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Archive for February, 2017

Maculopapular Rash

Feb 02 2017 Published by under Diseases and Conditions

What is Maculopapular Rash?

This is a skin condition that is characterized by the presence of both papules and macules on your skin which are:

Papules

This is a type skin lesion that are bumps that are one centimeter or smaller in diameter and depending on what caused them they can be brown, pink, red, or purple in color. They do not contain any fluid. They are also usually a symptom of a medical condition and not a medical condition. Heat rash is an example of a papule.

Macules

They are small circumscribed changes in the color of your skin that are neither depressed nor raised nor are they large in size. They are more like a little blemish in your skin and less than a half inch in diameter.

According to the EB Medicine Website, this is the most prevalent type of rash that is treated worldwide in an emergency room. This type of rash has been characterized as morbilliform” by medical experts because maculopapular rash makes a person look as if they have the measles. When a person has maculopapular rash it will usually appear on their face, soles of their feet, trunk, and palms of their hands but it can also appear on other parts of the body.

Maculopapular Rash Symptoms

Usually when a person has a maculopapular rash their skin is usually covered with many little bumps and red. Other symptoms depend on what the cause is.

Measles

In addition to the rash a person will usually have a high fever of one hundred four degrees Fahrenheit. The rash will normally develop a while after having the fever. The colors can change from red to brown before it eventually goes away.

Scarlet Fever

The rash associated with this medical condition will start one to two days after you have the fever and after three to four days it will fade away and the skin will start to peel away in the area affected.

Marburg hemorrhagic fever

The symptoms of this serious medical condition will develop rapidly. The maculopapular rash will develop approximately five days later and in a fourth of all the people who have this hemorrhagic fever will die.

A person may also have severe swelling of their lymph nodes and if it is caused by a severe allergic reaction you could also go into shock and die if not treated. Some may even experience itchiness, have skin that blisters and is painful and warm to the touch.

Maculopapular Rash Causes

Having both of these elements is an indication of a maculopapular rash that is often a part of an acute or serious condition. Some of these medical conditions that can cause a maculopapular rash can include:

  • Measles
  • Heat rash
  • Scarlet fever
  • Some hemorrhagic fevers like Marburg hemorrhagic fever or Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
  • Having an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, which is an antibiotic and is the main reason that a person will develop a maculopapular rash.
  • Medications that are used to ease pain, or treat cancer, or bolster immunity. Some of the medications can include dapsone, phenytoin, or sulfonamides.
  • Epstein-Barr virus
  • Chikungunya and Dengue – these are two viral diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes.
  • HIV – this appears in some patients with HIV because of the HIV-1 virus and is referred to as an HIV rash.

If the maculopapular rash is spaced randomly around your body it could be caused by many different medical conditions such as hoof-and-mouth disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or syphilis. It is also sometimes seen in people who are undergoing a blood transfusion.

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Maculopapular Rash Treatment

Before any type of treatment can be done the physician must determine what is causing you to have a maculopapular rash. If it is because of a serious allergic reaction the physician will narrow it down as to what caused the rash and either remove it from their diet if it is was caused by a food allergy or change their medication if the medicine you were on if that was the cause.

If there is itching along with the rash the treatment may prescribe an antihistamine or have you take an over-the-counter antihistamine. A physician may also prescribe anti-inflammatory medications and antibiotics. You should also make sure that you are drinking plenty of liquids to help flush out any microbial agents that could be causing the infection and to help make sure that you do not become dehydrated.

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Blisters on Hands

Feb 02 2017 Published by under General Health

What Causes blisters on hands?

Having blisters on your hands can be a problem for anyone of any age. Before discussing what can be the causes of blisters on hands it is important that you know what a blister is. This is basically an injured area of your skin that has a developed a bubble-like appearance because of fluid that has accumulated between the layers of your skin. Some of the common causes of having blisters on hands can include:

Dyshidrosis

This is a type of eczema, which is a skin condition, will frequently cause multiple blisters on hands that can cause pain and itch at the same time. When these blisters break open they can be prone to developing an infection.

Friction injuries

This is the most common cause and can occur because of any type of movement that is repetitive like sweeping the floors, shoveling snow, raking the leaves, etc.

Burns

This can come being in a fire, touching a hot object, etc.

Some uncommon causes of blisters on hands can include:

Hand-foot-mouth disease

When having this medical condition you can develop small blisters with red borders and white centers that are painful on the palms of your hands.

Pompholyx

This is a chronic skin condition that can cause itchy blisters on the palms of your hands and the sides of your fingers that are normally red and scaly. They also ooze fluid.

Blisters on Hands Treatment

What treatment should be used depends on what causes your blisters on hands. If you have certain medical condition like diabetes, you should let your physician check it out to make sure that there are no complications from the blisters. One thing that you should not do is pop a blister because that could cause an infection. When you pop a blister the lower layers of your skin are exposed to the elements having an infection most likely to develop. Popping a blister does not make it heal faster. If the blister does need to be popped it should be done by your physician under conditions that are sterile in order to prevent an infection from setting in.

The best treatment for blisters on hands it to leave them alone and do nothing and try to not put any pressure on the blisters while it is healing naturally. You should keep it wrapped to help protect the blisters on hands from accidentally being popped and if they are popped the bandage or gauze you have wrapped around it will help to prevent something from getting into the opened blister.

If the blisters on hands were caused by any of these you can treat them by:

Friction blisters

You should cover it with a piece of gauze or bandage and let it heal naturally

Dyshidrosis blisters

You should apply an antibiotic ointment to the open blisters and cover with gauze or bandage. This type of blister is hard to self-treat so you should contact a dermatologist to make an accurate diagnosis of whether it is or is not Dyshidrosis.

Blisters from burns

Gently wash the blisters on hands with hydrogen peroxide or sterilized water and pat the area dry with done. Make sure that you avoid rubbing the area. You should then cover it very loosely with a piece of sterile gauze or bandage so bacteria cannot enter the blister. Depending on the degree of the burn you may want to see your physician for further treatment.

Hand-foot-mouth disease

There is no specific treatment for these blisters and normally the infection that is causing these blisters of hands will resolve itself within a week or less.

Pompholyx

To help these blisters on hands heal you should use compresses that have been soaked in Burrow’s solution or potassium permanganate. You can also use topical steroids to help decrease the itching and inflammation. When you see your physician or dermatologist they may give you antibiotics or use light therapy on the blisters to help them heal and to help prevent infections.

If the blisters on hands have not healed within four days you should see your physician because sometimes blisters on hands can be an indication of other illnesses and diseases like chicken pox, eczema, herpes, etc.

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Pityriasis Lichenoides

Feb 02 2017 Published by under Diseases and Conditions

What is Pityriasis Lichenoides?

This is a rare skin condition that is divided into two different categories which are:

Acute Pityriasis Lichenoides

This form is usually found in children and is more severe. It has a sudden onset and is short-lived. This form is also known as Pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta (PLEVA)

Chronic Pityriasis Lichenoides

This is a longer-lasting form but is much milder. This form is also referred to as pityriasis lichenoides chronica (PLC). When a person has this form it can clear up in a weeks or can persist for many years with the lesions disappearing and then reappearing on a continual basis.

This rare skin condition will usually affect adolescents and young adults before the age of thirty. It is uncommon for infants and the elderly to have pityriasis lichenoides. It is also a skin condition that is more commonly found in males than females. You will normally see pityriasis lichenoides on your thighs, arms, and trunk but seldom on your feet, face, or head. It affects approximately one in two thousand people each year.

Pityriasis Lichenoides Symptoms

Some of the symptoms of pityriasis lichenoides can include:

  • A small papule that is first pink in color and will eventually turn reddish-brown in color
  • In some of these papules there will be clear fluid and if left alone they will break on their own
  • Along with the rash you may have a feeling having a mild case of the flu along with a headache and fever
  • When new spots appear they can be irritating

Chronic form of pityriasis lichenoides

It can show up as papules that are dome-shaped, reddened, and elevated lesions. In time they can enlarge, flatten out, and show a fine scale on the surface along with possibly a brown mark on your skin as it flattens out. If it does leave a brown mark it can take several months before they start to fade away.

Acute form of pityriasis lichenoides

It can show up as an eruption of bright red oval lesions that range from two to ten millimeters in diameter and can be slightly raised to flat. Eventually they will evolve into pustules and small blisters and then will ulcerate and crust over. This type can appear in groups or singularly. Typically the only symptoms will be mild burning or itching. The rash can come and go and last from one to eighteen months. Some people will even have skin discoloration and scarring.

Causes

The exact cause of pityriasis lichenoides is unknown but when the symptoms occur in children it is often because of a virus infection. The reason is that pityriasis lichenoides is probably a hypersensitivity reaction to the microorganisms that is the virus. The reason that it shows up as a rash on your skin is because your immune system has been affected.

Pityriasis Lichenoides Treatment

There are many different ways that you can treat pityriasis lichenoides but before treating it you should see your dermatologist or physician for an accurate diagnosis. Some of the treatments used can be over-the-counter or by prescription. When talking to your dermatologist or physician they will decide which treatment is best.

Some of the treatments in which you can use over-the-counter medications can include:

  • Antihistamines like Benadryl to help with the itching
  • Corticosteroid ointments and creams to help control the rash on your skin but you need to make sure that it is not causing more problems because your skin is sensitive in these areas where the rash is
  • Natural sunlight therapy may be effective sometimes

Some of the treatments that will require a prescription necessitating a visit to your dermatologist or physician can include:

  • Local applications of steroids
  • Photo therapy sessions which involves using Ultraviolet A therapy. Sometimes they will also use Ultraviolet-B therapy
  • If there are a few lesions present the dermatologist or physician may have to prescribe potent topical steroids
  • Prescription strength corticosteroid ointments and creams if the over-the-counter ones do not work
  • Prescription strength antihistamines like Zithromax or Methotrexate
  • Taking antibiotics like tetracycline or oral erythromycin.

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Stasis Dermatitis

Feb 01 2017 Published by under Diseases and Conditions

What is Stasis Dermatitis?

This is a chronic skin irritation that is commonly seen in your legs especially near your ankles and calves. It can also appear in your arms but is mostly in your lower extremities. It is also referred to as varicose eczema, venous stasis dermatitis, or gravitational dermatitis. Most cases of stasis dermatitis develop in people who are middle aged and older. In the United States alone, there are approximately fifteen to twenty million people over the age of fifty who have this medical condition. People younger than forty years of age develop stasis dermatitis. It is also appears that more females than males develop it.

Stasis Dermatitis Symptoms

When a person has stasis dermatitis their skin will usually darken and appear to have a reddish brown discoloration. Your skin can also take on a thin, papery look. Other symptoms that will usually occur with stasis dermatitis include:

  • Possible itching at the site that can be extreme
  • Skin cracking and ulcerating overtime causing open sores that can be painful and heal very slowly.
  • Edema that can cause the area to feel and appear swollen in one or both legs. If the swelling is severe it can even include your foot and travel up your leg to just underneath your knee.
  • Discomfort in the area or pain in the leg that is affected
  • The area of your skin that is affected can be inflamed looking
  • Having patches of skin that can be scaly, dry, or ooze
  • When your skin becomes infected it can have a crusting that is honey-colored
  • When you repeatedly rub and scratch the area your skin can thicken
  • On the tops of your feet and lower legs you may see lesions that are violet-colored.

Having stasis dermatitis can sometimes make it difficult to wear shoes and clothes that are snug-fitting. Because your skin in the area that is affected looks unappealing and can lead to a person suffering psychological distress.

Stasis Dermatitis Causes

This skin irritation will usually happen because of a result of poor circulation because the blood pools in your extremities instead of circulation through your body. When a person has poor circulation it is hard for the venous blood to return to your heart and it will start to pool in your extremities. The capillaries could break down and release red blood cells into this area and overtime the tissue there can become inflamed and cause stasis dermatitis to develop.

Two of the many reasons that a person can develop poor circulation, and can be fatal in each case if not treated, can include:

Congestive heart failure

Congestive heart failure which is a medical condition in which a person’s hearts function as a pump is not adequate enough to meet the needs of your body.

Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus which is a group of metabolic diseases in which you have high sugar. It is also referred to as simply diabetes.

The primary cause of having poor circulation is your advancing age. It can also be caused by having an injury, deep vein thrombosis, or surgery that causes damage to the veins in the lower part of your leg can also cause it. If a person has varicose veins, high blood pressure, blood clot, obesity, heart conditions, living a sedentary lifestyle or kidney failure are at more of a risk for developing stasis dermatitis.

Stasis Dermatitis Treatment

To treat stasis dermatitis it is a two-fold process. There is the need to find out what the underlying reason is to cause your poor circulation and the irritation that it causes. The poor circulation problem and cause may be taken care of by internists and cardiologist while the dermatologist will take care of the skin irritation. To help bring relief to the itching you can use topical steroid creams that can be gotten with a prescription or over-the-counter. To help push the fluid up the extremity that has been affected you can wear compression stockings, which can usually be found in the pharmacy department of a department store or by prescription. You will need to wear these compression stockings all day in order for them to be effective. Although they can be uncomfortable in hot weather you still need to wear them.

If you have ulcerations the dermatologist or physician can prescribe antibiotics because these ulcerations, or wounds, can contribute to cellulitis developing along with other infections. Some of these infections can become very serious if they are not taken care of immediately and properly. You can also treat stasis dermatitis by elevating your legs above your heart when sitting or laying down.

Even if the case of stasis dermatitis is resolved you still need to find out what is the cause for poor circulation as stasis dermatitis can come back if the underlying cause is not addressed and taken care of. Even if stasis dermatitis cannot be cured it should be monitored and managed to keep your general level of health as high as possible. When you are managing the underlying causes of poor circulation it can also help to improve your quality of life.

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Pemphigus Foliaceus

Feb 01 2017 Published by under Diseases and Conditions

What is Pemphigus Foliaceus?

This is a rare autoimmune disease that affects the top layer of your skin and mucous membranes although it is mainly confined to your skin. Anyone can develop this disease but it mainly affects people over the age of fifty. Many times when a person has autoimmune skin disorders it often happens in occurrence with other different autoimmune disease.

The top three autoimmune diseases a person normally has when pemphigus foliaceus often happens are:

Lupus erythematosus

This is a collection of autoimmune diseases in which your immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks your healthy normal tissues

Thyomama

This is a cancer of your thymus gland, which plays an important role in your immune system.

Myasthenia gravis

This is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease

Pemphigus foliaceus is the normally the benign form of pemphigus.

Pemphigus Foliaceus Symptoms

When a person has pemphigus foliaceus the first symptoms that they have are usually the development of blisters on their back and chest. The blisters will usually form when you rub your skin. The blisters are filled with fluid and because they form in the upper layers of your skin they can easily rupture. In time these blisters can spread to other parts of your body and develop into scaly, crusty sores as they begin to heal. They may also have a red, inflamed base and have a localized pain or burning sensation feeling. Most of the time people who have this skin disease are healthy but tend to have episodes of these skin blisters that can last for months, even years.

Pemphigus Foliaceus Causes

As mentioned, this is an autoimmune disease that is rare. Usually when your immune system is healthy it is sensitized only to proteins that are foreign to your body like viruses and bacteria. When your immune system becomes reactive to a protein that is produced by your body you develop autoimmune disease. When a person has pemphigus foliaceus this particular protein that your body becomes reactive to is desmoglein 1. It is a protein that is produced by the cells in your epidermis, which is the top layer of skin. There are also two other pemphigus diseases in which your body also becomes sensitized to other forms of desmoglein proteins.

It is a disease that is unpleasant to have and look at but it is not serious nor is it life threatening and the reason is that the protein that is responsible for this rare skin disorder is present only in certain cells on the top layer of your skin.

Diagnosis

In order for your dermatologist or physician to determine if what you have is pemphigus foliaceus a skin biopsy is generally required. This skin biopsy will show typical features of separated rounded-up keratinocytes, which are called acantholytic cells that are within the blisters in the upper layers of your skin if you have pemphigus foliaceus. They will use direct immunofluorescence staining on the sections of skin biopsy to reveal antibodies to confirm the autoimmune disease. There are some cases where the dermatologist or physician where they can have blood test run to detect circulating antibodies. This test is called an indirect immunofluorescence.

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Pemphigus Foliaceus Treatment

There are two ways that you can treat pemphigus foliaceus and that is by either suppressing your immune system or with medications. Once they are healed you can have spontaneous remission of pemphigus foliaceus occurring and can lead to the current skin lesions healing without new ones appearing on your skin. Even when you are in remission pemphigus foliaceus can reappear at any time.

You can treat the symptoms of pemphigus foliaceus by taking immune system suppressing medication like prescription corticosteroids. Generally when you are taking these medications it is only for a short period of time because if you use them long term they can have some negative side effects like an increased risk of developing cataracts and osteoporosis, which is a disease where your bones start to become weak. In addition to corticosteroid medications you can also use anti-malarial medications or topical antibiotic creams. Your physician could also prescribe a medication used to help the lesions heal and reduce skin inflammation and risks of infection called nicotinamide. Because sun exposure can trigger skin lesion development there are some people who have pemphigus foliaceus can benefit from a high level SPF UV protection.

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