What Is Prickly Heat?

Prickly heat is a disease that belongs to the group of simple dermatitis. It most often affects infants and young children. But under certain conditions, adults also suffer.

What does a sweatshirt look like?

It is characterized by the appearance of bubbles or nodules on the surface of the skin. It all depends on the type of sweatshirt. But a common symptom is redness and irritation of the skin. And then it’s worth understanding its form, and there will already be separate distinguishing features.

Types of prickly heat

1. Crystal prickly heat
   It occurs when there is a superficial blockage of the ducts of the sweat glands and thereby contributes to the accumulation of sweat in this superficial layer. It is called crystalline because it appears as bubbles with a clear liquid. They can be opened without harm to health, and there is nothing wrong with that. In some ways, they resemble acne, only the liquid is transparent, and the bubbles themselves are painless. At the same time, there is no sign of inflammation with such prickly heat.
2. Red prickly heat
   This is the most common type of this disease. And the most common reason for its appearance is overheating, high temperature, and, accordingly, increased sweating. Blockage of pores, in this case, occurs in the epidermal part of the ducts. And this already causes inflammatory processes. In this case, small red spots form on the skin.
3. Posttular prickly heat
   This type of disease is quite rare because it is a complication of prickly heat. Usually, a person treats red and does not reach this stage. This prickly heat is also called yellow. It is characterized by more severe and neglected inflammation. And accordingly, the spots that are visible on the skin are more saturated.

Causes of prickly heat

The main reason for the appearance of prickly heat is the high temperature. This applies to both air temperature and body temperature. For example, if a person has a fever. This is hot weather, this is synthetic clothing that does not allow air to pass through and does not allow the skin to breathe, it does not absorb perspiration well. It can also be caused by ultraviolet radiation, skin oils, low-quality cosmetics, and perfumes. Sometimes in adults, prickly heat can be caused by medical devices that you have to walk with: electrons, heart monitors, etc.

1. On the face
   The main cause of prickly heat on the face is cosmetics and artificial blockage of pores. This is extremely rare and is usually expressed as a slight reddening or crystal prickly heat.
2. On the neck
   Again, this is cosmetics and perfume. But most often the physical effects on the skin: are irritation from friction, synthetic fabric, and so on.
3. On the back
   Heat and synthetic fabric are the main causes of prickly heat on the back.
4. In the groin
   First of all, it is a physical effect. Constant friction and constant movement lead to severe irritation and inflammation of the skin. Further, synthetic fabric and synthetic underwear lead to severe clogging of pores. And all this together leads to sweating.

See Also: What Is Superficial Gastritis?

Could there be a complication?

The complication can be only one. As we said earlier, prickly heat can turn yellow. Just more severe inflammation. But it won’t lead to anything terrible.

Symptoms of prickly heat

Complaints that a person will present with prickly heat are a rash, itching, and discomfort. With allergies, there can be all kinds of localization, which may not even be characteristic of prickly heat. With allergies, redness of the skin will be brighter and itching will be more intrusive and irritating.

Diagnostics

First of all, it should be said that there is no need to engage in self-diagnosis, and even more so in self-treatment. Any impact on the disease without a doctor’s examination completely “washes away” the picture for a specialist. The doctor must diagnose, determine the disease and prescribe treatment. In the case of prickly heat, you don’t even have to do any tests and scrapings. According to the description of the patient’s symptoms and external examination, the doctor will be able to determine the diagnosis.

Prickly Heat Treatment

Treatment at home

Treatment at home begins with a hygiene regimen. So, regular bathing with hypoallergenic detergents is necessary. It is also worth removing immediately all the cosmetics that were used. Other chemicals should also be avoided, especially if you have recently started using a new powder, dish detergent, conditioner, etc. If a person himself understands that this is prickly heat, then drying agents with zinc go further into battle. Powders, 1% solution of boron or salicylic acid, decoctions of sage, calendula, and St. John’s wort.

Medical treatment

Medicines are prescribed by doctors. With prickly heat in adults, creams and ointments containing zinc and with a drying effect can help: for example, zinc ointment, Sudocrem. If complications appear and a secondary infection has joined, then antibiotic ointments are used: Baneocin, Fucidin, and others.

Prevention

To prevent the disease, it is necessary to wear clothes made from natural fabrics, to observe personal hygiene. In addition, it is necessary to exclude friction of the skin with clothes and observe proper nutrition: after all, overweight people are more prone to prickly heat. Good cosmetics for skin care and bathing will not hurt either. It’s good if you start a tradition of going to the bathhouse once a week. It cleans the pores well, plus scrubbing is very useful. But do not forget about the measure.

Skin diseases are very easy to confuse. Often different diseases have common symptoms. Therefore, in any case, with skin problems, you should immediately contact a specialist.