Red Lasting Bump After Sun Exposure

[gander679]

Hello,

About four years ago I have become increasingly sensitive to the sun, that is, I burn more quickly with greater pain and redness.  The only thing that had changed for me was taking Propecia.

I noticed that behind my ear, after sun exposure I had a few hard red bumps which itched.  They got worse after the first day or so and the itching was somewhat subdued.  Interestingly, the bumps appeared to be in the exact spot I had recieved a realy bad sun burn two years earlier.  The bumps have been there now for 3 months, now they are quite subdued and seem the be fadding.  However, I believe that if they are rexposed, those exact bumps will re-flare up..

I also had similar bumps in two spots on my back.  Again after a really bad sun burn ...they however were the result of scarring from picking etc.  That said, they are still there after 4 months.  They itch somewhat and are hard (about 5mm in diameter).

What I am really concerned about is the extreme intolerance I have to the sun after about 30min of continual exposure, when in the past I could go the day being out in the sun (not tanning of course).

Any help would be appreciated.

[gander679]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond!  Your right examination would be best.  Its odd.  I have researched some of your suggestions and the bumps are not fully in line.  For example, they are smooth, and isolated, that is to say, it is not a general rashy like area but simply a few red bumps.  

The mentioned of keratocanthoma was closest in discribing the course of the problem, in that it disappears after 6-12 months and is unnoticable until perhaps repeat exposure.  This said, the individual spots/bumps have no scalely or acne/volcano appearance, but rather a hard dark misqitoe bite appearance which take a while to go away.

Bizzare.  Will let you know what comes of it.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Without examination,it is very difficult to say anything,but some possibilities for your symptoms are poikiloderma of cavette(a chronic, non-cancerous (benign) skin condition in fair-skinned adults, which is probably caused by long-term sun exposure),keratoacanthoma(a rapidly growing skin cancer usually appearing as a volcano-like bump on the sun-exposed skin of middle-aged and elderly individuals) or skin carcinoma.

I feel that an examination by a dermatologist will be the best.

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