What causes rashes to suddenly appear?

[SMtweet]

me and my family went out to a park and the same day when we returned one of my family members had red rashes under her eyes and they started to spread getting bigger.
the next day my face was covered in red rashes spreading across both cheeks around eyebrows, under and on eye-lids and around mouth and scalp line.
there were a few more family memebers that came with us on the day out but none of them have been affected by anything as such.
i was given some allergy tablets by a phamasist but the treatment seems to be working at a very slow speed and the amount of spots havent decreased.
i would like to know what the cause of this might be, and any ways to stop it from happening again.
could it be something in the park that caused this or could it be a food allergy?
if anyone can reply ASAP i am eternally grateful

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Without examination,confirmation of a diagnosis is tough but it can be due to hives.Hives (medically known as urticaria) are red,itchy,raised areas of skin that appear in varying shapes and sizes.

The mainstay of treatment of hives 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) to get symptom relief. Sedating antihistamines such as Chlorphenamine(Benadryl) is 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 and apply calamine lotion on the rashes.

If the hives don’t go after 6 wks of treatment also, then it can be a case of chronic urticaria which needs further evaluation as it may be due to auto antibodies.

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

[jagesh50]

Plant induced are known as phyto dermatitis,may be that you could have brushed against the plant,alternatively insect based reaction is quite possible.It will be very difficult to give a specific answer except that the rash being on the exposed part of the body  the above are possible allergens.