Are skin rashes dangerous: When to seek medical treatment
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Life-Threatening Skin Rashes
Medically Reviewed by Stephanie S. Gardner, MD on November 22, 2022
Skin rashes take lots of different forms. You might have patches of red skin, or you might see welts or blisters. A rash might show up on part of your body, or all over. Sometimes, a salve you buy over the counter can take care of it. But a few skin rashes come from illnesses that can endanger your life if you don’t get to the doctor or ER. Here’s a look at the main ones you should watch out for.
Meningococcal meningitis makes the tissue around your brain and spinal cord swell. You may catch it from someone nearby who has it, and it can make you seriously ill within hours. It’s fatal without quick action.
About half the people who have it get a skin rash. Breathing trouble or a sore throat might be your first symptoms. Other signs could be a fever, headache, vomiting, or confusion. Your doctor will likely give you antibiotics.
Toxic shock syndrome is rare. It may bring to mind cases linked to tampons, but skin wounds (including from surgery) can also let in the bacteria that cause it. It might give you a rash like sunburn, mainly on your palms or the soles of your feet. It can also cause a fever, low blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, headaches, and red eyes, mouth, and throat. Antibiotics are the main treatment, but you may need other medicine.
A bite from a tick can give you Rocky Mountain spotted fever. It can be fatal if it isn’t treated within 5 days of your first symptoms. You might first have a headache, fever, or nausea, and you might see swelling around your hands or eyes. A rash would come next. It would start with small, flat pink spots on your wrists, forearms, and ankles, then spread.
Red or purple spots could follow. Your doctor will give you an antibiotic.
Stevens-Johnson syndrome makes your skin cells die and peel off. It’s usually a reaction to medicine. It may start with fever, coughing, and aches. Then you’ll get a red or purplish rash, and your skin will peel. That may begin on your face, then spread. It could also go into your eyes, mouth, airways, or genitals. Your doctor will change the medicine causing the problem, and you’ll need burn treatment, pain medicine, and maybe more.
Toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome are both severe allergic reactions to medications or infections. They have the same symptoms and treatment. If your skin is peeling from 10% or less of your body, doctors say that’s Stevens-Johnson. If it’s 30% or more, that’s toxic epidermal necrolysis. In between, it’s an overlap. Both conditions can lead to long-term skin problems. At the worst, they could cause organ failure.
Anyone can get staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome, but it mainly affects infants and children less than 5 years old.
If your child has kidney disease or a weak immune system, they’re more prone to get it. At first, they may be fussy, tired, or have a fever. Then their skin will start to peel, possibly over a lot of their body. They’ll probably have to go to the hospital. They’ll give them antibiotics, and their skin may need salves or bandages.
Pemphigus vulgaris makes your immune system attack your skin or mucous membranes. It mainly affects people who are middle-aged or older. Mouth sores may come first. Then you may get blisters on your skin or genitals. If they break open, they can get infected. Your doctor will give you antibiotics and other drugs, and your skin may need dressings like those used for burns. If pemphigus isn’t treated, it can be fatal in about 5 years.
Meningococcal meningitis is the main one of these rashes that’s contagious. You mainly get it from someone close by, through things like coughing or kissing. The germs than cause staphylococcal scalded skin and toxic shock syndromes go from person to person, but many people have them on their bodies with no problem.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever and pemphigus don’t go person-to-person. The other rashes don’t come from germs people carry.
Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a rare condition in which you’re very sensitive to a medication. It can happen 2-8 weeks after you take the drug that triggered the reaction. Along with the skin symptoms, you may have a fever, feel sick, and have problems with your internal organs, such as your liver, kidneys, or lungs. The key to treatment is getting you off the medicine that caused the problem.
This “flesh-eating” bacterial infection can spread quickly, killing tissue in your body. At first, you might feel like you have the flu and notice redness around the infected area, which would hurt and may feel warm. You may get skin blisters that feel hot, and you may get dehydrated and have a high fever. You’d need treatment (usually antibiotics you get by IV and surgery to remove dead tissue) right away so you don’t go into shock.
IMAGES PROVIDED BY:
1) BakiBG / Thinkstock
2) National Institutes of Health
3) CDC
4) CDC / Science Source
5) Thomas Habif / Wikimedia
6) ISM / Medical Images
7) ISM / Medical Images
8) Biophoto Associates / Science Source
9) Wavebreakmedia / Thinkstock
10) Charlie Goldberg, MD / UCSD School of Medicine
11) ISM / Medical Images
SOURCES:
American Academy of Dermatology.
CDC.
National Organization for Rare Disorders.
Mayo Clinic.
Cleveland Clinic
Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Merck Manuals.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (National Institutes of Health).
Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Illinois Department of Public Health.
International Pemphigus and Pemphigoid Foundation.
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A rash can be deadly: 7 dangerous diseases that appear on the skin
- Health
We used to think that a rash on the skin is a sign of an allergy, a trace of insect bites or a sign of dermatitis, irritation.
But sometimes rashes or spots on the skin are a sign of severe, sometimes fatal pathologies.
May 14, 2022
- Source:
- iStockphoto
Changes, rashes or spots on the skin are not always dermatological diseases. Since the skin is a “mirror” of the body, it is their changes that can indicate the onset of a serious illness or the occurrence of complications. By the way, both infections, sometimes quite serious, and non-infectious diseases, no less dangerous to health, can appear on the skin.
“Doctor Peter” together with the therapist, endoscopist, head of the methodical office Lidia Golubenko figured out what diseases this or that change in the skin can indicate.
Meningococcus counts by the hour
Most people get a meningococcal infection like a cold, with a sore throat, mild fever, and malaise for 3-5 days. But a small percentage of children and adults, due to the characteristics of immunity, may experience a severe course – meningococcemia.
In this case, there are several hours to save a life, a maximum of 1-2 days. Signs of this formidable pathology appear on the skin. There is a rash in the form of bruising that occurs due to toxic effects on the vessels.
How to identify
Look for bruises on the buttocks and legs. You can distinguish a rash from meningococcus with a simple test. We take a glass and put it on the skin in the area of the rash, lightly press and hold a little. If the rash turns pale – this is not meningococcus, if it remains – immediately call an ambulance.
Read also
Hello from ticks: Lyme disease
Another infectious disease, dangerous because it can declare itself a few weeks or months after infection. In this case, the skin, joints, blood vessels and liver, heart, digestion and nervous system can suffer. People go to the doctors for months until at one moment they remember that they were once bitten by a tick. And then an incomprehensible rash appeared on the skin in the form of a target.
This is a red ring with a diameter of up to 10 cm or more, inside of which, where there was a tick bite, there is another rounded red spot.
If you have been exposed to ticks, it is important to take care of your health later on. In addition to tick-borne encephalitis, which is not so common (and there are vaccinations against it), these insects also carry borreliosis. This is a bacterial infection that occurs slowly, but then can destroy the body from the inside for many months or years.
Bruising of the legs due to platelet problems
Some medications, severe infections, stress or metabolic disorders can lead to the development of a dangerous complication – thrombocytopenic purpura. This is a condition in which platelets suffer, their number or structure decreases.
As a result, they cannot perform their functions effectively, the process of blood coagulation and formation of blood clots is disturbed.
Small hemorrhages and bruises appear on the skin, especially around the legs.
The slightest injury provokes severe bruising, bleeding from wounds stops for a long time. Pathology is treated, but it is important not to start it and consult a doctor in time.
See also
Dryness, itching and pigmentation in diabetes
Often the first signs of diabetes appear on the skin. Among them are dry skin and itching, unpleasant sensations of tightness due to fluid loss and the action of high concentrations of glucose on subcutaneous capillaries. In addition, even small wounds heal worse.
In diabetics suffering from the second type of disease – insulin-resistant diabetes, there is a specific pigmentation – black acanthosis.
This is a deposit of melanin in the folds of the neck, armpits, and groin. This pathology looks outwardly as stained areas with lighter folds. In addition to diabetes, it is typical of cancer and ovarian lesions (polycystic) and severe obesity.
Livedo reticularis for heart problems
Specific manifestations on the skin that appear as a cellular, reticular marble-like pattern.
Red, pink and cyanotic areas are bizarrely combined with pale zones where the vessels are spasmodic. In the cold, under stress and against the background of emotional experiences, spotting intensifies.
The severity of the condition depends on the level of tissue hypoxia, the strongest cellularity indicates deep skin hypoxia. The first step is to check the heart, most often the cause is a lack of contractile activity. In addition, this phenomenon is typical for 20% of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.
See also
Seborrheic keratomas as cancer markers
If the skin first develops persistent spots, which then form yellow-brown plaques with a keratinized surface, you should immediately go to the doctor. Outwardly, these plaques look like pieces of dried and cracked dirt, but you should not try to tear them off or wash them off. The sudden appearance of such elements, especially if there are many of them – this is Trehl-Leser syndrome, indicates the development of cancer.
In 95% of cases, it is adenocarcinoma, a tumor of glandular cells. Doctors will look for cancer in the lungs, prostate, intestines, pancreas, or ovary.
Eruptive xanthomas – if lipids are too high
Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides may cause xanthomas. These are growths and plaques of white-yellow color under the skin. But eruptive xanthomas are a special variant of the pathology – they are uneven, burgundy hemispheres on red skin, gradually turning pale and turning yellow with a purple rim. They form in the elbows, knees and buttocks. Elements occur when levels of triglycerides, chylomicrons in the blood plasma go off scale. And this is the risk of heart attacks and strokes. As the violations are eliminated, the plaques also disappear.
Text author: Alena Paretskaya
Rash can be dangerous — St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution of Health “Dermatovenerological Dispensary No. 4”
Rash can be dangerous: rashes in case of meningococcal infection
Not always changes, you rashes or spots on the skin are dermatological diseases.
Since the skin is a “mirror” of the body, it is their changes that can indicate the onset of a serious illness or the occurrence of complications. By the way, both infections, sometimes quite serious, and non-infectious diseases, no less dangerous to health, can appear on the skin.
Meningococcus counts by the hour
Most people get a meningococcal infection like a cold, with sore throat, mild fever, and feeling unwell for 3-5 days. But a small percentage of children and adults, due to the characteristics of immunity, may face a severe course – meningococcemia. In this case, there are several hours to save a life, a maximum of 1-2 days. Signs of this formidable pathology appear on the skin. There is a rash in the form of bruising that occurs due to toxic effects on the vessels.
How to identify
Look for bruises on the buttocks and legs. You can distinguish a rash from meningococcus with a simple test. We press on the skin in the area of the rash, press lightly and hold a little.
If the rash turns pale – this is not meningococcus, if it remains – immediately call an ambulance.
Rash can be dangerous: borreliosis rashes
Hello from ticks: Lyme disease
Another infectious disease, dangerous because it can declare itself several weeks or months after infection. In this case, the skin, joints, blood vessels and liver, heart, digestion and nervous system can suffer. People go to the doctors for months until at one point they remember that they were once bitten by a tick. And then an incomprehensible rash appeared on the skin in the form of rapidly growing spots, often looking like a target. This is a red ring with a diameter of up to 10 cm or more, inside of which, where there was a tick bite, there is another rounded red spot.
If you have been exposed to ticks, it is important to take care of your health later on. In addition to tick-borne encephalitis, which is not so common (and there are vaccinations against it), these insects also carry borreliosis.
This is a bacterial infection that occurs slowly, but then can destroy the body from the inside for many months or years.
If you suspect this disease, you should contact a dermatologist or infectious disease specialist.
Rash can be dangerous: rash at
1) thrombocytopenic purpura:
Bruises on the legs due to platelet problems
Taking certain medications, severe infections, stress or metabolic disorders can lead to the development of a dangerous complication – thrombocytopenic purpura. This is a condition in which platelets suffer, their number decreases or their structure is disturbed.
As a result, they cannot perform their functions effectively, the process of blood clotting and the formation of blood clots are disrupted.
Small hemorrhages and bruises appear on the skin, especially around the legs. The slightest injury provokes severe bruising, bleeding from wounds stops for a long time. Pathology is treated, but it is important not to start it and consult a doctor in time.
2) rashes in violation of lipid metabolism:
Against the background of increased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, xanthoma formation is possible. These are growths and plaques of white-yellow color under the skin. But eruptive xanthomas are a special variant of the pathology – they are uneven, burgundy hemispheres on red skin, gradually turning pale and becoming yellow with a purple rim. They form in the elbows, knees and buttocks. Elements occur at off-scale levels of triglycerides, chylomicrons in blood plasma. And this is the risk of heart attacks and strokes. As the violations are eliminated, the plaques also disappear.
Thus, if rashes on the skin appear that are not characteristic, not previously diagnosed, it is necessary to consult a doctor (a dermatologist can help in differential diagnosis, who, if necessary, will refer to a narrow specialist leading patients with this pathology) 90 007
The rash can be dangerous: rashes in diabetes mellitus:
Often the first signs of diabetes appear on the skin.