Among babies and young children, ordinary heat rash is the commonest rash. Although it usually occurs, as its name suggests, in warm weather a heat rash can also develop in the cold if the baby is covered with too many clothes or bed clothes. Heat rashes usually begin on the cheeks, shoulders, bottom and skin creases and consist of pinhead sized red spots. Red-headed and blond children are the ones most likely to suffer and the most important thing to do is to try to keep the child fairly cool.

If you are exposed to poison ivy, oak, or sumac, wash the skin with dish soap and water within 30 minutes to get the irritating oil off the skin. This may help prevent or reduce the rash. Also wash your clothes, your dog, and anything that may have come in contact with the plant.



Avoid products that cause the rash: detergents, cosmetics, lotions, clothing, jewelry, etc.

Home Treatment

Wash affected areas with water. Soap can be irritating. Pat dry thoroughly. a Apply cold, wet compresses to reduce itching. Repeat frequently.

Leave the rash exposed to the air. Baby powder can help keep it dry. Avoid lotions and ointments until the rash heals. However, calamine lotion is helpful for plant rashes. Use it three to four times a day.

Rashes develop for many different reasons and the types of rash that exist are just as various. There are spotty rashes, itchy rashes, blotchy rashes and lumpy rashes. Deciding what has caused a particular rash is hardly ever easy but there are sometimes useful clues. For example, if someone who is taking a medicine of any kind develops rash, there is a good chance that the rash and the medicine are linked.

Similarly, many rashes are caused by allergy reactions, so changing soap powder or using a new type of deodorant or perfume can result in the development of a rash. If you suspect that a rash is caused by a drug side-effect or an allergy, the best way to relieve any associated symptoms (the commonest being itching) is to apply calamine lotion. You should also see your doctor, particularly if the problem could be related to a prescribed medicine.

Differentiating between the various types of rash produced by infectious diseases is never easy - even for doctors. Chickenpox is one of the easiest to recognize since, although the disease commonly starts with a red, blotchy rash, the spots become watery blisters fairly quickly.

A measles rash usually starts at the back of the neck and consists of small red spots grouped together to form red blotches. These eventually appear over the whole of the body. A rubella or German measles rash tends to consist of small, flat pink spots but these also can run together to form red patches or blotches" making it difficult to distinguish the rash from that of ordinary measles.