Rash on Lower Leg

I have this rash on the inside of the shin part of my leg.  It comes and goes and has plagued me for the last 8 years or so years.  The I am not sure if it is eczema or psorasis or something else.  The one thing about it is that it iches like no other itch.  I mean I occasionally give in and scratch the heck out of it and then of course it gets a little worse.  I have tried Hydrocortizone cream, calomine lotion, and other itch stopping creams and powders.  The Calomine dries it out but man does it itch after that.  The hydrocortizone cream sooths it a little but still does not completely stop the itch.  I think when I really scratch it and it breaks the skin it is causing sn infection and just compounding the trouble.  Eventually I have enough will power to not itch it and over time as it heals the itching goes away.  If I am smart I don't scratch it again and then there isn't a problem.  One thing I have found that helps releive the itch without me actually scratching is hot water on the area.  The hot on the affected area gives me the sensation of it actually be itched without scratching and damaging the skin.  the hotter the better, of course I do not want to burn or scald the skin.  Is there a common name for this and is there something I can take for it????

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Tony:

It's called lichen simplex chronicus, and it's a form of eczema.  Go to the drugstore and ask for a bottle of pramoxine, an anesthetic which will numb the skin better than hot water.  Next, see a physician for a prescription-strength cortisone, which will knock the rash out quick.  When it comes back, treat it again.

Good luck.

Dr. Rockoff

[Cherie Pipia]

This rash is something that just appears, some of the rash is

[nervousnell]

A related discussion, itching and blisters was started.