Rashes

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Rashes: Common Causes

A simple rash is called dermatitis, meaning inflammation of the skin. Contact dermatitis is caused by things your skin touches, such as:

• Dyes and other chemicals found in clothing
• Chemicals found in elastic, latex, and rubber products
• Cosmetics, soaps, and detergents
• Poison ivy, oak, or sumac

Seborrheic dermatitis is a rash that appears in patches of redness and scaling around the eyebrows, eyelids, folds of your mouth or nose, the trunk, and behind the ears. If it happens on your scalp, it is called dandruff in adults and cradle cap in infants. Age, stress, fatigue, extremes in weather, oily skin, infrequent shampooing, and use of lotions that contain alcohol all increase your chances of getting this harmless, but potentially bothersome, skin condition.

Other common causes of a rash include:

• Eczema (also called atopic dermatitis) -- tends to happen in those prone to allergies like hay fever or asthma. The rash is generally red, itchy, and scaly.
• Medications.
• Insect bite or sting.
• Childhood illneses like chicken pox, measles, roseola, rubella, hand-foot-mouth disease, fifth disease, and scarlet fever.
• Psoriasis -- tends to occur as red, scaly, itchy patches over joints and along the scalp. Your fingernails may be affected as well.
• Impetigo -- common in children, this is due to an infection from bacteria that live in the top layers of the skin. Appears as red sores that turn into blisters and ooze, ultimately crusting over.
• Shingles -- a painful blistered skin condition caused by the same virus as chickenpox. The virus can lie dormant in your body for many years and re-emerge as shingles.