Melissa765
10-10-2006, 06:30 PM
UGH! I have rash-like patches all over my cheeks. They come and go and range from light pink to dark purple! They don't really itch, they're not raised, it's not acne, etc. The only thing is that it BURNS like you wouldn't believe! I've been putting hydrocortisone cream (incase it's some kind of rash)/sunburn stuff (this is the only thing that keeps my face cool enough so that I can even stand it). It's so embarrassing and it's painful too! I almost thing it's rosacea, but my Dr. said that rosacea can't come and go like that -- it's constantly there and burning. So any idea what this could be? I can't get into my derm for at least another two weeks, and honestly, if this persists, I'm going to have to switch derms just so that I can get seen sooner! :mad: Please help, thanks! :dizzy:
P.S. I also have eczema from time to time (it's flaring up now that winter is almost here), but it's always extremely itchy and scaly -- not hot or red/purple like this stuff on my cheeks.
P.S. I also have eczema from time to time (it's flaring up now that winter is almost here), but it's always extremely itchy and scaly -- not hot or red/purple like this stuff on my cheeks.
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Melissa765
10-12-2006, 11:04 AM
I still can't get an appointment until next week, but this still hasn't gone away!!! :mad: ERR, it looks so terrible, and vanity aside, it's just painful and it burns so bad! Now though, there's a constant redish-pink hue to my skin in the patches where I get these dark red/purple splotches. And it's not like completely round like my cheeks are just blushing... the spots have very irregular borders and they range in size from a silver dollar to 3 by 3 inches! :confused:
Thanks again if anyone can help me figure out what this is... :wave:
Thanks again if anyone can help me figure out what this is... :wave:
Monkeyboots
10-12-2006, 12:53 PM
Hi Melissa,
sorry to hear you're suffering. Hope you get some answers soon. How come you cant get an appointment with a derm? I know the waiting lists are awful. My appointment isn't til December, I'm really hoping I'll be better by then!
Best wishes
Monkeyboots.
sorry to hear you're suffering. Hope you get some answers soon. How come you cant get an appointment with a derm? I know the waiting lists are awful. My appointment isn't til December, I'm really hoping I'll be better by then!
Best wishes
Monkeyboots.
Melissa765
10-19-2006, 11:47 AM
Hi Melissa,
sorry to hear you're suffering. Hope you get some answers soon. How come you cant get an appointment with a derm? I know the waiting lists are awful. My appointment isn't til December, I'm really hoping I'll be better by then!
Best wishes
Monkeyboots.
Thanks! Are you having the same thing that I have, or something else?
Anyway, I got into the derm a little earlier than I expected (this morning actually), and he just said that "Well, your face is flushing, but the reason, I'm not sure." :mad: Uh, hello... I could have told him that my face is flushing, I wanted to know *why* and how to stop it from happening! :dizzy: So, he said what he always says, which is, "come back if it doesn't get better or if it gets worse and we'll do more tests... There's a serious condition called Carcinoid syndrome that causes this symptom." He did that the last time I went in with a rash on my hands, feet, knees, etc., and said that "it could be scabies... let's just wait and see if it goes away or gets worse." ERRR! If I have creepy scabies crawling all over my body, I'd rather not just wait! So what he does is tell you that he doesn't know what it is, but then gives you the worst possible scenario to worry about for the next few months/weeks. :mad: lol Well I hope you get answers too to whatever it is that's going on with your skin!!! :wave: Take care!
sorry to hear you're suffering. Hope you get some answers soon. How come you cant get an appointment with a derm? I know the waiting lists are awful. My appointment isn't til December, I'm really hoping I'll be better by then!
Best wishes
Monkeyboots.
Thanks! Are you having the same thing that I have, or something else?
Anyway, I got into the derm a little earlier than I expected (this morning actually), and he just said that "Well, your face is flushing, but the reason, I'm not sure." :mad: Uh, hello... I could have told him that my face is flushing, I wanted to know *why* and how to stop it from happening! :dizzy: So, he said what he always says, which is, "come back if it doesn't get better or if it gets worse and we'll do more tests... There's a serious condition called Carcinoid syndrome that causes this symptom." He did that the last time I went in with a rash on my hands, feet, knees, etc., and said that "it could be scabies... let's just wait and see if it goes away or gets worse." ERRR! If I have creepy scabies crawling all over my body, I'd rather not just wait! So what he does is tell you that he doesn't know what it is, but then gives you the worst possible scenario to worry about for the next few months/weeks. :mad: lol Well I hope you get answers too to whatever it is that's going on with your skin!!! :wave: Take care!
Monkeyboots
10-19-2006, 01:07 PM
Hi Melissa,:)
Oh my goodness, you poor thing! he sounded useless. Did he try you on any meds?
I hope they are a bit more useful when I go!! I don't want to wait all that time to be fobbed off.
I have possibly got a fungal infection quite widespread mainly on my legs and arms it doesn't seem to be responding to treatment. I've been on lamisil tabs five weeks now and I'm not sure they are really helping. I also am using Nizoral shampoo on my skin but I think it irritates it, my skin looks very dry on my arms. It gets very itchy. Mainly the patches are pinkish but it also has affected pigmentation so it looks white where I have lost pigment. Never had anything like this before spring this year didn't know what it was for ages. Doctors seem to go with the fungal infections but aren't entirely certain which.
Is there another derm you could see? Its a bit much to be told let me know if it gets worse! He should just do the tests!:mad:
best wishes :wave:
Oh my goodness, you poor thing! he sounded useless. Did he try you on any meds?
I hope they are a bit more useful when I go!! I don't want to wait all that time to be fobbed off.
I have possibly got a fungal infection quite widespread mainly on my legs and arms it doesn't seem to be responding to treatment. I've been on lamisil tabs five weeks now and I'm not sure they are really helping. I also am using Nizoral shampoo on my skin but I think it irritates it, my skin looks very dry on my arms. It gets very itchy. Mainly the patches are pinkish but it also has affected pigmentation so it looks white where I have lost pigment. Never had anything like this before spring this year didn't know what it was for ages. Doctors seem to go with the fungal infections but aren't entirely certain which.
Is there another derm you could see? Its a bit much to be told let me know if it gets worse! He should just do the tests!:mad:
best wishes :wave:
Hating glasses
10-19-2006, 01:26 PM
Jeez! I hope you didn't pay him anything. And, I hope your insurance didn't/hasn't or won't pay him anything. I can understand if a doctor is perplexed but, we don't pay them the huge amounts of money that they make to tell us..."Hmmm! I have no idea what this is and you should just go away from me and only come back if it gets worse or doesn't get any better!" Of course, I am paraphrasing but, that is what it feels like when a doctor, whom we pay good money to for help gives us the smiley brush off! It isn't your job to be perplexed. It is your job to do some research and get back to me with an answer. If I were you, I know it is a pain but, I would find a new dermatologist. I would absolutely not pay someone good money to do nothing for me. I wouldn't stand for that. You could probably see if there is a website that you can go to to ask others for a good derm in your area. I don't know how you would go about finding a website like that but, you might give it a shot. There has to be a raved about derm in your area. Or, maybe not has to be but, probably is.
Good luck! I am so sorry you had such bad service at your derm's office. I hope you find the answers!
Take care!
Good luck! I am so sorry you had such bad service at your derm's office. I hope you find the answers!
Take care!
Melissa765
10-20-2006, 11:24 AM
Ugh, monkeyboots, that sounds HORRIBLE!!! Is it painful, or just itchy?
I had to go through something similar to that when I had all-over body itching/eczema (this is the story that I mentioned earlier about the derm saying that I might have scabies). I went back to that same doctor maybe 4 or 5 times over the course of THREE MONTHS, and each time I went in, he kept saying "Hmmm... it doesn't look like eczema really, and it DOES look a little like scabies, I don't know what to tell you." Now this doctor doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, so he doesn't understand that I'm obsessively clean and I don't really have any close physical contact with anyone (thus making it very difficult to catch scabies), but still, he shouldn't have said that if he wasn't planning on doing any tests to determine what it actually was. On my 3nd visit (when this still hadn't cleared up), he started naming a whole list of different conditions that cause itching with no rash (because I was itchy all over my body, not just where visible patches were). Let's see, he said it could be Lymphoma, liver disease, kidney failure, etc. :mad: Luckily, my primary care physician said that it was definitely eczema/a severe build-up of allergens causing skin irritation, and put me on Prednisone and topical steroids. THANK GOODNESS! It finally cleared up, with no thanks to the derm. :p
I'm going to give this another few days, and if there's no change, I'm going to the dermatology department at a children's specialty hospital (because I'm still under 18). I get the impression that my regular derm treats nothing but acne or does vanity treatments like laser hair removal, and maybe that's why he's so unsure of an actual skin RASH or problem.
Thanks again to both of you, and I hope that you get some answers about that awful rash very soon! :angel: :)
I had to go through something similar to that when I had all-over body itching/eczema (this is the story that I mentioned earlier about the derm saying that I might have scabies). I went back to that same doctor maybe 4 or 5 times over the course of THREE MONTHS, and each time I went in, he kept saying "Hmmm... it doesn't look like eczema really, and it DOES look a little like scabies, I don't know what to tell you." Now this doctor doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, so he doesn't understand that I'm obsessively clean and I don't really have any close physical contact with anyone (thus making it very difficult to catch scabies), but still, he shouldn't have said that if he wasn't planning on doing any tests to determine what it actually was. On my 3nd visit (when this still hadn't cleared up), he started naming a whole list of different conditions that cause itching with no rash (because I was itchy all over my body, not just where visible patches were). Let's see, he said it could be Lymphoma, liver disease, kidney failure, etc. :mad: Luckily, my primary care physician said that it was definitely eczema/a severe build-up of allergens causing skin irritation, and put me on Prednisone and topical steroids. THANK GOODNESS! It finally cleared up, with no thanks to the derm. :p
I'm going to give this another few days, and if there's no change, I'm going to the dermatology department at a children's specialty hospital (because I'm still under 18). I get the impression that my regular derm treats nothing but acne or does vanity treatments like laser hair removal, and maybe that's why he's so unsure of an actual skin RASH or problem.
Thanks again to both of you, and I hope that you get some answers about that awful rash very soon! :angel: :)