Emergency Care for Urgent Situations: Skin Rashes
When you have a skin rash, there is a noticeable change in the texture or color of your skin causing your skin to become irritated or swollen and hence becoming visibly red, itchy or raised and bumpy. Chances are that most of us have had a rash at one time or the other. In most cases, these skin rashes are usually nothing too serious and it is the irritating part that actually is normally the issue. A rash can have a number of different causes from certain chemicals, allergies, heat leading to heat rash to certain plants such as poison ivy which cause rashes when you make contact with them. In children, rashes are also quite common and in most cases, it is usually nothing to get too worried about especially when you consider situations such as diaper rash or acne in adolescents among others. However, having said that, it is also important to note that a rash may actually be a sign of something more serious and potentially life-threatening. It is therefore important to know how to identify when your skin rash is an urgent situation and you therefore need to seek emergency care and how to proceed, something this article will look to help with.
One of the very first thing you should do when you have a rash and you need to know how serious it is, is to check how extensive it is. As a rule of thumb, if the skin rash is covering the entire body, you should seek emergency care as soon as possible by heading over to the emergency room. A rash covering the entire body should always be taken seriously as it could be a sign of a serious infection or severe allergic reaction. Another thing you should do is check on the location of your rash, yet another thing that will help you know if your skin rash is urgent. Here, if your skin rash is affecting the mucous membranes, then you should head over to an emergency room as soon as possible. The mucous membranes are the moist linings of the eyes, anus or rectum, mouth and nose, the urethra or opening tip of the penis in men as well as the vagina or urethra in women. If your rash is on any of these parts of the body, then you should head over to an emergency room as soon as you can to be assessed and attended to.
You should also evaluate how painful your skin rash is. If your skin rash is extremely painful, you should also seek emergency care as soon as possible as a painful rash is one that should always be taken very seriously. Are there any other severe accompanying symptoms as far as your skin rash is concerned? Difficulty breathing is one of these serious symptoms and if you are having problems breathing to go with your skin rash, then you should call 911 as soon as possible for emergency care. You should also ask yourself how quickly the rash came on. If your skin rash appeared suddenly and began to spread quickly, you should also head over to an emergency room as soon as you can to be attended to. This is because such skin rashes are usually a sign of an allergic reaction, which could also be due to medication allergies which can be quite serious if not treated. If you suspect that the skin rash was as a result of medication, you should take note of the medication you suspect to be the culprit and you will relay this information to the medical personnel when you get to the emergency room.
You should also check if your rash is being accompanied by a fever. This is important since a skin rash with a fever is usually a sign of an infection or a serious allergic reaction. If you are in such a situation, then you should seek emergency care by heading over to an emergency room as soon as possible to be evaluated. You should also check for signs of infection as far as your skin rash is concerned. Symptoms to look out for here include swelling, warmth in the area with the skin rash, red streaks emanating from the rash, a yellow or greenish fluid coming out of the skin rash as well as crusting and pain. If you are presenting with any of these signs of infection, you should head over to an emergency room as soon as possible to be attended to so as to ensure the infection doesn’t spread leading to sepsis. Another thing you should do is check if your rash is beginning to blister. Blistering of the skin rash could be a sign of a serious allergic reaction, especially to medication among other serious conditions. You should therefore head over to an emergency room as soon as you notice that your skin rash is beginning to blister.
It is our hope that you will be able to know if your skin rash is urgent and requires emergency care from the discussion above so that you can get the medical care you need as soon as possible.
