Diaper rash on the skin: a disease or a hygienic nuisance?

Diaper rash is an inflammatory condition and  not an annoying hygienic nuisance and therefore require careful treatment.  A frivolous attitude to the manifestations of diaper rash on the skin can not only aggravate the patient's painful sensations, but also provoke an infection, which will lead to severe dermatoses and require complex long-term treatment. The doctor must promptly and correctly diagnose diaper rash on the skin and not confuse this disease with contact dermatitis, which has very similar manifestations.

 Diaper rash on the skin: causes of manifestation and features of symptoms

Diaper rash on the skin develops due to the irritating effect on it of wet secretion elements – sweat, sebum. If wet surfaces of the skin come into contact and rub against each other, then its natural barrier functions are violated. It becomes especially sensitive to a fungal or viral infection, eventually developing inflammation, which is accompanied by itching and pain.

The causes of diaper rash on the skin are most often increased sweating (for example, in patients with prolonged fever or in people exposed to regular strong overheating for some reason) or an increased level of sebum secretion (with a high degree of obesity). Excessively hydrated skin may be due to:

• a large number of skin folds and their poor ventilation (for example, in infants or people who have lost weight rapidly);
• urinary incontinence;
• allergies to detergents in sedentary patients;
• copious discharge from fistulas with hemorrhoids;
• food allergies.

Diaper rash can develop very quickly, sometimes within a few hours and is manifested by redness – from pale pink to bright red. Their most frequent location – inguinal and intergluteal folds, lower abdomen, area behind the ears, armpits.

If there is no proper treatment, the affected areas of the skin become covered with cracks, pustules and erosions develop on the border with healthy skin, which bleed. Weeping, brownish plaque with a putrid odor is observed on the skin. The patient complains of pain, itching and burning.

Skin rash: similarities and differences with contact dermatitis

Often, doctors may confuse diaper rash on the skin with contact dermatitis, since the initial & nbsp; the symptoms of these diseases are very similar.

The main difference between contact dermatitis is that it develops not in skin folds that are in contact with each other, but on open skin patches that are in contact with the irritant from the outside – sunlight, chemicals, etc. It usually takes a few days to develop after contact with an irritant.

Contact dermatitis manifests itself as a small rash that looks like an allergic one and appears on unchanged, dry skin.

 Principles for the treatment of diaper rash and contact dermatitis

There are no special differences in the treatment of these diseases: antihistamines that relieve itching, local anti-inflammatory ointments, if necessary (if an infection has joined) – antibacterial agents.

The difference in the treatment of diaper rash and contact dermatitis lies in determining the true cause of the disease and eliminating the provoking factors.

In both cases, proper hygienic skin care is of particular importance.