Docs - is this a bite of some sort?
 

And if so, what to do about it? It's on my wife's back. She was complaining about it yesterday, when it was just a small raised 'welt'; today it's a little 'bubbly' and she says it's itchy.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1314310257.jpg

If you were in my neck of the woods I'd say it looks like poison ivy.

ringworm

This is NorCal; I don't think we have that out here, but we do have poison oak. She hasn't been out anywhere to be exposed to it, though.

Lichen Planus

Poison ivy/oak/sumac.

It is a chemical burn. Once the urusiol oil is washed away, the tissue destruction stops. Treat it with calamine lotion, that stops the itching.

-I'm not a doctor, but I grew up in southeastern lower Michigan, where poison ivy is pretty much the state plant.

N

I'm no dermatologist, but does look like poison oak, etc.

try a lipid (olive oil or Kendall MS-NP) and mop it toward the center of the "wound" - not away; discard the paper towels or cloth you use; Technu is the commercial product made for this IIRC

calamine after that

maybe the dog rubbed against her?

also when you bite her back try not to chew so hard

Contact dermatitis which includes the above but also general allegies. But I ain't a doc.

Ian

The poison__ oils stays on clothes and transfers.
I've heard washing can only spread it. Cover and wait.

The appearance of those vesicles sure looks herpetic (shingles). If more show up forming a band in the next day or two it probably is. Hopefully not. :(

Early stage shingles:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1314318121.jpg

Pretty sure that's not a bug bite.

Poison ivy looks like that, and they will itch and hurt. If it hurts (a lot, extremely painful) shingles also looks like that.

This. I've seen it many, many times.

uh oh - tell him at what point she needs to see an MD

Isn't there a vaccine for shingles? Can it be used post eruption?

That's far too localized to be herpes zoster. What's more the original poster gave no information as to the previous chicken pox status of the woman-

"Shingles" typically attacks several decades after a pox attack like chicken pox. I had chicken pox when I was 7, and they were all over my body. I was sick for a week, out of school for a week, and the biggest problem for me was that one of the "pox" was on my penis.

Of course, this typically happens. I didn't know that, and of course I was totally concerned!

It looks like poison ivy to me.

N

She had chicken pox in high school (80's)

She says it doesn't hurt, it just itches.

IIRC, shingles hurts like hades. that looks like poison oak, or some other kind of contact dermatitis, as mentioned already.

Guys.... The doc says its shingles.... I'm inclined to believe him...

It's a classic herpetic infection. And the itching it very typical. Could be shingles or just cutaneous herpes simplex.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1314327236.jpg

I am inclined to agree with Moses. However if there is one type of diseases that is difficult to diagnose, its skin eruptions. Easy to describe but many times hopeless to pinpoint the causing factor/factors.

...and Dentist90? SmileWavy
I know I'm not a real doctor, but if I saw this on her lip or gums it would be pathognomic for herpes.

The thing is, we are coming up with a differential diagnosis. As the lesion/symptoms progress we can begin to rule things out. I hope for her sake that this remains isolated and resolves without complication. We'll have a better idea in a day or two no doubt.

And to widebody: I'm not a real doctor, but my advice is to hold her close and caress her affectionately. Doctor's orders!

edit: but don't touch the blisters if you haven't been exposed to chicken pox.

Yes, of course. Sorry! :)

Actually, I was about to post: I AM a doctor and I have no friggin idea.

Hey Markus!
I'm about to sign off for the night. I was actually relieved that one of you MDs agreed with my suspicion. I see a lot of Herpes Simplex, but not much Shingles. Like I said, If it's contact dermatitis (poison oak) it will get better. If it's Herpes Zoster, it will get worse. Gotta be receptive to the progression of the disease to come up with the diagnosis.

I thank the OP for posting pics of his wifes' (fine) skin! Hubba-Hubba! :D


Best wishes to y'all. I'll be waiting to see how this resolves.




Nice job on the Who's Who thread, BTW.

Good job on the diagnose!

Thanks, yes the Who´s who was rather funny.

Shingles does a lot more than itch... personal experience.

When I had shingles the doctor prescribe some medicine that when I went to pay for it the cashier said that will be $42. I said no I want to put that on my insurance. She said that is what your insurance covers, without it it would be 300 something. I think it was Valtrex.

Has it erupted into small whitish pustules yet?

Fire ant stings. Classic semi-circle pattern.




Or lupus. Whatever it takes.

Here's what it looks like tonight

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1314412360.jpg

If it were shingles wouldn't there be more spots along the nerve on one side of the body?

Typically, but not always. This will dry up and start to scab over in a few days. The itching will stop in a few days. Complete resolution in two weeks.

Yea, the coalesence of those vesicles is sure following the progression of a herpes lesion. If it's still solitary that's great. I'm not well versed on herpes simplex of the skin, but I see these regularly on the lips, gums and palate.
And yes, shingles typically follows the dermatome distribution of the nerve affected (infected). The virus lays dormant in the nerve ganglia until the opportunity arises to break out again, often when one is ill or run down. I'm not sure what this means for the possiblity of future recurrences.

How would one get a primary infection on the back anyway, assuming this is herpes?

Pretty easy. And common. Like herpetic whitlow.

Post mortem studies of nerve ganglia estimate the HSV infection rate at nearly 85% of the population. Most are asymptomatic all their lives due to an effective immune response.

try a belt sander

Woke up one morning, started to scratch an itch on my lower rib cage. Hurt like hell, looked down and saw a little patch of that, half the dia. of a dime.

Freaked out, rushed to Kaiser, saw an older doctor (learned later that he was allegedly homeopathic), told me, You have Herpes.

Freaked out, Where'd I get Herpes?! Relax, you've always had it. It's not Herpes Simplex. I said, I thought that's a derailleur? No, and you didn't get it off of a bicycle seat.

Doctor asks, Are you under any kind of stress? Well, I'm in the middle of a divorce. Doctor says, That's probably what brought it on.

Freaked out, said, The divorce is permanent! Is this?! Doctor laughs, says no. Well what's the cure. There isn't one, he says. Relax, don't worry about it and it'll go away.

So I did and it was gone in less than a week as I recall.

Well that leads me to ask a simple, yet potentially embarrassing, question of Mr Widebody:

did you bite your wife's back while you had a cold sore? :D

(No need to answer this, really. I'm just a pervert at heart.)

^ lol...lol

Here's what it looks like this morning.

She had hot yoga and ballet scheduled for today, but she's thinking she should take a break.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1314454866.jpg

Looks like it is healing