What Causes Skin Rashes
What are common causes for skin rashes?
What is 'urticaria' or 'hives'?
Urticaria is commonly known as hives. In 70% of people that get hives, we often cannot find a cause for hives. In 30%, we can often find a condition that is either in the blood, a result of a hormonal imbalance, a result of a medication or allergen, or another cause such as an infection or an internal disease can cause it. But hives often occur without any reason. Foods can cause them, and oftentimes they recur even though you treat them.
What is 'irritant contact dermatitis'?
Irritant contact dermatitis is simply something that touches the skin or is in contact with the skin that causes an inflammatory reaction in the skin, and causes itching, swelling, or any change in the way the skin looks normally.
What is 'psoriasis'?
Are there different types of psoriasis?
Is 'ringworm' a type of rash?
What is 'shingles' or 'herpes zoster'?
Shingles is also known as herpes zoster. It's a reactivation of chicken pox that you had as a child, also known as vericella. The chicken pox virus lives in the nerves of your spinal cord. It never goes away. Your body's own immune system suppresses the virus so it doesn't show disease. Later on in life, when your immune system is not acting normally, or is suppressed, when you're older, or if you have some kind of immune deficiency, or in a time of extreme stress, or for no reason at all, that virus is able to escape your immune system. It overcomes your immune system, and it manifests itself in an often painful, linear distributed rash that can be anywhere on your body, that again is self limited often, as soon as your immune system is able to control that viral infection
Can my doctor do anything about shingles?
What is 'impetigo'?
What is a 'plantar wart'?
A plantar wart is a viral infection of the bottom of the feet, that's why they're called "plantar." And oftentimes a patient can go years without even knowing they're there, and they're very common. Sometimes plantar warts can hurt and sometimes they grow, that's why people seek treatment. Treatment of plantar warts is very simple; sometimes it's just obstructive. We may cauterize a lesion, sometimes freeze a lesion, sometimes even duct tape can help by keeping the lesion moist, or even occluding the virus so it can't get oxygen. Nobody really knows how it works, but it does work. Sometimes plantar warts are very difficult to treat and no matter what we do we can't get rid of them. They're certainly not dangerous, but they can be disfiguring - they're cosmetically unacceptable and if they grow - are painful, it's a problem. When we have those kinds of warts we will use a more aggressive way of treating them. Sometimes by injecting them with a chemical that makes them go away, injecting them with a chemical that may make our immune system more likely to fight the virus. Sometimes we'll use a topical medication that's called an immune modulator, that will help the immune system better recognize the virus. And sometimes we'll use a laser even, to help shrink the blood vessels that feed the virus and attempt to get rid of that wart.
What is 'hand, foot and mouth disease'?
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral infection, often seen in children, where you get small pinpoint blisters in the inside of the mouth, called bachulmeecosa, on the palm aspect of the hands and on the palmer aspect of the feet. It is often a self-limited disease and dissolves on its own.
What is a 'viral skin rash'?
How is a herpes outbreak treated?
