Red spots on the arms of older people | Red spots on the arms – warning signal or harmless?

Red spots on the arms of older people

Especially older people often suffer from dry skin due to an insufficient drinking quantity, which is also called dehydration eczema. These red spots occur mainly in the winter months when the heating air and the cold winter air additionally dry out the skin. A scaling of the skin or itching can also occur.

A further explanation for red spots in older people are ruptured blood vessels, as the vessel walls become more fragile with age and bleeding is easier to occur when blood-thinning medication is taken at the same time. The spots are dark red and sharply defined and they occur mainly in places that come into contact with sunlight, such as the arms or face. This is also called purpura senilis and does not need to be treated. Another cause of red spots on the arms of elderly people who are confined to bed can be an incipient decubitus ulcer, i.e. a pressure sore in which the skin is less well supplied with blood due to the pressure caused by constant lying down. This usually affects the coccyx and the heels, but can also affect the forearms and the elbow joint, i.e. places where there is little fat between the bones and the skin and where there is little padding.

Red spots on the arms after showering

If red spots appear on the arms after showering, a possible cause is an allergic reaction to the shower gel or shampoo used. This can be remedied either by using another product or curd soap. Another possibility is that a so-called hives (urticaria) is present.

Here, the skin of the person affected reacts with spots and often with itching when the body temperature rises. Typical for this is the appearance of spots after showering, which disappear by themselves after a while. This is usually the case after about half an hour to an hour.

The spots also occur during other activities that raise the body temperature, such as sports, sauna, fever or after spicy food. Stress can also be another trigger. Often no therapy is necessary in the presence of hives, as a lower temperature of the shower water makes the patients symptom-free and this is the most pleasant way to deal with the disease.

In very severe cases, taking an antihistamine can help. People with sensitive skin and often with red or very light hair are particularly often affected by hives.