Causes, symptoms and treatment of prickly heat in newborns
Description of the disease in children
Content:
- Signs and symptoms of prickly heat in children
- Causes of prickly heat in children
- How to distinguish prickly heat from allergies?
- Treatment of prickly heat in a newborn
- Other treatment recommendations
- Popular remedies for prickly heat
Prickly heat is a disease common in newborns. It occurs as a result of improper or insufficient hygiene of the baby's body (most often - overheating due to tight swaddling). Increased sweating and slow evaporation of sweat lead to the appearance of a small red rash on the skin, which facilitates the penetration of infection under the skin.
Quite often, this disease manifests itself in newborn babies, since they do not yet have a sufficiently established thermoregulation process. The baby's sweat glands cannot withstand a heavy load, for which the skin is not ready. In addition, this disease is also caused by the fact that the child is constantly wrapped in warm weather, and the sweat does not evaporate to the extent that it should be. The first areas to be affected are areas that are hidden under clothing.
However, it is not exclusively a childhood illness. In infectious diseases, due to warming compresses in adults, profuse sweating, fever, and rash can begin.
As mentioned earlier, the first symptoms of prickly heat disease are a rash and redness on the baby's body. They arise due to a violation of thermoregulation in the body. In simpler terms, intense sweating begins and the sweat ducts become blocked. From everything, we can conclude and say that as a result of all the violations just listed, a small scattered rash appears on closed areas of the body, namely, on the legs and arms in the fold area, on the back, neck and on the butt. In some cases, the rash looks like bubbles with a transparent liquid filled inside.
Children's disease - prickly heat, as a rule, is observed in children up to one year old, then it appears very rarely.
Diagnostics. If you notice a similar rash on your baby's body skin, it is recommended that you urgently consult a dermatologist for advice. The diagnosis of this childhood disease, as a rule, is established by the doctor himself based on the examination of the affected skin areas. If a disputable situation arises, that is, when the diagnosis is not clear to the doctor, then he prescribes an additional examination. This is done to rule out other diseases with similar symptoms (shingles, chickenpox, atopic dermatitis, and other similar diseases).
Signs and symptoms of prickly heat in children
In children, there are several types of prickly heat, each of which has its own symptoms.
1. Crystalline prickly heat
Newborn babies quite often suffer from crystalline prickly heat. With this type of prickly heat, the rash looks like white or pearlescent bubbles with a diameter of about two millimeters. In this case, the rash can be quite profuse, and the bubbles can merge with each other, forming larger elements. The blisters are easily damaged, and after that, after a couple of hours, a peeling area appears on the skin. In newborn babies, the rash most often appears on the face, upper body and neck. But in adults, prickly heat can be observed all over the body.
How is this type of prickly heat treated?
For treatment, it is not necessary to use such special agents as bepanten cream, zinc ointment and sudokrem, since after a few days the rash should go away on its own. But if the rash brings discomfort and causes pain, and you notice that the rash looks different, then in this case it is recommended to see a doctor who can prescribe the correct treatment.
2. Red prickly heat
A rash with this type of disease looks like homogeneous bubbles or small nodules around which redness can be seen. The elements of the rash do not merge. The affected area is usually itchy and painful when touched. In humid places or in high ambient temperatures, the discomfort may increase.
Red prickly heat treatment:
- If the sick person turns to the doctor, then, as a rule, in addition to antihistamine drugs (suprastin, diphenhydramine), additional antiseptic solutions are also prescribed to wipe the areas affected by the rash (boric acid, salicylic acid, fucorcin, potassium permanganate or chlorophyllipt).
- Doctors recommend taking a bath with medicinal herbs such as calendula, string or chamomile.
- After taking a bath, products containing zinc oxide or dexpanthenol are applied - zinc ointment, sudokrem or bepanten (see below for these medications).
- In addition to the above listed products for children, you can use talcum powder or powder containing zinc oxide or dexpanthenol for a rash on the arms, legs and butt.
- Probably everyone should know that preparations containing zinc oxide are very effective for treating prickly heat. In addition, these drugs can help treat other skin conditions.
If you know all the effective drugs that will help get rid of prickly heat, then the disease can be overcome much faster.
3. Deep prickly heat
Deep prickly heat manifests itself as a skin rash that looks like flesh-colored bubbles with a diameter of about one to three millimeters. As a rule, in this case, a rash can appear not only on the skin of the body, but also on the legs and arms. Elements of the rash can appear quickly or quickly pass. This type of disease can most often be found in an adult who lives in places with high humidity, and before that has suffered red prickly heat several times. Sweat glands in severe cases are depleted in areas of manifestation of prickly heat, which leads to local dehydration and dry skin, that is, to anhidrosis.
With this disease, against the background of a skin rash, an infection may occur with the development of skin inflammation. The main symptoms of microbial eczema that occur are an increase in body temperature, the appearance of redness and bubbles with a cloudy liquid on the body.
Causes of prickly heat in children
As we said above, quite often this type of disease can be observed in children. If in an adult the reasons that cause its manifestation can be attributed to external factors, then in babies prickly heat is caused by the peculiarities of the development of the child's body, that is, by internal factors.
- Speaking about prickly heat in babies, it should be noted that the thermoregulation of the child's body is imperfect. At first, it remains adapted to the aquatic environment. If the sweat glands of an adult, when overheated, react with sweating, normalizing the body temperature, then the child's body does not have such functions. When the baby is hot, the skin produces a special secret. But if the baby is too tightly wrapped in blankets or clothes, or a thick layer of cream is applied to his body, then the secret does not stand out on the surface of the skin, but accumulates in the glands. As a result, metabolism is disrupted and irritation appears on the skin in the form of a rash.
- The second thing I want to say is that the skin of babies is much thinner than that of an adult. On the back, arms, tummy, the surface of the epithelium in children is thin, the pH level is neutral, while an acidic environment is required for normal thermoregulation.
The skin of children absorbs sweat, which, as many know, consists of a salt solution, a large amount of substances and products of external secretion. It causes irritation and the appearance of a rash due to a violation of thermoregulation, that is, the main symptoms of this disease appear.
Prickly heat can also appear during a baby's illness. When a child has a high fever, he sweats. Then in less accessible areas of the body (behind the ears, in the folds of skin on the neck and legs, on the elbows, on the bottom under diapers), you can notice a small pink rash.
How to distinguish prickly heat from allergies?
Allergic dermatitis, or as it is popularly called, allergy, occurs when the baby's skin has come into contact with allergens and toxins. Allergy externally manifests itself as follows: redness, itching and inflamed pimples appear on the skin, which heal for a very long time.
How to distinguish prickly heat from allergies? So, first you need to carefully examine the baby's skin. If red acne appears on it, then this is most likely an allergic rash. The rash also appears as rough red patches on the body, around the eyes and cheeks. An allergic rash can grow in size and become inflamed. In some cases, a clear liquid appears in acne. This kind of inflammation persists on the child's body for a very long time. Allergies, which is typical, can occur, as a rule, in the armpits, on the tummy, on the thighs, on the folds of the arms, on the hands and on the head.
An allergic rash of a newborn baby, and older children, is very disturbing, since the child is constantly itching in the affected areas. The skin itches especially when the child sweats or at night.
Treatment of prickly heat in a newborn child
Mothers should know a few simple rules in order to save their baby from prickly heat as soon as possible:
- Adjust the temperature in the nursery. Know that a comfortable temperature for a newborn is 20-22 degrees. In addition, it is recommended to ventilate the room in which the child sleeps as often as possible.
- Always use well-breathable diapers, remember to change them in time and buy by size.
- Never dress your baby too warmly. It is also not recommended to wrap the baby tightly in diapers.
- Bathe your baby twice a day, and you can also use simple boiled water. Use a potassium permanganate solution every two days, which will help kill all germs on your body. In order not to overdo it with potassium permanganate, we suggest that you write down a recipe for preparing a solution: make a concentrated brownish solution of potassium permanganate in a small container, wait a little, that is, until the crystals completely dissolve. Next, with gentle movements, add the solution to the water bath. So you get a pink medicinal water that will not burn your baby's skin.
- A very good remedy for prickly heat: a solution of string and chamomile. Everyone knows the healing effects of these herbs and their effectiveness. However, do not forget that some children are allergic to herbs.
- Cosmetic products for children are also used to treat childhood diseases. But before you run to the pharmacy, it is best to first consult your pediatrician.
Please note that if your baby has pustules on the little body, then in this case you should immediately consult a doctor and not resort to self-medication.
Other recommendations for the treatment of prickly heat in children
If you want to cure your baby's prickly heat, then you need to know several ways that, believe me, will help to alleviate the course of the disease to a large extent and lead to a quick recovery.
- Be sure to breastfeed your babies, because this is the only way to increase their immunity, which will help defeat the disease.
- Do not lubricate the affected areas with cream, as you will only aggravate the situation. The places affected by the disease will be wet, and as a result, foci of decay may appear. The ideal option is to apply a powder that will dry the rash.
- The room where the baby is located is recommended to be regularly ventilated, but without drafts.
- If you notice that your baby has prickly heat, then try to bathe him at least three times a day. So the skin discharge is washed off. When bathing, use soap only once a day.
- Never swaddle your baby tightly, that is, the fabric should not fit tightly to the body. Otherwise, the baby's skin will overheat, he will start sweating, and prickly heat is guaranteed for the baby.
- In the event that you notice that prickly heat on the baby's body lasts for several days, and abscesses began to appear on the skin, then infection has begun. In order not to aggravate the situation, it is recommended to urgently consult a pediatrician or dermatologist, since these specialists will be able to prescribe the correct treatment for the infection.
In the event that the symptoms do not disappear against the background of treatment, the baby's temperature has risen, itching has begun, then in this case, urgently go to the doctor for an examination, since only he can make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe antimicrobial treatment if necessary.
Popular remedies for prickly heat
At the very beginning of our conversation, I would like to say that, in addition to observing hygiene measures, for the treatment of prickly heat, effective medications are widely used, which will now be discussed.
Bepanten. For the treatment of a childhood disease - prickly heat, modern parents prefer to use expensive drugs, for example, Sudocrem or Bepanten. The main active ingredient contained in Bepanten cream is dexpanthenol, that is, provitamin B5, which, when it gets on the skin, turns into pantothenic acid. This product perfectly restores damaged skin areas and moisturizes it well. But there is one but - this remedy does not have such an anti-inflammatory effect as, for example, sudokrem or zinc ointment.
Zinc ointment. Zinc ointment contains two substances, namely zinc oxide and petroleum jelly. It is used to treat this disease, both for children and adults. By the way, the ointment does not have any contraindications, it perfectly cures skin rashes and also, zinc ointment is an affordable good remedy.
After applying petroleum jelly to the skin, a protective film is created, which helps to retain moisture, and zinc oxide dries out the affected areas and has an antimicrobial effect. By the way, who does not know, but zinc ointment is not inferior in effectiveness to sudokrem and bepanten, and its cost is several times less.
Sudocrem. This remedy can also be used to treat childhood diseases. The composition of Sudocrem is as follows: zinc oxide and zinc ointment. The remedy is very oily, so it is applied pointwise to the affected areas. But it is not recommended to get involved in this remedy when treating prickly heat.
Timely prevention of the disease, which boils down to eliminating the main causes that cause its manifestation, as well as proper treatment, will help you no longer look for an answer to the question of how you can cure prickly heat.
The author of the article: Sokolova Praskovya Fedorovna | Pediatrician
Education: Diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received at the Volgograd State Medical University. A specialist certificate was immediately received in 2014.
