painful rash

I am a 55 year old white female. When I was 20, a genital rash appeared suddenly (or so it seemed), sort of like hives (which I have had once in my life). It was smooth, bright red, with no blisters that I could see. It was so painful I could barely move for a week. The pain eventually subsided enough for me to walk, but the rash has never gone away. Besides pain, there is often itching and burning. There is also some whiteish scar tissue where the skin was/is infected. A biopsy performed in 1971 showed "inflamed skin", but nothing else. It flares up and down, and sometimes the pain is so bad I cannot walk even now, 35 years later. Of course, I have been to many doctors over the years, but they are all clueless. In a strange turn of events, this spring I woke up one morning with this same type of rash all over one side of my face, though the other side was unaffected. It was smooth, bright red, like sunburn, with burning and itching but no pain. It took about 5 weeks for it to go away. My doctor gave me a lot of tests but was/is clueless. I do get flare ups on my face, but they are very minor and do not last long - nothing like the five-week instance. Mild prescription hydro-cortisone cream keeps the swelling down in the genital area, but does nothing to "cure" the condition. Other than this skin problem I am very healthy, with no other ailments or diseases that I know of. So, what do I do now?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I am, of course, not sure.  Hives don't hurt.  I don't know what kinds of doctors you've seen, but if I had a condition like yours, I would go the fanciest medical center I could get to (Mayo Clinic/Mass General, or any major academic medical center.)  That will maximize your chances of finding a doctor who has some clue as to what you have, along with suggestions for testing or other froms of evaluation.  I must say for myself that your symptoms do not remind me of any disease I have ever seen or heard of.

I'm sorry I can't be of more specific help.

Dr. Rockoff

[HSNC]

Could anyone tell me why it asks me to pay before I ask a question and last night it didn't???

[jannov]

Dear,
I