Skin is a reflection and a kind of mirror of what is happening in the body. Any changes always cause concern. Swollen spots on the body can signal various abnormalities. A preliminary diagnosis can be made if you carefully study all the symptoms.
Red, swollen spots on the skin can appear due to 80 diseases. Not so little, right? To make a correct diagnosis, a thorough examination is necessary. The most common causes of swollen spots are allergic reactions, insect bites, lichen, and infectious diseases.
If we talk about infectious diseases, the causative agent can be chickenpox, rubella and measles. All these ailments can cause swollen spots on the body. There are vegetative reactions. These are problems with the nervous system in which excessive anxiety or anger can cause swollen red spots to appear.
If the spots appeared due to an allergic reaction, then it will be enough to take an antihistamine and they will go away.
Insect bites are also a kind of allergic reaction. The swollen spot at the site of the bite may be itchy and swollen.
Depending on what caused the spots, they may look different. The level of swelling varies from mild to severe. The spot is red. Localization may also differ, as well as the number of rashes on the skin.
Sometimes the accuracy of the diagnosis can be confirmed by the location of the accumulation of spots on the body. If they are most numerous on the stomach and back, then chickenpox can be suspected. This disease should not be ruled out in adulthood!
Spots on the face can also signal various ailments. Single, swollen spots may indicate insect bites or an allergic reaction to foods or medications.
If the red, swollen spots on the body are itchy, you can take an antihistamine. It could be Zyrtec or Suprastin. This is where home treatment for the disease ends. The next step should be a visit to the doctor. If the cause of the swollen spots is insect bites, then after taking an antiallergic drug, the skin rash should go away within a few hours.
If the swollen spots remain, we are talking about an infectious disease. Lichen, atopic dermatitis or chickenpox require immediate medical intervention and monitoring.
Chickenpox in adults can lead to serious complications. Ringworm is also a difficult disease. Atopic dermatitis is less dangerous and is essentially a mixture of an allergic reaction and a hereditary predisposition.
The doctor will prescribe a clinical blood test. Sometimes a combination of symptoms and an experienced eye are enough to make a correct diagnosis when looking at red, swollen spots on the body. With elevated body temperature, swollen red spots on the body can indicate a number of other ailments. Too many of them. A doctor can determine the exact one.
Therefore, an antihistamine tablet is the only measure that a patient can take before visiting a doctor. Otherwise, you can mix several types of drugs and spoil the picture of the disease.
Red swollen spots on the body are not so scary. They can make you worry if you start guessing the diagnosis on your own. A quick visit to the doctor will dispel all worries and perhaps treatment will be quick and conservative.
Pigment spots on the legs are a rather unpleasant cosmetic defect of the skin, which is quite difficult to hide in the summer. This problem especially causes a lot of trouble for women, since the resulting hyperpigmentation makes it difficult to wear short skirts, sundresses or shorts. You can get rid of this problem yourself using folk remedies, special cosmetics or by resorting to the services of specialists.
Pigment spots on the legs can have the following causes:
Pigmentation that appears on the legs can have general and specific causes. Moreover, it has been proven that women get sick several times more often than men.
Common reasons for the development of pigmented formations on the skin include:
Specific causes of skin pigmentation include:
In addition, hyperpigmentation may be associated with vitamin deficiency, vasculitis and pityriasis rosea. Chocolate brown spots on the legs are due to excess accumulation of melanin pigment in melanocyte cells. Light spots appear due to impaired synthesis of coloring pigment. If skin pigmentation does not pose a serious danger to the body, you can get rid of the spots yourself at home.
If a pigment spot appears on the skin of your legs, first of all, you need to undergo a medical examination and find out the exact cause of the pigmentation, and only then begin treatment. To do this, it is recommended to consult a dermatologist so that he can assess the condition of the skin and prescribe the optimal course of therapy.
A general blood test, allergy test and consultation with specialized specialists: endocrinologist, oncologist, etc. may also be prescribed.
Treatment of age spots is carried out in three main ways:
Treatment of pigmented areas on the lower extremities can be done at home using self-prepared decoctions, tonics or creams. In order to prepare a lightening agent, it is recommended to use bodyaga powder and 3% hydrogen peroxide as a basis. All components must be thoroughly mixed to form a homogeneous paste, and then applied to the area of the pigment spot on the legs. The mixture should be washed off after 15-20 minutes.
To carry out high-quality treatment of age spots, you need to be careful when choosing a whitening product, cosmetic procedure or medications. Without eliminating the root cause, treating an aesthetic defect is useless. Treatment should only take place under the supervision of a physician. Only a qualified specialist can choose the right course of treatment and avoid unwanted complications.
If you notice that you have very swollen veins in your arms, then you shouldn’t leave it like that. This may be the initial process of varicose veins in the arms. This means that your arms are subject to frequent force loads or are constantly in a hanging down position.
This can lead to a strong rush of blood into the hands, which further leads to stagnation in the hands. Most often, noticeably swollen veins on the hands. At the first symptoms, you should consult a doctor for advice. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with this.
If a person is thin, then protruding veins on the arms and hands are considered normal. For men, generally swollen veins are considered a manifestation of masculinity. But for women with normal build, such veins are unlikely to adorn such veins, and thin women will not like this look at all.
You need to constantly monitor your veins, as varicose veins can lead to atherosclerosis. Therefore, if a vein is swollen again, you should contact a phlebologist, because the sooner you solve this problem, the fewer adverse consequences there will be.
With varicose veins, the vessels that suffer the most are those that perform the function of carrying blood to the heart. With this disease, the walls of blood vessels become thinner, the lumen of the veins increases, and nodes and blood clots begin to appear. If suddenly you have something similar to a lump, then it is most likely a venous nodule.
If your disease is not advanced, then a procedure such as hirudotherapy will be beneficial. This is a treatment with leeches. When biting the skin, the leech releases a secretion that thins the blood and promotes healthy blood vessels. Such procedures must be repeated six times. And then repeat after four months.
It happens that varicose veins cause pain, as the functioning of the valves is disrupted. You should not neglect the disease, as it will be very difficult to cure this disease later.
Laser therapy is the most effective and painless. The laser promotes the gluing of blood vessels. Blood stops flowing into the vein and moving through it, and subsequently the swollen vein disappears. Sclerotherapy gives approximately the same effect.
If no methods help, then the doctor will offer you surgical treatment, which will be the only way out in this situation. Previously, the surgical method was often used, but now it is used very rarely. The more common method is drug treatment. Various ointments, tablets, drops, capsules are used that can act on the veins from the inside.
Many preparations and ointments are based on horse chestnut, as it has an excellent property of narrowing small blood vessels. Vitamin P has this property. Also, preparations and ointments contain additional components that stimulate blood circulation, such as oleander, lily of the valley extract, mistletoe.
In diabetes mellitus, under the influence of pathological changes in metabolic processes, multiple complications develop that affect the functions of the internal systems of the body.
Almost all organs are affected, including the skin.
Spots, ulcers, and rough skin are common manifestations of the disease in diabetics.
Disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, characteristic of diabetes mellitus, cause the formation of an increased level of insulin in the body or, with a lack of the hormone, an increased concentration of sugar in the blood. An excess of insulin or glucose leads to malnutrition of dermal tissues and structural changes in epithelial cells. The accumulation of metabolic decay products in cells provokes damage to the hair follicles.
High sugar content negatively affects blood circulation and the function of nerve endings located in the skin. This leads to decreased sensitivity of the limbs and increased susceptibility to leg injuries. In addition, as a result of the disease, the body's defenses are weakened and the function of soft tissue regeneration is impaired.
As a result, diabetics do not immediately notice the damage that appears on the body; due to the low rate of cell restoration, the wounds do not heal for a long time, and due to weakened immunity, bacterial or fungal infections join the overall picture.
Thus, the reasons for the appearance of skin spots in diabetes include:
There are a number of factors that can provoke the development of pathology:
Attempts to self-medicate injuries in the presence of diabetes mellitus contribute to the progression of skin diseases and the appearance of complications.
Disseminated granuloma annulare
Against the background of high concentrations of glucose in the blood and frequent urination, the blood supply to tissues is disrupted and signs of dehydration appear.
As a result, the condition of the skin changes, it becomes coarser, rough areas appear on the foot, the skin becomes dry and flabby, and cracks form on the heel. Itching and flaking occur, and hair begins to fall out.
The skin changes color: a gray tint or yellowness may be observed. Due to dilated capillaries, a flush appears on the cheeks (diabetic rubeosis), which can often be seen in children with diabetes.
Skin pathologies can be divided into several groups:
Treatment of skin lesions is complicated by a decrease in the rate of soft tissue regeneration and therefore continues for a long time, with frequent relapses.
In patients who have had diabetes for a long time, angiopathy develops. A manifestation of the pathology is diabetic dermopathy (see photo), which more often affects middle-aged and elderly men.
The main symptom is considered to be brown spots, covered with scales, painless and not itchy, appearing on both limbs and disappearing on their own after a couple of years.
If diabetes does not last long, then the appearance of round burgundy spots with a clear outline is a sign of erythema. Such lesions are large in size, appear more often on the body and are accompanied by a slight tingling sensation. The spots disappear after a few days without any treatment.
Obese diabetics develop a complication such as acanthosis nigricans (see photo). Brown dots appear in the armpits and neck folds.
On the damaged area, the skin feels velvety to the touch, with a clear skin pattern.
Subsequently, a black spot forms from the point. The disease is most often benign and the spots soon disappear, but a malignant form of the pathology also occurs.
The same darkening can be observed on the knuckles. Such skin lesions occur as a result of excess insulin in the body, which occurs with insulin resistance.
Necrobiosis lipoidica - what is it? This is a pathological lesion of the skin on the legs that occurs due to a lack of insulin. The disease is more often observed in women suffering from type 1 diabetes.
First, red spots appear on the legs (see photo), raised above the skin, later they grow and turn into shapeless atrophic plaques.
A brown sunken spot forms in the center, in place of which a painful ulcer forms over time.
Complex therapy for skin diseases consists of the following:
In difficult cases, plastic surgery is used.
Another form of dermatological damage associated with diabetes is the appearance of itching in the folds of the skin. Typically, the pathology occurs within five years after the development of diabetes and is more common in women.
Flesh or red spots appear on the elbows, stomach or groin. The dots merge over time, and the affected area of the skin dries out and becomes cracked. At night, the itching intensifies.
Diabetic blisters may form on the feet or toes of the upper and lower extremities, reaching a size of several centimeters.
The color of the dermis in the areas of damage does not change; the rash may be accompanied by minor itching or tingling, or may not cause significant discomfort. The blisters contain bloody or clear liquid that does not contain pathogenic microflora. After three to four weeks, the blisters disappear without leaving scars.
Spots that appear in older diabetics in the groin, between the fingers, in the folds of the skin and in the perineum may be signs of candidomycosis.
The skin turns red, cracks and erosions form on it with a light outline and a bluish-red shiny surface.
Adjacent areas of the skin may be covered with small blisters. All this is accompanied by intense itching.
To confirm the diagnosis, a microbiological analysis of a scraping taken from the surface of the erosion is performed.
Therapy consists of physiotherapy and taking Fluconazole or Itraconazole. For external use, Clotrimazole, Exoderil or Lamisil are prescribed.
In addition to candidiasis due to diabetes, the following infectious lesions are often diagnosed:
Antibacterial drugs are used in the treatment of diseases, but skin pathologies are severe and require long-term therapy. Skin diseases are difficult to treat and make it difficult to effectively compensate for high glucose levels.
In damaged areas, a substance begins to be synthesized that affects insulin, destroying the hormone. In addition, the body strives to get rid of infection and inflammation and turns on the defense mechanism, which leads to even greater depletion of the immune system.
Therefore, to speed up the results, diabetics increase the dosage of insulin, prescribe medications that strengthen the body’s defenses, and in difficult cases resort to surgical intervention.
Compliance with preventive measures will help prevent infection and alleviate the course of the disease:
Video material about skin diseases in diabetes:
If you find a festering place or a significant wound, you should not try to treat the damage yourself. In this case, you should urgently visit a doctor to prevent the condition from worsening.