Rashes and welts

My husband works at the state park. He decided to rest on some grass now he has a very itchy rash and several welts on the upper part of his body what can we do?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like contact dermatitis. The mainstay of treatment is antihistamine which may be necessary for prolonged periods (in excess of 6 weeks).You can take non-sedating antihistamines such as Cetirizine(Zyrtec) or Loratadine(Claritin) may be needed to get symptom relief. Sedating antihistamines such as Chlorphenamine(Benadryl) can be used at night to get urticaria control. Short courses of oral cortisone or steroids are taken for short periods (one to three days) to settle more severe symptoms.
You may take Vitamin C along with the prescribed treatment. Vitamin C is a general anti-allergy supplement. It helps stabilize mast cells so they are less likely to release histamine.Also apply calamine lotion on the rashes.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional doubts.Kind regards.