Baby/infant rash with pustules | Skin rash with pustules

Baby/infant rash with pustules

In children, large-area skin rashes with pustules indicate known childhood diseases. Nowadays there are vaccinations against a large part of the known childhood diseases. Nevertheless, children still fall ill with measles, rubella, chickenpox and the like.

These diseases are accompanied by skin rashes and unpleasant itching. Causal therapies are rarely used, as the viral infections usually subside by themselves within a few days. Chronic diseases such as neurodermatitis also occur preferentially in childhood. In this case, inflammation of the skin occurs, which is also accompanied by itching. Neurodermatitis often subsides with the onset of adulthood.

Diagnosis

A doctor should be consulted if the rash lasts for several days. If pustules also occur, a doctor should definitely determine the reason in order to rule out infectious diseases. The appearance, shape and surface structure of the rash allow many conclusions to be drawn about the cause.

A large-spotted exanthema all over the body is above all typical for infection with measles viruses. A rather garland-shaped rash is described in rubella. Pustules are typical for chickenpox and its secondary disease shingles.

In addition to the nature of the rash, the time course of the disease and the accompanying symptoms are also revealing. If an infectious disease is suspected, the pathogen can be identified by means of a skin swab of the affected area or a blood test. Allergic reactions can be detected by means of an allergy test. In the case of rare skin diseases, it may be necessary to take a skin sample (biopsy) for diagnosis. Please also carry out our self-test “skin rash” for this purpose:

Therapy

The treatment depends on the cause of the rash. The rash itself can be soothed and relieved by cooling creams, cold water or low-cortisone ointments in case of itching and painful accompanying symptoms. However, in order to achieve a cure, the cause must be identified and treated.

Viral infections, which often cause skin rashes with pustules, especially in children, usually subside on their own. The typical viral diseases rarely last longer than 2 weeks. If severe rashes are still visible after this period, so-called antivirals can be used to combat the virus.

With bacteria it is often necessary to treat with antibiotics. If there is an allergic cause, the allergy trigger must be determined and any contact with it must be avoided. To subside allergic symptoms, antihistamines or cortisone-containing medication can be used.

The therapy of chronic skin diseases is in most cases carried out by the use of ointments. In addition to certain active ingredients, these often also contain cortisone.