rash

[jacob]

Hi doctor.  I have this weird rash and my six year old seems to have gotten it now too.  When I went to the Dr. he said it looked like contact derm. My sons dr. said he didn't have any idea what it was.  Now I am stumped and worried for I have two other little guys in my house and a wife.   However I don't think my son would have the same exact thing.  They look EXactly like scratch marks.  Sometimes they are a couple inches long and other times they are only little scratch dots.  Like I said before they look identical to a tiny or longer scratch.  They appear as either a red dot or a red line and then progress and scab over. Just as a scratch would. They go away then appear in a different part of the body. They do NOT itch.  Any ideas??  I have not used anything different.  I don't think this is scabies as I have read and been told by a dr. that they would certainly itch.

[JET for Jacob and Son]

Had you and your son been doing any yard work before the rash appeared. Sounds like when I had poison oak (THE FIRST TIME). I had cut the grass the 1st year and that's what the rash looked like on my legs and knees. The second year, not realizing how poison oak grows, I touched what I didn't realize was poison oak and my son yelled to go wash up. The 2 minutes it took me to run from the back yard to the shower I must have touched my face. The more often you get it the worse it is each time. The 2nd time I looked like Sly Stallone at the end of Rocky. I haven't been in my back yard for 3 years. I can't get anyone to cut the poison oak out; but I can get a lawn groomer to cut and trim the yard. Fishy wouldn't you say.

[raj]

i have red rash like sympton which deleops under my eyes and lower neck, the rash on my upper cheek bones get swollen like some one has hit my face, it is dry and itches , but try not to scratch it.

can you advise me what it can be,

i take claritin tablets one a day, will this really help.

[josephine rusig.]

My son has a rash on his but and his legs. This rash is red and blochie.
Is it possible that he had gotten this due to treating the carpet with (arm & hammer) carpet deodorizer??? He was sitting on the floor with shorts on prior to getting the rash, and What should I do if this persists?

[Ron]

To Jacob,

you sound like something that happened in my house...me, my wife and my 2 little girls all had little round red rashes that turned out to be ringworm!  We all gave it to each other, go see a dermatologist  he will give you something for it. in the meantime
if you get a lot of itching  we swear by CORTAID cream--it always
takes away the itching. and now our ringworms are gone,     good luck,

Ron

East Rutherford, NJ

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Jacob:

You are correct that scabies seems most unlikely, for many reasons.

Weird rashes like the one you describe are hard to pin down, but usually don't amount to much.  Sometimes the best diagnostic test is time.  My suggestion: wait 2 weeks, during which you should apply Aquaphot Healing Ointment (OTC) to you and your son on affected areas twice a day.  I bet it just goes away.  If it doesn't, or spreads to other people, let your doctors have another ganger at it.  But I think you won't have to.

best.

Dr. R