Urgent Care Clinic or Emergency Room? Rashes or Skin Conditions
Given the fact that the skin is in contact with the external environment and as such it regularly comes into contact with all sorts of organisms and substances mean that rashes and skin conditions are things that folks experience on the regular. It is thus no surprise that rashes and skin conditions are most of the time taken lightly since they come and go pretty much on a regular basis. It is also true that not all skin conditions and rashes are a medical emergency and most of the time they can be dealt with by use of over-the-counter medication. If one comes into contact with say oak or poison ivy, the rash that ensues can be dealt with by use of medication from the chemist or drug store over-the-counter. There are however some rashes and skin conditions that indicate a much more serious problem and as such need immediate medical attention. One needs to be aware when a skin rash or condition requires them to visit an urgent care clinic and when they should visit an emergency room, with frontlineer.com being the cream of the crop here. To that end this article will come I handy as it will do to just that.
First and foremost, let us take a look at the cases of rashes and skin conditions that require one to visit an urgent care clinic, as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com. If for instance the rash or skin condition you are experiencing is accompanied by a fever, then you should head over to an urgent care clinic for attention. A fever is always indicative of an infection and as such one should abandon home remedies and head over to an urgent care clinic. The same applies for cases where the skin condition or rash is extensive or is even covering the whole of your body. This is usually indicative that one is suffering from a severe allergic reaction and should be attended to before they go to anaphylactic shock. Another sign that should indicate you need to head over to an urgent care clinic is if you develop a rash or skin condition out of the blue and it starts to spread rapidly. More red flags to keep an eye out for as far as skin conditions and rashes go is if they are accompanied by pain, purple spots on the hands and feet, begin to blister or don’t seem to be improving despite taking over-the-counter medication.
The other side of the coin involves the cases of rashes and skin conditions that should be treated at an emergency room, with frontlineer.com being the best option. As a rule of thumb, skin conditions and rashes that interfere with breathing should lead to one heading over to an emergency room as soon as possible. This involves difficulty breathing as well as tightness of the chest. Skin conditions and rashes that are accompanied by signs of infection such as swelling, crusting, yellow or green discharge and warmth of the area of skin affected should also be assessed at an emergency room as soon as possible so that the infection is dealt with before sepsis sets in. one should also take skin conditions and rashes that appear on sensitive body parts and areas very seriously. If for instance you develop a skin condition or rash around and on the mouth, the skin around the eyes or the genitals, you should head over to an emergency room as soon as possible to be assessed as soon as you can. Other red flags as far as rashes and skin conditions go, that should lead to a visit to an ER, include joint pain, tightness or welling of the throat as well as strong headaches.
If you have a compromised immune system for whatever reason; maybe you are having chemotherapy, have had recent surgery, have HIV/AIDS among others, then you should visit an emergency room as soon as you develop a rash or skin condition. The same applies to cases brought about by coming into contact or inhaling toxic chemicals such as arsenic. The experts over at frontlineer.com argue that sever cases of rashes and skin conditions should be handle at an emergency room rather than an urgent care clinic for a number of reasons, one of them being that the ER has facilities to carry out comprehensive diagnosis such as blood work or skin cell cultures. This can be able to uncover the cause of the rash or skin condition as well as ascertain if there is an infection. If there is an infection then in the ER one can have IV antibiotics administered for treatment, something not available in urgent care clinics and that is another reason why emergency rooms are preferable for such cases.
As usual, one can be able to get more information on this and other related issues by checking out frontlineer.com who are subject matter experts in this field and definitely the best around.