Yuck – need help w/ red, scaly patches on my legs
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free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:38 am

I have this nasty, embarrassing little problem on my legs and I wonder if I’m the only one who is so afflicted or if there are others out there who have the same condition and have any recommendations for me.

See, I get these horrible little red, scaly splotches on my lower legs. At first I thought it was psoriasis or eczema or the like, so I’d use products made specifically to treat those conditions, but the splotches would get worse. Finally, in desperation, I used a hydrocortisone cream with colloidal oatmeal in it (Aveeno makes it) on them and – if I applied it religiously and often throughout the day – the spots would eventually loose their scaliness and finally start to fade altogether. So now I’m wondering if it could be some kind of S-E-V-E-R-E-L-Y dry skin? I mean, I do apply lotion to my legs every night but I still get these scaly patches. They don’t itch or anything, they just look horrible. I mean, I’m ashamed to wear short skirts or capri pants when I’ve got these things on my legs because it looks so nasty. Does anyone else have this? Is there anything that will prevent them? What have you found to be the best product to treat it?

Springtime has more or less arrived in central TX and it’s starting to get time to wear clothes that reveal my legs, so I desperately need suggestions, advice, commiseration, anything...HELP!!!

TIA,
Carrie

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:14 am

Hi Carrie, sounds like eczema to me, I have the same thing, especially in the wintertime!You are doing the right thing by putting the hydrocortizone on, Aveeno also makes an oatmeal bath that is awesome for dry itchy skin, maybe try that and stay away from perfumed body lotions for awhile, it should clear up in no time! Donna Very Happy

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:22 am

But I seriously don’t think it’s eczema because when I used a product specifically made to treat eczema (sorry, can’t recall the name of it, but it cost me about $10 for a tube of it!!), it actually made the problem even WORSE!!! Crying or Very sad

As you say, only the hydrocortisone cream seems to help. Even applying straight 100% pure cocoa butter, or pure shea butter, or even pure Vit-E oil didn’t help it. It’s gross!! And it seems like as soon as I get one of the patches under control and starting to heal, another one pops up somewhere else. Too bad they don’t make a body lotion/cream containing hydrocortisone so I could apply it all over my legs to prevent them from happening!! Unfortunately, I’d probably go thru one tube of H-cream each day if I applied it to my entire legs.... Sad

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:28 am

Poor You

, I don't know what to say except maybe see your doc and he/she could prescribe you something else that would work better. Best of luck to you, Donna Smile

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:36 am

I had the same thing many years ago. In my case it was from HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). I just got it on the very lower portion of my legs around my ankles. I could have torn my skin as it was extremely itchy. My doctor gave me a cream that totally took care of it (forget the name).

Good luck with it Carrie. I feel for you.

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 11:08 am

I remember hearing about this condition before...I can't remember anything about it though! ugh...I remember because my legs are a bit scaley looking in the winter..but I don't get the red patches.. ugh..work memory, work!!

free skin care · Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:12 pm

Hi Austin!

Honestly, go see a doctor -- it'll probably take 30 seconds for the doctor to tell you what it is. I say this only cuz my fiance recently got eczema. It started out as these little dry bubbles on his skin. I tried helping him "exfoliate" it thinking it was dry skin. Then we would moisturize. But it just stayed red and dry and patchy.

Then he tried some antifungal cream and that didn't really help much.

After about a month he gave in. Went to the doctor -- doctor looked at it and said it was eczema and prescribed a prescription ointment for it. He's been using it for about two weeks and it's gotten TONS better.

I'm not sure what OTC medications are available for eczema but maybe a doctor can prescribe something else? If anything, tell the doctor what you HAVE been using so he/she can properly diagnose the situation. It's probably not a big deal -- just need something to calm it down for now.

Lisa

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 12:25 am

Carrie - I can't say what it is that's attacking your legs Confused

,but I do have similar issues with my legs. I (and NO laughing, any of you!!) Silenced

use a microfiber towel from an auto supply store (to polish my beloved Mustang). They were in a pack of 8 or 10. Washcloth sized.

I use it in the shower. I wet the cloth, and rub not vigorously, but enough to show I mean it Laughing

then rub some soybean oil onto my legs, wipe them again, like I would with the OCM. Finish my shower, rub little more oil onto me, including the legs again. Pat towel dry.

If my legs are REALLY bad (like this past month) before putting on the oil after my shower I rub some FABULOUS Shea butter I received from an EDS member (thanks again TOO!) while still wet, then the oil.

When I towel off I pat my legs, mostly air dry them. It really seems to help me. I know you have all that stuff, couldn't hurt to try.

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:00 am

Carrie, I haven't got a clue what could help - but I feel for you!

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:34 am

Carrie, you might know why this worked for me, and why it might or might not work for you!

For the first time ever this winter, I got a similar patch of scaly skin on the inside of my right hand. It was painful and ugly. I happened to be at a spa that had a hand cream with lavender in it and it was the weirdest thing.... but the cream exfoliated the area and began healing it almost immediately. They didn't sell the cream and I can't recall for the life of me what the name of it was, but I can find out if you want to try it. They thought for sure it was the healing properties of the lavender that worked on the rough patch. Even though I haven't applied lavender cream since, it must have exfoliated enough to let regular creams work because Eucarin seems sufficient now.

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:46 am

Thanks for the advice, ladies! And thanks for bumping up this old topic, because just yesterday I had mentioned in another thread that I'd found something that is really helping with my nasty scaly leg patches: mango butter from TPF! Seriously, overnight it reduced one of the really hideously red and inflamed looking scaly patches to a healing pale pink and by this morning (Day 2), it was almost completely gone.

But I think I might try that microfiber-chamois idea from Candy to try to prevent the little b*stards from forming in the first place!

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:59 am

Carekate-
Try Acid Mantle! It works wonders for dry or irritated skin and will even help with dryness from eczema or contact dermatitis...etc. It is a white, lightweight cream with no smell(very imp. to me!) It absorbs quickly. It is available by prescription only. I use it for myself and my kids. It had so many uses!

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:15 am

Do they look kind of ringworm like? My son gets these twice a year (he did have excema as a babe) but now gets them during peak allergy season. His doctor prescribes a RX cortisone medicine with his zyrtec D and they calm back down and eventually fade. Being in the Austin area and hill country thought they might be allergy related like his but didn't know. He hates them.

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:29 am

AnnieR wrote:

Do they look kind of ringworm like?

Yeah, exactly! They LOOK like ringworm, but they're not cause the ringworm remedies I tried only made the nasty things get worse.

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:08 am

LandB wrote:

...I happened to be at a spa that had a hand cream with lavender in it and it was the weirdest thing.... but the cream exfoliated the area and began healing it almost immediately. They didn't sell the cream and I can't recall for the life of me what the name of it was, but I can find out if you want to try it. They thought for sure it was the healing properties of the lavender that worked on the rough patch. Even though I haven't applied lavender cream since, it must have exfoliated enough to let regular creams work because Eucarin seems sufficient now.

Ooh, now there’s an idea! When I was talking about the mango butter yesterday in that other thread, I mentioned that it has an odd scent – not bad, just strange – so maybe I’ll melt some of the mango butter down and add a few drops of Lavender EO to cut the smell and maybe it’ll provide a similar effect to your experience as well!

free skin care · Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:11 am

I know that is a strange description (ringworm like) but it seems to be the best way to describe it. Then yours might be allergy related too. Some years they seem worse than others, but I know of a lot of people in this area that get them so it just sort of jumped out at me when you mentioned them. Hope you find what works for yours because I know how frustrating they can be. We just happened to be going to the doc for allergy flares up when my son had them. They also seem to be aggrevated by hot tubs, dry air, hotter showers, anything that dries them up.

Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:19 am

AnnieR wrote:

I know that is a strange description (ringworm like) but it seems to be the best way to describe it. Then yours might be allergy related too. Some years they seem worse than others, but I know of a lot of people in this area that get them so it just sort of jumped out at me when you mentioned them. Hope you find what works for yours because I know how frustrating they can be. We just happened to be going to the doc for allergy flares up when my son had them. They also seem to be aggrevated by hot tubs, dry air, hotter showers, anything that dries them up.

New here and would like to add I also hame what appears to be the same characteristics and symptoms.Dealing with this for years on the shin area of the leg but sometimes spreading to other areas of the body. Initially never much bigger than dime sized and usually very round in shape and would come and go. These days they are much larger and not symmetrical in shape like years earlier. Do not itch our irate only look terrible and seem to take forever to heal only to reappear again. Very similar in shape and color to ringworm, outer red ring with scaling in the body of the patch. Entire patch is red when damp and drys to a scaly appearance. Lotions and moisturizers seem to have no effect. Since it Creates no irritation I continue to progress through life without having it looked at by a dermatologist. 52 and have had it for over 25 years. Definitely reacts to climate conditions as I travel alot and depending on where I live the issues are worsened by climate. Since they are much larger than normal since locating to GA 6 months back I plan to have it looked at.

free skin care · Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:27 am

Edbo wrote:

New here and would like to add I also hame what appears to be the same characteristics and symptoms.Dealing with this for years on the shin area of the leg but sometimes spreading to other areas of the body. Initially never much bigger than dime sized and usually very round in shape and would come and go. These days they are much larger and not symmetrical in shape like years earlier. Do not itch our irate only look terrible and seem to take forever to heal only to reappear again. Very similar in shape and color to ringworm, outer red ring with scaling in the body of the patch. Entire patch is red when damp and drys to a scaly appearance. Lotions and moisturizers seem to have no effect. Since it Creates no irritation I continue to progress through life without having it looked at by a dermatologist. 52 and have had it for over 25 years. Definitely reacts to climate conditions as I travel alot and depending on where I live the issues are worsened by climate. Since they are much larger than normal since locating to GA 6 months back I plan to have it looked at.

Yes, you really do need to have it checked out, Edbo. Good luck with your diagnosis.

There are plenty of us here with eczema and some really good threads on what helps and what to avoid. Best to have the advice of a doctor/dermatologist first, though, just to make sure of what it is.

free skin care · Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:07 am

Blast from the past post! As a matter of fact, since we moved back into town right after that in 2007, I have not had one since.
Before, I lived in the middle of Cedarville and Oak Pollen (and also had a hot tub), which seemed to exasperate the problem. But we also had an outdoor/barn cat who lived in the shoe basket on our porch and could have been a ringworm carrier, you never know.
So in my case, it was definitely environmentally related and/or the chemicals from the hot tub didn't help.
I have seen both the allergy-related and ring worm patches and to me they looked exactly the same! I know the derm could tell the difference.

free skin care · Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:41 am

Edbo wrote:

AnnieR wrote:

I know that is a strange description (ringworm like) but it seems to be the best way to describe it. Then yours might be allergy related too. Some years they seem worse than others, but I know of a lot of people in this area that get them so it just sort of jumped out at me when you mentioned them. Hope you find what works for yours because I know how frustrating they can be. We just happened to be going to the doc for allergy flares up when my son had them. They also seem to be aggrevated by hot tubs, dry air, hotter showers, anything that dries them up.

New here and would like to add I also hame what appears to be the same characteristics and symptoms.Dealing with this for years on the shin area of the leg but sometimes spreading to other areas of the body. Initially never much bigger than dime sized and usually very round in shape and would come and go. These days they are much larger and not symmetrical in shape like years earlier. Do not itch our irate only look terrible and seem to take forever to heal only to reappear again. Very similar in shape and color to ringworm, outer red ring with scaling in the body of the patch. Entire patch is red when damp and drys to a scaly appearance. Lotions and moisturizers seem to have no effect. Since it Creates no irritation I continue to progress through life without having it looked at by a dermatologist. 52 and have had it for over 25 years. Definitely reacts to climate conditions as I travel alot and depending on where I live the issues are worsened by climate. Since they are much larger than normal since locating to GA 6 months back I plan to have it looked at.

Sounds like it could maybe be an autoimmune issue?

Tue May 14, 2013 10:11 am

I know exactly what your going through, I have the red dots too. I can't wear skirts, dresses or shorts which means I can't go on holiday because I know people would stare. It started after I got bitten by some insect about a year ago and it has spread to my stomach, chest and arm.
I was too embarrassed to go to my doctor until I decided that she has seen it before. She prescribed me some anti biotics for 3 times a day for 5 days and some cream called Fuciden cream for 5 days. I was told not to put anything else on it as it makes them worse. I advise you see your doctor before you continue putting anything else on it.

I hope this helps.

Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:02 am

Make sure your home is not infested with pests.

free skin care · Fri Nov 23, 2018 1:22 pm

Hi,
Did the area feel itchy?

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