Pityriasis Rosea

Yes you can i'm no doctor but you can get it basically everywhere trust me I know, mine traveled all the way to my toes. :oops:

My doctor told me I would only have this once in my life. Hah, this is my second outbreak, and it is in my hair. I can see alot of my hair is coming out from the scratching. So, I walk around looking as though I have lice. It has taken since last year, for last years scars to go away. Hopefully someone out there can relate and help me out with this because it seems as thought I will be dealing with this again in my life. I wish there was this pin pointed thing I could stay away from to not get this stuff, but the only answer I ever get is that there is no cause or cure, and that more than likely since I have had it twice, that I will have it again. Does anyone have any methods to make this easier??? Any advice will be appreciated, thank you
itchy in missouri

First do not scratch, I know it is extremely hard, but scratching spreads it. Second, oatmeal packets (aveeno), do not use the soap it burns. Third moisturizer, lots of it, no perfumed it burns like hell. Fourth life saver glycolic acid, cream and toner for scars. I do not know what color you are but I black, not black but my race is black, I am like a nice caramel color, or should I say I was, now I look like a spotted fool, anyway the glycolic acid is working, it tones your skin. No perfume it burns, no hot baths more bumps appear and don't do not scrub, it burns. Pat yourself dry after baths when you scrub skin burns and rash spreads. Palmers cocoa butter for scars work wonders along with the glycolic acid... I had this itchy thing since january/05 and still see a couple of new ones pop up every now and then and I still have the scars from scratching........ :oops: :roll: ( sorry for any mispellings my spell check button will not work and I do not want too read this over it is long).

Yes the sun is a cure-all, and tanning beds, but not for too long. Do ont want to damage skin, I hav an advatage I live in florida, maybe that is why mine healed so fast. Really not that fast got it in jan. And still lingering now. :roll:

Sorry to have to ask this but what is pityriasis rosea ?
Are they bugs or just a rash an how do u get it?

It is a rash the first bump looks like a ant or mosquito bite and then starts to look like ringworm, then it spreads, mostly it spreads by scratching it, it is a very ugly rash - no - bugs involved. But it itches like hell..... :shock:

Hi

i have just been told I got pityriasis rosea.
My body is still growing the red spots.
Was just wondering if anyone knows how long the spots grow for before it reaches its maximum and then spends the rest of the time not growing but just fading away?

Hi shoshi. I was also diagnosed to have pityrisis rosea. Mine started last december january. I thought the red spots were insect bites and then it started to get big like ringworm, just like what shellshell mentioned. The derma said it will go away on its own, no cure because its a virus. Told me it will take about 3-8 weeks. But up to now, I still have some bumps. So we really dont know when this will be gone totally. What irritates me most is the itching and the red spots. Before I could wear 2 piece, now cant wear even shorts and sleeveless. Have rashes on my trunk, inner right arm and all of my thighs. Its a disgusting sight. I am really praying that this will all go. Tried to tan my skin, because if you are fair skinned the red spots are more obvious. Now my tan is starting to fade, and the red spots are as bad as ever. Cant stay in the water too long, because it will dry the skin, it will itch some more. Cant put anything as it may irritate the skin. If there's a derma out there, can you please help us? What can we do to be healed of this pr? I really cant take the sight of this anymore, and the itch. When the rashes start to fade, another herald patch will start and more little rashes would come out. So its just a cycle, no healing. Please please help us...

Hope ppl are still reading this topic in this slow forum, anyways... I also have lupis btw if that means anything.

My doctor diagnosed me with pityriasis rosea recently and man it's been painful. It's all over my back, chest, stomach, shoulders, neck, thighs, face and the backs of my arm. I even had an itchy scalp.

I'm considering the "sun treatment". I stopped wearing a cap and it appeared to "cure" my forehead of these spots. I also notice that all the spots on my body are areas where I usually don't expose to the sun (ie. Read list above). Coincidentally, the back of my neck is free of spots, which is some supporting evidence sun is good. (back of my neck is quite tanned)

so are tanning beds just as good as the sun for this? I'm not familiar with tanning salons, do they give you a private room? I'm finding it hard to tan my body anywhere as I don't want to be letting the world know about my grotesque body. Plus I need to tan my butt, sitting on a chair with an itchy butt is painful.

I tried the oatmeal baths, sure they are nice, but they are quite inconvient. Plus the packs cost like a $1 each, quite pricy... Is oatmeal based body wash a good enough substitute?

Any moisterizers you people can recommend?

My dealing with pityrisis rosea has not been a fun battle first when I visited the dermatolagist they said that I had allergies because it was not that bad at first, then I went back because I had a bad outbreak all over my body. Then they finally diagnosied me with pr. They gave me zyrtec which seemed to work really well, but then I went to see another doctor for a second opionion and he said that zyrtec would make it last longer which might be true because i've had it for about 8 months now, and that doctor gave me a cream called betamethasone valerate cream which I was reading had a lot of bad side effects. Does anyone really know if the second doctor was right because the zyrtec was a wonder drug I took one everynight and I didn't even no I had it. Now i'm miserable so I don't no what to do I want to get rid of it so if that means to be miserable for a while I guess I can. I don't no what direction to go in. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

I've had one bad bout of pityriasis rosea, & milder instances of it occasionally over years.

The only thing that has helped me (& i'm sure if I was more diligent would prevent it from coming back) is chinese medicine (for those of you open to an alternative).

I have tried the conventional way and sought dermatologists, with no decrease in symptoms or signs.

Chinese medicine seems to talk about it as being a "wind/heat" issue with your body (don't quote me on this, i'm no expert).

There are a combination of causes from stress, weather (environment), sleep(or lack of), foods.

They will either give you round black specific herbal pills or natural herbs that you have to boil up and drink (yuck!). And sometimes you can get a topical treatment to apply externally (also boiled herbs).

I find if you are diligent, the majority of it will usually subside in as soon as 2 weeks, especially the itching, swelling, burning, inflammatory stage. But can obviously take longer for all to diminish depending on the severity.

Hope this helps someone...........

i just wanted to tell everyone, i have pityriasis rosea. i first got the herald patch in the beginning of april, but i didnt know what it was and i finally got diagnosed like 2 weeks ago. since then ive gone to see a chinese doctor and had acupuncture done and was given herbs to take and this liquid to wash with and my rash is sooooo much better and fading. i know doctors say there is no cure, but seriously, consider going to a chinese herbal doctor or something, because of all the posts ive read, the people who have had the most success have gone to chinese doctors. i would probably still have pityriasis rosea a lot worse and for a lot longer if i didnt go. good luck!

My granddaughter had it last year.Doctor said it was ringworm..but it was on her face and spread to her neck and chest.Meds doc gave her made it spread even worse.She was then taken to a dermatologist.She was given an ointment and oral med to take.It cleared up completely.He had told her there would be a christmas tree on her back and there was.It started out like flakey spots then started to look like ringworm.I wish i could remember the meds he precribed for it...all i know is it did help and cleared up.So if you haven't been to a dermatologist please do because we tried different things before she went there and nothing helped...it just made it spread more.

I have had it for 10 years and the spots are still there. I have been to multiple doctors: Western Medicine and Chinese. Can someone tell me what I can do to get rid of the pigment. I am a 21 yr old female and those visible spots really bother me. This experience has been horrible...

I was diagnosed with PR about 1mth now. Went to a doctor then to a Dermatologist both were correct on the diagnosis. The only thing they gave me was do's and dont's and that its "Gonna get worst before it gets better". Oh... a small cream that lasted 3 days.

Now im a male 37 years old, done my research and nothing i can do but wait it out. So now its been 4 weeks ,rash has taken my trunk ,inner arms , pelvic + groin, back shoulders and its now going down to my legs.

Do see that warms baths are a no no, it really cause the rash to redden and this seems to cause it to spread more. I Dont use any fragrance soap because im afraid that burning would probably be the result.

So how do you deal with an itchy rash, well... i use comfortable clothes , creams (lots) and focus that this will one day end. How do you sleep, i take benadryl (it knocks you out but works) so itching is not a problem at night. I try to not scratch but sometimes its hard to prevent. And when your scratching its feels so good but at the same time your damaging your skin.

Now i feel for those on this forum who dealt with it for mths and years, seems the documents from professionals are not as positive as they sound. At first they say its non-reoccuring although there has been cases. That the rash dont spread to face and scalp but again there has been cases.. I guess ive been lucky to this point that the face has not been exposed to such a ugly and unattractive rash, especially if you happen to be of a medium to dark complexion because pigmentation is a problem with this rash. Im looking like leopard all dotted in my arms and trunk.


This is my 1st occurence and I hope is the last i see of it. Im gonna look into the chinese herb legends and see if this does help if i happen to be one of those "rare case".

In the meantime im suppose to enter the "skin shed" stage so ill be a snake for the next few weeks.

If rash continue i may seek some advise about taking an antibiotic called erythromicin (not spelled correctly) if Doctors would pescribe it. They say this can help stop this rash , although they cant provedhow it does it, because it has worked on some patients and in others , it has not.

So Hang in there guys and try to eat healthy , maybe change your diet, cleanse any toxins from your system. By all means seek other alternatives if rash is still a problem.

I'm a 24 year old male. I recently got pr, don't know how or where... But i've had it for about two weeks now. Found out about a week or so ago. My scalp had been itching for several days prior. I first noticed the bumps on my wrist then my wife noticed them on my torso region. The bumps have since migrated up and down my back, sides, legs, and upper region of my buttox. I now have them on my sholders and a few have located themselves behind my ears. The ones behind the ears itch the most. To describe the itching, it is mild and not severe. Pr only gets severe itching if you use hot water, excercise alot, and sweat a great amount. Stay cool and you shouldn't itch as much.

I have found that allegra helps the itching. I've been on allegra 180 and flonase for several years now due to allergies. These medications have completely eliminated any itching from insect bites (even those mosquito bites).

I also have some caladry clear that helps get rid of the mild itching. Aveeno helps, but use it in luke warm to cool water.

I've had this for over about two weeks now and the marks on my stomach are fading away. The ones on my back are still visible, as are the ones on my neck and behind my ears.

It should be noted, that scratching doesn't spread the spots. However, if you feel an itch in a place that doesn't have spots, you may see them appear within a few days.

According to all my research, the typical timeframe for this is 2 weeks for spots to develop and grow. Several (2-12 weeks) for the spots to remain, and 2 weeks for the spots to dissappear. Uv light helps to get make the spots less noticable as well as helps the skin fight them. Just remember to use a little sunscreen.

In the meantime, your minimally contageous if at all. It is not yet known how this is spread, so continue with your daily life. Pr should only occur once in your life. If its reoccuring, you may have another condition such as syphillis, herpes virus type 6 or 7 (which all have similar spots to that of pr), or one of the rarest cases of pr.

i had pr too. i had a little on the side of my face and near my chin on the left.

it all stared wen i woke up and saw some little red bumps (my parents and i thought it was acne pimples at first). but then it started to itch, but i didnt even touch it and it started turning into something looking like ringworm (oh my eeww!) then my parents thought it WAS ringworm!

so we went to the doctor and he said it was pityriasis. it itched from time to time but not really alot, i didnt scratch it though, i just beared the itch and use the medication (the name of the cream was advantan milk, it was prescribed so u cant use it unless ur doctor prescribed it for you)
it went in 14 days. the most imporatant thing is.DNT SCRATCH IT!!

My doctor tentatively diagnosed me with PR yesterday. I had a couple of oval, rough patches of skin and shortly thereafter began developing pink, itchy bumps which I originally thought were some kind of insect bite except they itch much more than that and the doctor said the pattern looks like PR.

I itch like crazy, take Benadryl at night to help me sleep but that wears off in about 5 hours so I get 3-4 hours less sleep a night than I normally do. I am on Claritin which helps with seasonal allergies but I'm not sure it does much, if anything at all, for the PR. I appreciate some of the advice that the people have given on here and am going to try a few things to help with the discomfort, especially since I have to work today. I am just glad I do not have any on my neck or face, and very few on my arms, so I don't look scary. I just don't want people to think I am really ill or have some kind of vermin.

AHHHHHH I'm going crazy from lack of sleep!

I have been dealing with this pain in the ass rash for 4-5 weeks now!!! Everything says it RARELY affects the face...well guess im one of the exceptions!!! i have spots along my hairline, by my ears, behind my ears, AND in my scalp!!! the ones on my scalp itch the most!!! Believe it or not i even have some on my private area!!! i hate it bc i have to really think about what to wear that will help disguise the spots. I have them pretty high on my chest and on my neck and also high on my back so it's REALLY difficult to cover up completely...especially in this Texas heat! Mine started out with what i thought was a ringworm on the side of my torso then couple of weeks later started gettting red spots inbetween my boobs and now have some just about everywhere but my legs. The older ones have begun to peel and it seems like i have spots in several stages. I was wondering if anyone could relate and tell me if the peeling is a good sign...is it getting closer to the end of this battle??? has anyone had long term effects (discoloration, scars) from this???