlet fever
In this bodily disease the red rashes that might take form of little bumps appears all over the body and it usually occurs after a strep throat infection.
Treatment and home Remedies
As you all know that skin rashes come in different forms and also the reasons for the appearance of such rashes is uncommon. That’s why preventing and treating them is not a cup of tea for all of us.
However, following are the common measures that can speed up the recovery process and help you to ease out all the discomforts:
- Mild soap should be more preferable as compared to scented ones as scented soaps harm our skin the most. They are filled with life threatening chemicals and artificial fragrances.
- One should opt for warm water while washing and not the hot water.
- Let the rash also breathe in fresh air. Do not touch and cover it with a Band-Aid or bandage or some cotton.
- Do not over touch the rash and try to pop out its liquid.
- Moisturizers and creams used to treat the dry rashes should also be unscented one.
- Any cosmetics or lotions that appear to cause the rash should not be used. The newly purchased items that are tried for the first time should also be first tested on your skin.
- Do not scratch the rashes so that there is low risk of infection.
- Cortisone creams that are known to ease out the itching may be purchased.
- Calamine can also aid in reducing some types of skin rashes. If the rash is also causing a mild pain, over the counter medicines such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen may be taken but remember these are not long-lasting solutions. This will not help you in treating the real cause of rashes.
It is necessary and recommended to seek doctor’s advice before taking any of the above medication.
Conclusion
Skin rashes might appear to you as simple discolored skin patches but in real terms they are not as simple as it seems to be. They need to be carefully analyzed, diagnosed and treated by a dermatologist or specialized person as it might be the symptom of certain big medical illness. In the above paragraphs we have discussed certain symptoms of skin problems that you might experience in addition to skin rashes. Read them carefully so that you can self – examine the type of your rash and act accordingly.
