The hardest part of having red, itchy skin, hives, or
swollen spots on your skin is trying to concentrate on
making your day as normal as possible while avoiding
scratching the itchy parts.
Sometimes you have to concentrate so much on that that
you sort of forget what’s the reason behind the
itching, which would really be the thing you should
focus your attention on, so that it won’t happen
again.
Allergies are most often the cause of skin rashes and
such, and some of them are quite common. Read on to
find out what they are and what you can do to avoid
them.
Diagnosing Skin Allergies
An allergist can test if you’re allergic to substances
or if your skin reacts to different possible allergens
by conducting a skin test. In a multiple-test method,
the allergist will prick your skin to introduce
various media in microscopic amounts, to see which
pricks elicit a reaction from your skin.
The material type that your skin reacts on can be
retested using different methods to confirm if the
material in question is indeed your allergen. The
allergist can also check to see how severe the
reaction to your allergen is, and can range from mild
to life threatening, using increasing concentrations
of the allergen to measure reaction times.
Types Of Manifestation
Different forms of skin allergy reactions can be found
in people. Occurring most often in small children,
eczema, specifically known as Atopic Dermatitis,
appears in the form of a red rash, and blistering of
the skin is quite common. The skin can break from
being scratched aggressively, and will usually cause
scarring.
Treatment usually consists of applying a topical
solution on the site of the rashes to ease the
itching, and your doctor will be able to prescribe
treatment that is calibrated in strength to match your
rashes.
Another common manifestation of skin allergies is the
raised, red-colored bumps on the skin known as hives.
While it is quite aesthetically disturbing to some,
hives are not so itchy that you’ll break the skin by
scratching really hard. Hives are common enough that
people of all ages are affected by it at one point or
another.
A third form of allergic reaction is called contact
dermatitis, and this is a common reaction to a
substance which will cause a similar reaction to a
rash when you come into contact with it.
The symptoms have more in common with Atopic
Dermatitis, but the usual areas that the rash
manifests itself are only where you’ve touched or come
into contact with the substance. A good example of
this is when you’ve touched poison ivy, and there are
even common cases of people getting rashes because of
their jewelry.
What To Do
Once a rash breaks out on your skin, as much as
possible, try not to scratch it, since scratching
could break the skin and introduce dirt and bacteria
to below the skin level and you’ll have more trouble
if it gets infected.
A common solution to allergic rashes would be to apply
an allergy cream to soothe the inflammation and to
remove the itchiness. But the most important thing is
that in the first occurrence, you’d be better off
consulting your doctor on what to do just to make
sure.