Ringworm? Eczema? Allergy?

[OutOfControlRash]

Hello, I have had this itchy rash on my left forearm since about a week or 2 before Christmas, so its going on about 6 weeks or so that I have noticed it. The rash started as a small red mark no bigger than the size of a dime, by the time Christmas passed, it had blown up to be almost 3/4 the length of a dollar bill.

I went to a General Practitioner (since i don't have insurance) and she had supposedly diagnosed the problem as ringworm by looking at it, I finished my 2 weeks of an oral Terbinafine prescription, and during the last 2 days of the Terbinafine I started to get an itchy back, 2 sections of my lower back (on the right and left hand side) started to itch, I fought it and never scratched it and woke up today for the rash to be about 5x the size they were the previous evening.  

Coincidentally I also have an extremely itchy rash on my inner right thigh, it looks as though there is a tiny yellow scab in the center surrounded by redness and flaking skin.

Last night, the insides of both my armpits (predominantly my right one) started to itch really bad and are continuing to as well as the rest of these rash areas even as I type this.

I have tried topical anti-fungal ointments (Lamisil), as well as Miconazole spray a week prior, and did the full 4 week treatment as well as the full 2 week treatment orally for ringworm, and I am guessing by the looks of the rash on my arm being bigger now than it was before treatment that it was most likely not ringworm.  I am very worried as I am not sure if this is an allergic reaction to maybe my detergent, a staph infection, dry skin, or maybe even nummular eczema that i have read about online.

Please can someone help me to pinpoint what this could be? I am going to get some Benadryl tonight just in-case it might be allergies or hives in an early stage or something or even possibly an allergic reaction to the medicine.

Included are some pics (and some additionally here)

Lower Back Rashes - http://img684.imageshack.us/f/lowerbackrash.jpg/
Inner Thigh Rashes - http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3607/thighrash.jpg

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms and pictures, it does not look like ringworm. It can be urticaria or hives due to an allergic reaction. You can apply some calamine lotion at the rash as it will help in soothing the skin. You can take some OTC oral antihistamine medications like Benadryl or Claritin and also apply steroid cream on the rash. If still the symptoms do not improve then please get a clinical examination done by a dermatologist.
I hope it helps. Take care and regards.

[martikadragoon]

Unfortunately it's impossible to know exactly what you've got from the pictures of your back and thigh. to me they don't look like ringworm.. You should try posting this on our "Ask an Expert Forum" which you can find a link to stickied to the top of this forum.

You can take the benadryl to help with the itching just be careful not to drive or anything until you know how it'll affect you. When you itch your body releases histamines and benadryl is an antihistamine medication.  

To get a definite diagnoses it may take something like a small skin biopsy so they can test the cells.
Hopefully this helps,

Cindie
(Martikadragoon CL Dermatology)