Rash, fungus or nothing?

I am a fair-skinned, blond 21 year-old female.  When I was about 12 I discovered a large, darker-colored splotch on my stomach and hip (it looks like a birthmark, but my mother said I wasn't born with it.) It has grown with me through the years.  It is just as sensitive to the touch as the rest of my skin and there is no itching or anything unusual except the color. (I have had two children and although I did get stretch marks on the rest of my stomach and other hip, I didn't get a single one in the darker skin.)  A couple of years ago, I noticed a smaller splotch of the same nature on my leg.  I also have a dime-sized white spot on the underside of my wrist and on a couple of my nuckles that become accentuated in the summer.
  Could this be anything serious, or is it only cosmetic?  Is there something I could put on it to even out my skin color in those areas for appearance's sake?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

It sounds as though the first spot (on the stomach) is a cafe-au-lait spot, so called because it has the color of coffee with cream.  This is a birthmark, though it may first appear somewhat after birth.  It has no significance other than appearance.  No creams other tha cosmetic cover-ups make any difference.  Lasers can help remove them, but in your case this does not seem worht the effort.

I'm not sure what the other dark and light spots are, though they too don't sound serious.  You might want to invest in one visit to a skin doctor to get a definitive answer.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[jchorn32]

i woke up this morning with a bad itch.  it started on my head then when to my arms and then stumach and now my thighs.  there are little red bumps.  not many but there are a few on each arm a few on my stumach and a few on my thighs
what is it?  i have already had the chicken poxs