Followup Question on Small Blood Specs in Skin

On 7/28 you gave me some advice on some small, individual blood specs on my arms (I still plan to show them to my doc on my next visit).  They are very small, don't "hemorrhage" as if leaking into the skin, don't itch, etc.  They basically look like slivers in my skin that are very, very thin.  However, I was curious how one could tell these apart from a condition known as petechiae.

I've read conflicting information about the symptom/sign of petechiae w/ leukemia and other blood disorders.  In some places I see that it's described as small pinpoint blood marks in the skin (which comes across as there are only a few located on an arm, a leg, etc), but many other times I see it referred to as a rash (i.e. numerous ones clumped together, thus presenting like a rash).

All the pictures I see on the internet show petechiae as VERY prominent on a person's body, legs, arms, etc. and basically unmistakable as bleeding into the skin.  To say it looks aweful is an understatement and the medical/university web sites I've researched don't show just small, individual spots - there are usually a bunch more.

A few questions:

(1) Is it "more common" for petechiae to present this way vs. just individual one or two specks that appear to be blood?  Other than cherry angiomas, what other "thing" could these slivers be?  Just looking for some examples as my wife also has these on her arms and they look identical to mine - I just have more of them.

(2) Also, is there a "more common" location for petechiae to present initially?  I've read that feet and legs are common places, but wasn't sure if this was truly the case.

(3) Have you ever seen/noted cherry angiomas on a person's hand?  I thought this was rare if ever noted, but wanted your professional opinion/experience as I do have on single red dot on my right hand that's smaller in size than the ball-point of a pen.

Any input is greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your time.  This is a great service and I'm glad it's here.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

You don't have petechiae.  If you did, they would be proliferating all over the place, since the cause would be too few platelets or some other serious internal disorder that you obviously don't have.  Please stop looking at the spots and at the internet--you'll just make yourself anxious about something common and trivial.  When you see your doctor, you'll know for sure.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff