Skin Rash: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
In recent decades, skin conditions have become a health problem affecting more and more people around the world. Rash is one of the reactions of the skin, which manifests as localized redness and itching.
In our daily life we touch all kinds of objects and without realizing it we come into contact with multiple microbes which can sometimes lead to small eruptions. This reddish coloration of the skin that reacts to allergens is called a skin rash.
The skin is the first barrier of defense we have against external agents. It is therefore fundamental to pay attention to it and take care of it. In this article, we tell you about skin rash, its causes and treatment.
What is skin rash?
Redness that appears on the skin and which is usually accompanied by small lesions such as rashes or hives in specific areas is called rash . There are different triggers. Depending on the cause, the pain and the way it manifests, we are talking about two types of skin rash:
- By contact
- Seborrheic
Contact dermatitis
It is a skin condition that occurs when a person experiences an allergic reaction from exposure to a chemical or physical agent. Nowadays, any product that we include in our consumption has components that can produce skin alterations and damage. Here are a few examples:
- Soap
- Creams, cosmetics and perfumes
- Maintenance products
- Medicines
Seborrheic dermatitis
As revealed by a study in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology , this type of dermatitis affects between 1 and 3% of the healthy population. Hence, we can say that Seborrheic Dermatitis is a common and recurrent inflammatory disease.
People affected by this pathology have oily skin, pink to red in color, accompanied by yellowish peeling of the skin. On the other hand, the role of the sebaceous glands in this disorder is what contributes to its development.
Symptoms and causes
Usually, symptoms are characterized by the appearance of a rash and itching on the skin in a specific location on the body. There may also be pruritus, erythematous macules, papules, vesicles and localized blisters.
Nevertheless, seborrheic dermatitis manifests itself more particularly in the form of oily and yellowish skin affecting the lips, eyelids and eyebrows, the scalp and the chest.
The region of the disease, age, gender and genetic predisposition are the factors that make some people more susceptible than others to suffer from skin rash.
This pathology can be caused by several triggers. The most common are infections with microorganisms, reactions to allergenic or chemical substances in fabrics, cleaning products and cosmetics.
Contact dermatitis, on the other hand, results from damage to the skin caused by a chemical substance. However, the allergy occurs as a result of a hypersensitivity reaction that occurs 48 hours after exposure to the allergen. Among the products that cause this redness of the skin during contact dermatitis are corticosteroids, antihistamines, antibiotics and sunscreens.
On the other hand, seborrheic dermatitis seems to be caused more by fungi as well as a genetic predisposition. This is the case, for example, with the yeast Malassezia , a commensal fungus that produces metabolites that end up irritating the skin. It has also been shown that patients with other conditions, such as HIV, or who have received an organ transplant, are more likely to suffer from it.
Skin rash treatment
One of the most effective ways to prevent skin rash is to know the ingredients that are causing the allergy and then avoid contact with them. However, it is often difficult to decipher the nomenclature of chemical components on the label.
First of all, dermatologists and allergists must determine which components are most common in allergies as well as those most present in cosmetics and drugs. The diagnosis will thus be more direct and faster.
Finally, the type of skin rash manifests itself depending on the product, the micro-organism or the physical agent at the origin. Therefore, the treatment to be followed will depend mainly on the responsible agent.
