Since March my friend has been troubled with what was diagnosed by a nurse practitioner as Eczema or atopic dermatitis. It appeared first on her back and cleared up for a couple of months. It returned again and respnded to treatment with prednisone and Triamcinolone 0.1% cream. It has spread to her arms, chest, stomach, buttocks and hands. She was just to her primary care physician and he implied that it could not possibly be eczema and gave her the impression that it could be some form of skin cancer.

She had the same type of rash about 10 years ago and also had ongoing problems has a child. Her rash looks exactly like pictures of atopic dermatitis/eczema. Also she just had a CBC which the dr said was OK Her WBC: 8.1 and RBC 4.53. Hemoglobin: 13.2 Hematocrit: 40.4, MCBV: 89.1, MCH 29.0, MCHC: 32.6, RDW: 13.8;Platelets: 246; MPV 8.8

Her understanding has been that severe eczema can spread to more than one part of the body. She is understandable upset by the drs. implication and she does have an appointment with the dermatologist next week. Has had to wait to get in.

Does skin cancer manifest itself as a rash and can it be misdiagonsed and atopic dermatitis/eczema? If cancer were present in the skin or anywhere in the body wouldn't this show in her blood workup and wouldn't she have other symptoms - i.e weight loss, tiredness. etc.