About all

Rashes that look like mosquito bites: Hives Symptoms: What They Look Like

by alexxlab

Hives Symptoms: What They Look Like

What Are the Symptoms of Hives?

“Hives are characterized by red or pale-colored welts on the skin, which typically come and go throughout the day,” says Sourab Choudhury, DO, a dermatologist and the chief medical officer at the Dermatology Specialists, a private dermatology practice in New York City. “Sometimes they itch, burn, or sting.”

Usually the welts will be surrounded by clear edges. They may look similar to bug bites, but hives generally will appear and disappear more quickly. They may itch, sometimes severely, and they’re not always the same size or shape. They may be as small as the tip of a pen or as large as a dinner plate. (4) When you press the center of a hive bump on the skin, it likely will turn from red to white, which is known as blanching. (2,3)

Hives may appear on the body grouped together and take over a large area of the skin, or as a couple of individual welts that show up here and there. (4) They can appear anywhere on the body, though some people get them in the same spot over and over again (usually as a result of a specific trigger). (4)

Generally, you’ll know you have hives simply by seeing the hives themselves. If you experience other symptoms, such as swelling in the eyes, lips, or inside of the throat, or if you have trouble breathing, you should call 911 or see a doctor immediately, says Sapna Palep, MD, a dermatologist at Spring Street Dermatology in New York City. These symptoms indicate you may be experiencing a serious allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. (5)

How to Know It’s Hives and Not One of These Other Skin Problems

“To the untrained eye, hives can have a similar appearance to other common skin conditions,” Dr. Choudhury says. He says one way to tell the difference is by how quickly the welts clear up.

“Hives will usually have an area of skin that welts up, goes away in a few hours, and then reappears somewhere else,” he says. Other skin issues that are often mistaken for hives tend to last for more than one day in the same location, he explains.

Also, check out the welts up close. “If the welts are filled with clear fluid, pus, or are brownish in color, it is likely not hives,” says Dr. Palep.

Hives are often mistaken for the following skin issues:

  • Angioedema is swelling of tissue deep in the skin. It’s usually caused by an allergic reaction, certain medicines, or a genetic disposition. Generally, angioedema is accompanied by swollen lips, eyelids, hands, throat, or feet, trouble breathing, and cramps. (3)
  • Eczema (atopic dermatitis) is common among children but can affect adults, too. Severe itchiness (especially at night), fluid-filled bumps, and red to brownish-gray patches indicate eczema rather than hives. (6)
  • Bug bites may resemble hives in looks, but hives tend to behave differently. Hives may change shape and move around the body, whereas a bug bite stays in the same place. (3)
  • Rosacea usually appears as redness on the face where swollen blood vessels become visible. It’s most common among middle-aged women with fair skin. The bumps look like acne and may contain pus, which hives generally do not. (7)
  • Heat rash (also known as prickly heat or miliaria), as the name suggests, typically appears in hot and humid weather. Like hives, heat rash will appear as red bumps on the skin, though heat rash among adults generally occurs in areas where sweat gets trapped, such as in the armpit area, elbow creases, and the groin. (8)
  • Contact dermatitis is a skin reaction that results from direct contact with something you’re allergic to, such as soap, jewelry, or a plant. The rash may be accompanied by blisters and typically lasts between two and four weeks, whereas hives will come and go within 24 hours. (9)

The Latest in Hives

Managing Hives in Kids

Hives are common in both kids and adults. Many triggers, symptoms, and treatments are the same for children as for adults. But doctors do have a few tips. ..

By Karen Asp

Can Stress Cause Hives?

Yes, stress can contribute to hives, but stress doesn’t necessarily cause the bumps and welts to appear. Here’s what doctors say you should know — particularly…

By Karen Asp

How Hives Are Diagnosed

Sometimes people can identify and manage hives at home. But pay attention to these symptoms that could indicate you may need to see a doctor or that your…

By Moira Lawler

Chronic Hives: Symptoms, Treatments, Complications

Hives that last longer than six weeks are considered chronic. Though chronic hives can cause significant disruption to daily life, there are a lot of …

By Karen Asp

How to Treat Hives

Hives are a fairly common skin condition and usually don’t pose serious risk to your health. But they can cause itching and discomfort. Here are some …

By Karen Asp

What Causes Hives?

Hives are welts that appear on the skin. They appear in varying shapes and sizes. Common causes include food triggers, medications, infections, allergens…

By Karen Asp

What Are Hives? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Hives can be part of the body’s allergic response to various triggers, like foods, drugs, or infections. They look like small red or skin-colored bumps…

By Karen Asp

What Is Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria (Hives)? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Chronic idiopathic urticaria (hives) is a condition in which itchy welts appear on the skin for 6 weeks or longer, with no identifiable cause.

By Becky Upham

Treating Chronic Idiopathic Hives

Various medications have been developed to block the immune response that causes chronic hives. Learn about your treatment options from Everyday Health…

By Beth W. Orenstein

7 Tips to Help You Manage Chronic Hives

Whether it’s wearing the right clothes or trying a vitamin D supplement, there is a lot you can do to manage chronic hives. Learn more at Everyday Health…

By Natalia Macrynikola

Hives – Better Health Channel

Summary

Read the full fact sheet

  • Hives (urticaria) are skin rashes characterised by reddened and raised circular wheals (lumps).
  • In most cases hives are not due to allergy and can be treated with a non-drowsy antihistamine.

About hives

Hives (urticaria)External Link are common skin rashes characterised by one or many wheals (lumps) of reddened, raised and itching skin. The wheals can vary in size, from relatively small to as large as a dinner plate. The wheals may be circular, oval or annular (ring-shaped).

Hives can affect any part of the body, but is common on the torso, throat, arms and legs. The wheals generally appear in clusters, with one cluster getting worse as another gets better.

Most wheals disappear without a trace within a few hours, only to be replaced by a new one elsewhere on the skin. Wheals that persist in exactly the same spot for more than 24 hours may indicate a different disorder known as urticarial vasculitis.

In acute (short-lived) hives, the wheals may come and go for a few days or weeks. In rare cases of chronic hives, wheals may persist for more than 6 weeks. The wheals come and go for months or even years.

It is thought that around one in every 6 people will experience an attack of acute hives at some point in their lives. In most people this is not due to allergy.

Mast cells and histamines

Underneath the lining of the skin, gut, lungs, nose and eyes are mast cells. These are designed to kill worms and parasites.

Mast cells contain chemicals including histamine. When these are released into the skin in small amounts, they cause itching and irritation. When large amounts are released into the skin, fluid leaks out of blood vessels, resulting in swelling of the skin (hives).

Occasionally, hives produce swelling without an itch.

Symptoms of hives

Symptoms of hives include:

  • raised circular wheals that look like mosquito bites – these are red on the outer rim and white in the centre, and each wheal lasts for around 2 to 4 hours (rarely up to 24 hours). Wheals appear in batches or clusters, and as one batch fades away a new batch appears
  • localised itching
  • with acute urticaria, the rash may last for days or weeks
  • with chronic hives, the rash may persist for months to years, occasionally decades.

Causes of hives

In 80% of cases the cause of hives is unknown. Some factors known to cause hives include:

  • medication – such as antibiotics, aspirin and codeine
  • allergic reactions to foods
  • some food additives
  • infections – including bacterial, viral or parasitic
  • respiratory infections (particularly in young children)
  • certain underlying conditions – such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rubella and hepatitis
  • emotional stress
  • contact with plants or animals
  • heat
  • cold temperatures
  • exercise and sweating
  • bee and wasp stings.

In chronic hives, it is rare to find a cause, although aspirin and codeine may aggravate it.

Treatment for hives

If a trigger is identified and it is possible to avoid that trigger, then the hives will resolve. Where no trigger is found, or the trigger cannot be avoided, treatment may include:

  • avoidance of factors that make the condition worse – such as aspirin, codeine, sunshine, heat and hot showers
  • antihistamines – some people require 2, 3 or even 4 tablets a day to control hives. These are available from pharmacies without prescription. Some antihistamines cause drowsiness.

For chronic hives, there are a number of other medications that can be prescribed.

Where to get help

  • Your GP (doctor)
  • Dermatologist
  • Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA)External Link – Locate a specialistExternal Link

  • Hives (urticaria)External Link, Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA).

This page has been produced in consultation with and approved
by:

Pimples like mosquito bites: causes

Contents

  • 1 Causes
    • 1.1 Allergic reaction
    • 1.2 Urticaria
    • 1.3 Rubella and pimples 900 08
    • 1.4 Measles acne
  • 2 When should I see a doctor?
  • 3 Diagnosis
  • 4 How to get rid of acne?

Pimples spread throughout the body due to viruses, infections and allergies. Visually, they resemble mosquito bites. Diseases are accompanied by itching, hyperthermia and weakness. Self-medication is strictly contraindicated. Therapy is carried out after a thorough examination by a dermatologist. Medications are prescribed depending on the specific type of disease. Often acne should be smeared with antiseptics to get rid of inflammation.

Causes of appearance

Rashes that look like mosquito bites can appear both from diseases and insect bites.

Similar problems are diagnosed in winter. Sometimes such acne appears from allergies due to the negative influence of food, household chemicals or the environment. When the bites of parasites become the cause, acne occurs on the legs. If pimples are combined with small bruises, then these are signs of violations of the vascular system. Such pimples on the body often appear after injuries. The main causes of acne like mosquitoes are:

  • Infections:
    • measles;
    • roseola;
    • chickenpox;
    • molluscum contagiosum;
    • meningococcal sepsis;
    • rubella;
    • scarlet fever.
  • Eating disorders;
  • Prickly heat.
  • Rubella.
  • Bites.
    • fleas;
    • bed bugs;
    • pliers.

Return to the top

Allergic reaction

Often such pimples indicate an allergy to food products.

Pimples often appear after eating the following foods:

  • chocolate;
  • citrus fruits;
  • milk;
  • honey;
  • seafood.

Long-term medication can also be a problem. Eruptions jump up on the body. The spots are of different sizes and randomly scattered over the skin. Pimples that look like mosquito bites are itchy and the skin is flaky. Allergy is characterized by a rapid pace of development. Allergy rashes often go away after taking antihistamine medications.

Return to the top

Urticaria

This is a special type of allergy. As an irritant, household chemicals, artificial clothes, medicines, metals, cosmetics, dust particles, wool and litter that are in the air act. The pimple resembles oblong bites. Symptoms of this disease include weakness, itching. The blisters are pale pink in color. Some patients confuse them with nettle burns or blood-sucking insect bites.

Back to index

Rubella and pimples

This infectious disease is more common in children. A week before the onset of acne, patients develop conjunctivitis and symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections: head spasms, fever, redness of the throat mucosa. Inflamed and enlarged lymph nodes are palpable. The spots spread all over the body. Such a disease is especially dangerous for women during pregnancy, since rubella adversely affects the health of the child.

Return to the table of contents

Pimples with measles

The first manifestations of measles are also small rash and fever.

At first the skin becomes covered with a rash. At first, pimples in the form of bites are red, then they turn brown. At the first stage of the disease, they develop only on the face, after which they spread to the rest of the body and to the mucous membrane. Five days after the onset of the rash, the temperature rises sharply to 40 degrees. Such signs of the disease are accompanied by a runny nose, itching and coughing.

Back to index

When should I see a doctor?

Many patients do not immediately go for a consultation with a specialist, but try to decide on their own. Although multiple acne indicates serious violations. Self-medication can lead to negative consequences. Many decide to visit a doctor only after acne has spread throughout the body, a temperature has appeared. From constant itching, patients comb acne, which causes wounds and ulcers.

Back to the top

Diagnosis

Examination is carried out by a dermatologist. The doctor performs palpation and visually assesses the size and area of ​​the body affected by rashes. Listens to the patient’s complaints. For a more accurate determination of the disease, a blood and mucous analysis is performed. After that, treatment is prescribed, which depends on the type of disease.

Back to index

How to get rid of pimples?

If pimples like a mosquito bite appeared due to allergies, then the body needs to be cleansed. For this, sorbents are prescribed. Ointments are applied to the body, which remove inflammation. To remove prickly heat, you must carefully observe the rules of hygiene. In addition, it is recommended to wear clothes made from natural materials. After parasites, the rash is treated with antiseptics. Doctors prescribe antihistamines for pimples that itch. To avoid such cases, it is better not to walk barefoot on the grass. So there is less chance that some unknown insect will bite your legs.

Dermatologists usually prescribe classic medicines for rashes:

  • Fenistil and Elidel for dermatitis;
  • “Eplan”, “Pantoderm”, “Suprastin” for allergies;
  • Zovirax, Acyclovir against viruses.

When spots occur during infection, the underlying disease is treated. For therapy, antibiotics and antiseptics (peroxide, potassium permanganate, brilliant green) are used to treat the affected skin. To remove rubella, glucocorticoid drugs, Chloroquine or Heparin, are used. Measles should be treated with anti-inflammatory and antipyretic tablets. Be sure to prescribe medications to maintain the immune system.

Mosquito bite rash

Skin infections, especially those with a diagnostic sign of rashes, are one of the most common reasons young children go to the doctor. Adults also suffer from this skin problem; however, most of them choose self-diagnosis and self-treatment. Identifying a rash is never an easy task, and it’s even more difficult because one type of mosquito bite-like rash can have different causes and relatively common symptoms.

Pay attention to aspects of the rash

Allergic reactions to food, viruses, metals, bacteria and other skin irritants can cause skin rashes similar to mosquito bites. In most cases, the rash does not indicate a dangerous condition, but in some rare cases it does. When you find a rash, spend as much time as possible paying attention to how the rash looks. Pay attention to how long it has been present, how widespread it is, whether it itches or not, how big and how many spots you have.

what are the 50 states in alphabetical order

Related Articles

  • Insect bite rash
  • Dengue rash
  • Baby rash

The role of histamine

The lining of the skin contains many mast cells that are designed to attack and destroy parasites. These cells carry sacs filled with chemicals, including a protein called histamine. When an allergic reaction occurs in the body caused by an allergen, the body releases histamine. Once in the bloodstream, the fluid leaks out of the blood vessels, accumulates in the skin, and causes a rash. Thus, itching, swelling and irritation.

Urticaria

Urticaria is a skin disease similar to mosquito bites.

What they look like: Medically, urticaria is smooth, raised, with pink to reddish bumps or wheals that can vary in size. They may also be ring, oval or circle shaped with a pale center and a red halo or flare on the outer edge. The redness of the spots may disappear and turn pale with pressure. Wheat also disappears within minutes or hours and is replaced by newly formed ones. As a rule, bulging bumps appear in groups, covering the whole body or part of it, accompanied by very intense itching.

What causes them: According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, hives are often associated with medications and food allergies. Very common triggers are allergic reactions to pollen, pet dander, or seafood. There are many causes of irritating skin allergies, and some of them have unexpected triggers.

  • Training or exercise: Many people think that a rise in body temperature causes hives. But what actually causes hives is your own sweat.

  • Cold temperatures: Cold climates can exacerbate the disease in some people. This includes other causes associated with a cold, such as swimming pools or eating chilled food.

  • Infection Response: Researchers have found that several bacterial and viral infections, including tooth decay, have a role in the development of hives.

  • Stress: High levels of cortisol (stress hormone) are associated with chronic urticaria and may exacerbate them.

  • Sunlight and heat. Although hives are rare, some people get hives after sudden sun exposure. This happens if you were indoors in winter. Your body may suddenly explode and a red, itchy rash will appear on his body. It can also appear in areas that have been covered for several months and then exposed to sunlight abruptly.

Home remedies: The first step is to discover your potential triggers. They must be avoided to prevent hives. Healthy eating habits can reduce the chance of hives. Cool oatmeal baths can also relieve an itchy rash. After bathing, apply topical medications, such as calamine lotion or 1% hydrocortisone cream, to the affected area to relieve itching.

how to get engine oil from concrete

Applying an ice pack to the rash also provides relief. Also, cut your nails short to avoid scratching the rashes. Wear loose clothing to prevent further irritation of the affected skin. Over-the-counter medications such as oral antihistamines are also the preferred choice for blocking the release of histamine (a compound that causes allergic symptoms).

When to see a doctor: If your hives do not go away after home treatment and you have other serious symptoms, such as swelling of the lips and difficulty breathing, go to the emergency room right away. Also, for rashes that are accidentally scratched and have caused an infection due to an open wound, see a doctor.

Heat rash (heat rash)

Heat rash is a condition that causes a rash with bumps on the skin.

What it looks like: Heat rash, also known as prickly heat or sweat rash, is a common condition in humid or hot weather. Heat rash is very similar to hives. It shows red, itchy, raised bumps on the skin. Unlike urticaria, which affects any age group and is widespread, heat rash is smaller and more common in children. It usually appears in places where sweat accumulates, such as the neck, upper chest, or elbow creases.

What causes it: As a rule, skin rash is mainly caused by blockage of the sweat ducts in summer or hot weather. For example, a child who is overdressed under the scorching sun may develop a heat rash. Heavy use of creams also contributes to clogged pores during exercise.

Home remedies: Heat rashes usually resolve within a couple of days after air drying. Loosening and removing clothing will also help. Allow the skin to cool while monitoring the temperature. Stay in air-conditioned rooms or use cold compresses. Other treatment options for heat rash include applying calamine or hydrocortisone creams to soothe the rash. It is also important to avoid other lotions as they can aggravate the irritation of your sensitive skin.

how to clean the outer bottom of pots and pans

When to See a Doctor: An increase in heat rash within three to four days is reason enough to seek advice. Immediate medical attention is needed for severe itching and rashes with pus and swelling.

Irritant contact dermatitis

Irritant contact dermatitis may cause a mosquito bite-like rash.

What it looks like: In addition to allergic reaction rashes, a more common type of contact dermatitis is irritant contact dermatitis. At first glance, it can be confused with beehives as it shares most of its characteristics. It starts with a red rash and bumps followed by itchy dry skin. During a hypersensitivity reaction, raised papules form on the skin in the affected areas. A flaky rash may also appear. However, its distribution differs from hives. This type of contact dermatitis affects areas that are only exposed to irritants.

What causes it: The main cause is repeated contact with an irritant that rubs against the skin and damages the surface of the skin. It is caused by a reaction to certain substances, such as detergents, perfumes, cosmetics, soaps, metal jewelry, deodorant, or other personal care products.

things to write to your best friend to make them smile

Home remedies: Avoid anything that causes symptoms. Avoid strong substances that can irritate the skin. The constant friction of clothing fabric makes your skin more susceptible to injury, so choose cotton material over bulky fabrics because they are less irritating. Treat the area with hydrocortisone or anti-itch cream and then take a dose of antihistamines. A moist compress can be applied to relieve mild to moderate symptoms.

When to see a doctor: Severe symptoms, such as painful and widespread rashes, require a doctor’s consultation. See an allergist and get a patch test if you can’t pinpoint the cause of the rash. Also, if the rash begins to interfere with your daily activities and causes a lack of sleep, seek medical attention.