Common skin rashes can be broken down into children vs. adults. In children, you have common skin rashes such as two types of measles. You can have fifth’s disease which was the fifth childhood rash that was developed, that’s erythema infectiosum. If you get that, it’s a virus such as measles. Chickenpox is a very common childhood rash that you see also. A lot of that you don’t see as much as you used to because of immunizations, but there is no immunization for fifth’s disease. That looks like a child has a fever, and as the fever goes away, it looks like they have slapped cheeks on their face and this lacy pattern on the body. It’s not a dangerous thing although it is kind of scary to the parents. It will fade on its own in a couple weeks, and there is really no treatment necessary for it.
If you talk about adults and rashes, then you are talking about things like eczema. Eczema is a very common condition. It’s not really a rash that itches, it is an itch that rashes. You get itchy, you start rubbing and scratching, and you break out with a rash. It can run in families with allergies more commonly, but you don’t have to have that. There is treatment for it. Stress is one of the triggers for it as well as too much water or too much soap. Things like that tend to trigger that.
There’s psoriasis. Psoriasis is genetically inherited from the parents. The parent doesn’t have to have it, but if each parent has half the gene, the child can get the full complement of the gene. And that is a condition that is not usually very itchy although it can be. Very commonly the elbows, knees, and scalp are affected, but it can be a very generalized eruption too.
