Question: Hi, I am a 31 year old male and in the last several months I have been getting red blotches on my skin that are occasionally itchy and come and go. I am fairly certain it is not dry skin (I moisturize and the skin doesn't look scaly or dry). The rash is not raised nor does it have any kind of puss or anything like that. It just looks like skin that is red and irritated and is sometimes itchy. It usually only last for a few hours but occasionally lasts a little longer (up to maybe 12 or 24 hours). Typically it occurs on the outside of my hands and wrists, but sometimes in other places as well, usually on extremities (feet, wrists, ankles, hands), but occasionally I have seen it on my shoulder or back or the skin below my armpit as well. The patches are small and localized (don't spread very far). They are not particularly bothersome or accompanied by any other symptoms, but I am not sure if it is anything to be concerned about and I don't know if it makes sense to set up a dermatologist or allergist appointment because I don't even know if there will be any rash present when I go into the office. Just as a medical background, I have confirmed year-round allergies to dust and mold, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and some problems with depression and anxiety, for which I am on a few different medications which I take regularly. These include Aciphex (20 mg once a day), Flonase (2 spays per nostril at bedtime), Claritin (10 mg daily), Cymbalta (30 mg once a day), and Klonopin (0.5 mg at bedtime and 0.25 in afternoon). I have been on these medications for several years.

No, it is not painful. In fact it is hardly bothersome at all except for minor itchiness and a little bit of skin sensitivity. I am not aware of any fungal infection elsewhere on my body. I have had a full blood work-up done pretty recently (less than two months) and everything was normal. I never had any skin problems in childhood. Since I've become an adult though, I've been diagnosed by an allergist as having allergic rhinitis and mild allergic asthma (dust and mold skin tests came up positive), after having recurrent issues with sinusitis. The sinusitis problem seems to have more or less cleared up after treating year-round with flonase and claritin, as well as using an air purifier in my bedroom/cleaning my bed sheets frequently with hot water.

It is really just like a red itchy sort of blotchiness that shows up on the skin in isolated areas ... almost looks like a little bit of sunburn type of appearance I guess. It is not raised like hives typically would be, nor is it at all scaly or cracked like dry skin or a fungal infection. It usually goes away within a few hours (maybe 2-3 hours?). I don't think it has ever lasted longer than 12 hours at most. I don't have the rash at the moment, so I can't take a picture, but when it happens again, I will upload an image. It almost seems like some sort of hypersensitivity reaction you might get from changing soap or laundry detergent, but I haven't changed anything so I am not sure what would be causing it. Maybe it is just a skin reaction to dust mites that I hadn't noticed before? Like I said, it is not always itchy or even that pronounced, just sometimes ... I will just look down at my hands when I am typing during work or something and there it will be again on my wrist/hand ... but then it disappears again usually within a few hours.