Video:Common Causes of Rashes

Transcript:Common Causes of Rashes

Hi I'm Doctor Howard Goldberg from the Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Laser Center in Swampscott, Massachusetts. Today for About.com I'm going to explain common causes of rashes.

Contact Dermatitis Rash

Contact dermatitis means that the person develops an allergic reaction to a chemical or material that comes in direct contact with their skin. For example, if poison ivy sap gets on your skin and then runs. You can get lines of blisters on arms, legs or wherever it comes in contact with you.

Women who use nail hardeners may get a rash on their upper eyelids because frequently people move their hands up to their face and touch their eyelids. The skin of the upper eyelids is very thin and delicate and a rash will frequently develop there.

Athletes or people who sweat a lot may have excessive sweating of their feet and dissolve out chemicals from the inside lining of the shoe and will get a rash on the tops of their feet.

Atopic Dermatitis Rash

Another disease that's fairly common would be atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis is more commonly referred to as eczema. The rash particularly involves the creases of the arms, the backs of the knees, neck and eyelids. The people with eczema also have an inherited defect in their skin barrier. That causes them to lose water at a more rapid rate and so their skin tends to get chapped and dried out much more easily, especially in the winter time, and it tends to itch much more.

Irritants Causing Rashes

Another chemical that is very irritating to these people is wool fat or Lanolin so these people should avoid wool. And this disease is frequently associated in the person with asthma or hay fever or other family members may have asthma, eczema or hay fever.

Diseases Causing Rashes

Next is rosacea. Rosacea as the name implies involves redness or a rose color to the rash. The disease unfortunately does tend to be chronic. So this disease tends to come and go and it can last unfortunately the entire life of a person. And this particularly affects the face in adults and a person with this disease will have raised red bumps or pimples, pustules, diffuse inflammation and dilated blood vessels. The person may have all four of those conditions or only two or three of them.

One of the most common skin diseases would be Psoriasis. Common locations that one sees psoriasis would be scalp, elbows, knees and nails. One sees sharply demarcated patches of redness and fairly thick white scale. It is definitely made worse by trauma. If one scratches the skin or if one gets an injury to the skin Psoriasis can develop at the site of that injury.

Consult a medical provider or dermatologist. But obviously it's something that one would have to consult their local dermatologist to get further information on. Thanks for watching. To learn more visit About.com.