Burning skin, vasodilation and anhydrosis

[tristan79]

For about 1.5 years, I've suffered from burning skin and extreme heat sensitivity. My skin burns when exposed to any sort of heat, or I do physical exertion. It is not limited to any particular area, but almost everywhere.

I am 28 and overweight, had asthma as a youth, but other than that have no medical problems. Blood tests have shown nothing abnormal.

I also seem to have anhydrosis - though I'm not positive, to my knowledge, I have not sweated for the year+ I've had the burning skin. I have tried exercising and aerobics to induce sweating, and while this causes my skin to burn and itch intensely, I have never felt or seen any sweat since before this condition started.

The only physically visible symptom I have is vasodilation. When I exercise for a few minutes or am exposed to heat, red dots appear over much of my body, especially on my forehead and hands/forearms. Usually the more my skin is burning, the more dots there are. A dermatologist who saw them told me this was vasodilation/vasodilatation.This derm was unconvinced the vasodilation was even related to my skin burning though, and said that it was nothing to worry about, which I found hard to believe.

I have tried a multitude of prescription drugs, including antihistamines and anti-allergens such as Zyrtec, Allegra, Atarax, as well as Olux-E foam and Benzoyl Peroxide cream. I have also tried heavy use of skin moisturizers the past couple months. No drug has been effective - the only thing that brings me relief is splashing water on my skin or using ice packs. This relief is only short term.

My guess was that somehow my sweat glands are sweating internally causing my skin to itch and burn, though two dermatologists I saw seemed very skeptical about this. The dermatologists didn't offer any guesses as to what my condition was either though, they said they hadn't heard of this before. They suggested it might be stress related, though I am self-employed and very likely the least stressed adult I know.

[dahlia985]

A related discussion, burning hot flashes/ no sweat was started.

[sohan]

kindly advise to regain sweating as I used to have 6 years back

[normag909]

Sounds similar to what my son has. He also does not sweat but instead gets the large pink spots that appear when exposed to heat or physical exertion also. They are accompanied by pain (pins and needles) he says it feels like hot oil splatters on his skin. In addition, though, his whole body is covered with a rash that has not gone away in 3 months. I am afraid for my son because my brother also had something like that and the doctors could not help him. They try to sweat but can't they just end up in pain from the burning skin. His doctors went as far as the Center for dissease control and could not tell him what it is...My son will see a specialist on Monday Jan 7th. I'll let you know if this one knows anything the others don't.

[brunop]

by the way most of dermatologist, prescrives oral antibiotics, and creams, that don´t work for anyone... search on rosacea foruns, what helps rosaceans.

[brunop]

could be rosacea

[tristan79]

Do you have any suggestions on what sort of specialist I could see next?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know either.  The symptoms and signs  you describe don't remind m of any diseases either, whether skin or systemic, nor can I think of a connection between these fleeting red spots and the burning.  If the doctors who have seen you in person can't say what you've got, I'm afraid I can't either.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

Dr. Rockoff

[tristan79]

I don't know what my next step should be as no doctor I've been to seems to know what the problem or cause might be, and no treatment so far has helped. Would appreciate any advice.