Lifelong red spots which grow and bleed

[sniff123]

Just a little curious as to a lifelong skin 'condition' I have.  From early teens (I am now late 30s, female) I have had increasing number of raised bright red spots all over my arms legs and body.  I have hundreds of them now.  Some are tiny, some are nearly a centimetre big.  Many times they grow, come open and bleed profusely.  The only place I don't have them, apart from one, is my face, thankfully.  They are largest on my upper arms and back, and seem to increase with time, so I am now covered with these raised red dots and spots.  Nobody else I know has them.  I just have to be careful not to scrape them as they bleed so easily.  Never asked a dermatologist about them, pointed them out to other doctors who mumble various different things like petechiae and some other terms, but my platelet levels are fine and I've had these all my life.  Am I unique?  Even more important, can I do anything to get rid of these?  They are not pretty and I wonder if people think I have some contagious rash when I go bare armed.

[sniff123]

Thanks for getting back to me.  Lesions are raised, a bit shiny, do not itch, contain blood but no pus and do occasionally pop and bleed and then scab over.  They are not painful.  Sometimes if one is very unsightly or bleeds fequently  I'll attempt to 'pop' it myself, which involves a lot of hard squeezing and lots of messy blood after.  This either makes it disappear or it grows back smaller.  Sunlight seems to make more of them come.  Googled 'images' and saw 'cherry nevus' but this is something typical of getting older, and I've had these since teens.  Doesn't look like images of psoriasis I saw on web.  I also have painful osteoarthritis in hips, knees, back and shoulder despite being young.  If this is psoriasis I know it is connected to arthritis as I had a friend with both conditions.  I also have endometriosis.  I was blood tested for rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus but results were normal.  I have often wondered if these spots were a sign of autoimmune problems.  They don't bother me apart from the appearance but my general health is not great and it would be I suppose more convenient to link all my problems to one condition.  If you still think this is the problem I may mention it to a doctor.  Otherwise thanks for trying and I will just have to live with not being perfect!  If you have any other ideas please let me know, at least you're trying to help and you haven't even seen me.  Gives me some faith in human nature.

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi,

One differential that I may think of is an atypical presentation of psoriasis.

How would you describe your lesions?

Are these flat or raised?

Are they shiny or scaly?

Are they itchy?

Do they contain fluid and eventually pop or drain?

Do they contain pus?

Are the lesions painful?

I shall be looking forward to your answers.