Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Hello and welcome to a Wonder Care podcast. I'm Sheena Mitchell, pharmacist and mom of three. I combine healthcare and practical advice to support you on your parenting journey. This season is all about family skincare and it's proudly sponsored by real life. Real life. Believe your skin says how you feel, and this is so, so important as we explore family's skincare concerns. Well, summer is here and this week I'm chatting all about the different types of rashes and skin irritations that this beautiful season can bring with it. No one wants to be in fear of being outside in the sunshine or in the fresh air, especially kids. So I'm gonna talk you through some common rashes and how to treat them. First of all, heat rash. Heat rash is also known as prickly heat. There's a few different kinds of it and it can range from mild, small little pimples, two deeper red lumps.
Speaker 0 00:00:58 It's generally just a pink or red rash, which can be made up of dots, spots, or pimples. Most often this rash affects the head, neck, and shoulders. It's normally a result of the sweatland becoming blocked, swollen, and generally itchy and uncomfortable. It often occurs under clothes where heat is worse and the material of the clothes can sometimes rub off the irritation and cause a little bit more friction. It's quite common for babies to suffer from heat rash. It's definitely more common in young babies than it is in adults, and this might be something to do with the fact that they're not as good at regulating their own body temperature. Do remember when you get warm you can remove a layer of clothes or move to the shade or a cooler place, but a baby is completely reliant on us to do this for them. It can be really hard to tell how warm a baby is, but it's a good rule of thumb that you should dress them in the same number of layers that you're comfortable in yourself.
Speaker 0 00:01:57 So if you're sitting relaxing in a room and you feel a little bit warm, it's quite possible and likely that your baby does too. It can be hard to tell if a baby is warm because sometimes their little feet and little hands are quite cold. Never use these as a way of checking their temperature. You're always best to place your hand at the back of their neck as it gives you a much better sense of reality. Of course, there are some situations where you should see a doctor and with meningitis circulating, I think it would be remiss of me not to mention that a heat rash should blanch under a glass, so if you press it lasts down on it, the rash will disappear. You should also see the doctor if your rash lasts longer than three or four days or if your baby is suffering from a high temperature.
Speaker 0 00:02:45 If your baby's rash is weeping or oozing any form of discharge, then you do need to get it checked out. Basically, if there's any swelling, swollen glands in the neck, armpit, groin area, or if a rash feels particularly hot like it's radiating heat and you're worried, then do contact a doctor for normal regular heat rash treatment is fairly straightforward because the best thing you can do is keep a close eye on their temperature and if they feel warm or the room is warm, then dress them appropriately. Keeping their skin cool is the best way to actually get rid of prickly heat, which sounds easier than it is, but <laugh>, if you're on holidays and you've done have air conditioning, it can be very difficult. Some tips for this include keeping your child in loose fitting light clothes in warm climates. Keep them outta direct sunlight When possible.
Speaker 0 00:03:34 Do take advantage of air conditioned places when you can. So if you're not in an air conditioned house, maybe find a nice restaurant that can give them a little bit of respite or something. Try not to rub your child's skin dry, so let it dry naturally and then pat it gently dry. This all applies to adults as well. Avoid very heavy moisturizers or those which contain petroleum or mineral oils. I would definitely say that when you're using sun cream, it's really important to wash off sun cream before you reapply it in practice. This can be quite difficult if you're at the beach or somewhere like that, but in an ideal world, if there is a shower nearby, you do have a little shower before reapplying sun cream. This helps to stop pours getting completely clogged, a tepid bath, so a bath that is a little bit cooler than normal, but obviously not cold can offer a lot of relief and help to bring down the symptoms of heat rash.
Speaker 0 00:04:35 Do ensure that you or your child are drinking plenty of fluids and if in a hot climate, rehydration saches can be useful. Just to be sure on occasion heat rash can be a little bit itchy. You can use an antihistamine to reduce itch. If that's the case, you do need to have a little check on which products are suitable for your age. Group. Child over two should be able to take an antihistamine in the evening after a day out in the sunshine or outdoors. It's a good idea to wash any sun cream products that you've had on off your skin, and this also helps to remove other potential allergens like pollen or dander that could be circulating in the air using something nice and gentle like rema lipid replenishing cleanser in the shower, which when massaged and gently will form a delicate foam, which will help to remove product from the skin and it'll also help to improve the natural skin barrier and increase hydration levels, meaning that your skin is in good condition going into the next day.
Speaker 0 00:05:39 After the shower patch your skin gently dry and you can apply a light layer of reema or ultra hydrating lotion all over, which is just a daily product which can be used on sensitive skin in children or adults. Again, it has ceramides which C to increase skin hydration and elasticity. If your child's skin feels quite warm and hot, then you do probably need to see a doctor, but you can in the meanwhile try applying something just like calamine lotion to help soothe it further. In addition to all of this, can use something like a damp cold face cloth or an ice pack to help calm down areas which are particularly affected.
Speaker 0 00:06:24 The next most common rash, which seems to happen a lot in our house at this time of year and over the next few months. It's a bit of a downside of having mini explorers, nettle stings, nettles are perennial weeds and obviously they come up at this time of year, particularly along the roadside or in the garden, or particularly around borders or anywhere that there's heavy growth and they're very hardy, pesky weeds and hard to get rid of. Look, there's positives to them. A lot of people will drink nettle tea to try help reduce fluid retention, and obviously the butterflies love them, but sometimes these positive features disappear when you have a child or yourself wailing with discomfort from a stung leg. Nettles have hair, hair-like little structures on the edges of their leaves and stems, and these release chemicals when they brush off your skin.
Speaker 0 00:07:17 These chemicals essentially act as an irritant. The rash, the forms from a nettle sting is known as urticaria and it's characterized by the formation of red bumps or hives, which are usually up to about a centimeter in diameter and their lighting color. The surrounding skin can be red and irritated, and the discomfort from the rash normally starts straight away after the contact. It starts with the stinging sensation and it remains itchy for a good while afterwards. In most cases, it'll just go away by itself within 24 or even 48 hours, but there are plenty of ways that you can soothe it in the meanwhile. One little warning I will add is that while it's extremely rare, it is possible to suffer from an anaphylactic reaction to a nettle sting. Any symptoms like shortness of breath or swelling of the mouth, tongue, throat, any difficulty speaking or swallowing, all require an emergency response.
Speaker 0 00:08:08 But as I said, these are really, really rare. Okay, so some of the tips to treat a nettle sting can be quite counterintuitive. The most important thing and possibly the hardest thing to do, especially if it's not for yourself, but for your child, do not touch the rash for a good 10 minutes after the sting happens. This is so, so hard, but so, so important. Giving it 10 minutes will allow the chemicals to dry onto the outer layers of the skin and then this can be washed off if you rub or touch the skin soon after, then you're spreading the chemicals deeper into the skin tissue and the irritation will actually last for longer and be more difficult to treat. It takes an awful lot of distraction to stop a child from reaching down from a nettle sting on their leg. This is where it's handy to have a pack of Haribo or something in your handbag for adults.
Speaker 0 00:08:58 Just remember deep breaths and try and remember rubbing it is not going to help after the 10 minutes if you can use some water and soap to clean the irritant off the skin cloth with water or even the sleeve of your jumper and a bottle of water will do the job. If you are at home, using something like a little bit of medical adhesive tape can help to remove any residual chemicals. Now I know my three children absolutely hate getting plasters taken off. That would actually probably be more traumatic than them getting the sting in the first place. But for yourself, it's a nice trick to remember to try and stop your child from itching. It's a good idea to give an antihistamine if they're over two years of age, apply a cold compress to the nettle sting to instantly soothe it, avoid warm showers or baths.
Speaker 0 00:09:44 So we want to reduce inflammation, so we're using cold. Try and use light cotton clothing on the area to prevent you from scratching the rash, but also to help any further irritation from happening. A lot of people swear by rubbing a dock leaf on a nettle sting and this is thought to work by the sap, which is released from rubbing the dock leaf on the rash actually soothes and cools the skin, but the same thing applies. This shouldn't be done for 10 minutes after the nettle sting has occurred. Another option would be to make a paste with baking soda and water. This can help to ease discomfort. Of course, there are some pharmaceutical products which can also help. So hydrocortisone is good for children over 12 years or adults, and you can get that over the counter without prescription. It can be used to treat dermatitis from irritation.
Speaker 0 00:10:35 You would just apply this sparingly once or twice a day to the affected areas and just for no more than seven days, it contains mild steroid and helps to reduce inflammation. Another useful product is antis sand cream. This contains an antihistamine called amine and it can be used for relief from nettle rash as well as bites and stings. It can be used by any age group and you just apply it directly to the affected areas of the skin two to three times a day for up to three days. With this, it's best to start using it as soon as that 10 minute period is up. The sooner you use it, the better a response you'll get. It helps to prevent the histamine reaction from getting underway. Okay, the last big problem that we have at this time of year, and it continues right up into the autumn is wasp and bee stings.
Speaker 0 00:11:26 I just want to pause for a second to tell you a little more about the award-winning ReLife products. ReLife understands that your skin reflects how you feel and if you or anyone in your family live with any skin condition from acne and eczema to dry skin or hyperpigmentation, then you also understand this. The good news is that real life is here to help with a range of dermatologically tested and scientifically proven skincare products. Check out the ReLife range on Wonder care.ie. Or in your local pharmacy and learn even more by visiting relife.ie. These are really common in kids because they're more likely to try and touch or catch them. In my experience, they also seem to love bouncy castles, so if you have an outdoor bouncy castle, try and book one without a roof <laugh>. This is from personal experience. I'll never forget last year my poor child turned seven and we had a bouncy castle and as he said himself on his bouncy castle, he got seven stings on his seventh birthday.
Speaker 0 00:12:29 As you can imagine, there was a lot of drama associated with that particular day, but we got through it and I will tell you how now. So remember that a wasp does not leave its stinger behind. Does leave a small dose of venom in its place and it can st several times, so that's nice. Wasps are also more aggressive than bees. When a bee stings, it stinger breaks off and it's left in the skin. It also releases a larger amount of venom than wasps stings. So neither are ideal, but at least bees only sting when they feel threatened. Venom is a protein containing substance which can trigger an immune response and cause pain and swelling. Most bean wasp stings are mild and will just result in an itchy red mark on the skin and that can stay a little bit tender or sore for two to three days.
Speaker 0 00:13:18 Unfortunately, there is a very small minority of children. The figure is less than half a percent who will be allergic to this venom that's left on the skin and they can suffer a severe anaphylactic reaction as a result. And while it's very rare, it can be life-threatening, it's really important to watch out for severe signs of swelling around the area of the sting, but also of the tongue, throat, mouth, any difficulty breathing, any whee sudden nausea, anything like that. After a wasp bee sting needs emergency medical attention. It's also important to remember that if your child is one of that half a percent who suffers from an anaphylactic reaction as a result of a beer or wasp sting, just because they're allergic to one type doesn't mean they're allergic to both. So you can suffer from say anaphylaxis from a wasp sting but not a bee sting and vice versa.
Speaker 0 00:14:15 What to do if a sting has happened? Well, first of all with a bee, you need to remove the stinger as quickly as possible because this minimizes the impact of the venom because there's less time for it to release. To remove the sting, you pull it out with your fingernails or scrape it away by pressing a flat item such as a credit card over the skin and scraping it out. The faster you do this the less impact the sting will have. So do just remember that when you have an unenthusiastic child, <laugh> resisting treatment, obviously if it's a wasp, there's no stinger to be removed. After that, you're gonna gently wash the area with soapy water and apply an ice pack or cold compress to reduce inflammation. It'll also help to relieve pain and reduce any immune response to the sting. You can treat pain with paracetamol or ibuprofen if you need to depending on the age of your child and any other conditions that they have.
Speaker 0 00:15:08 An antihistamine cream like anan that I mentioned earlier for nettles stings can be applied to these things as well and it's really good at helping to reduce itch if the itch is still persistent At that stage, you can give an antihistamine solution if they're over two years of age. I would then try and cover the wound with uh, dressing or clothing where necessary to try and stop your child itching the area which could potentially introduce infection into the little sting mark. Again, other than the kind of symptoms of anaphylaxis that I mentioned there a minute ago, if your child is anyway dizzy or if the rash or swelling is lasting longer than three days, then do get to the doctor. I suppose rather than treating wasp bee stings. It can be helpful to know how to avoid them. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but some tips which may help are to know that well first of all, insect repellants do not actually work against insects which sting.
Speaker 0 00:16:11 There's no point in putting all of your hopes and faith in an insect repellent. Try not to let your child eat sweets or food outside. Obviously these are a magnet for wasps and bees and they will approach if there is food lying around. Try and teach your child not to swat at bees or flies and explain to them that they only st when they're scared or frightened. Obviously that's not quite true for wasps, but still tell them not to be alarmed but just to walk slowly away and not to frighten the beer wasp. I made the mistake of telling the same poor seven year old child to just freeze like a statue if he saw a wasp and he did that while he was on the basic castle, but he slammed his arms right down against him in a tense freeze position, but there was a wasp in under his arm.
Speaker 0 00:17:04 Oh, honestly, I think we have PTSD from that birthday party. But anyway, if there is a lot of bees or wasps around, dress your child accordingly and this can be really hard on a hot day, but leggings or long sleeves, shoes, hats, don't let your child walk around barefoot because it's very possible that they'll stand on a wasp bee who will then of course sting in response. It's very understandable. They don't wanna be stood on. Be exceptionally careful with drinking bottles and drinking cups. Try to only use ones that have lits on them outside because, and actually this goes for adults as well, drinking out of cans. A wasp bee can easily get into a can or a bottle or cup and you may not see it when you go to get a drink and this can result in a sting in the mouth. Obviously if your child is allergic to was bee stings do carry rescue medication at all times as prescribed for younger babies.
Speaker 0 00:18:02 You can get some protective nets to go over your buggy just to make sure that there's good air circulation. Still able to go through it, uh, but they can be a really invaluable tool and can take I suppose, some of the stress area your summer walks. So heat rash, nettle stings and wasp bee stings are definitely the most common types of summer skin problems that I get asked about. I hope you found this information really helpful and that you are able to get outside and enjoy whatever little bit of sunshine we get this summer cause we certainly deserve to at this stage. Thanks a million for listening. Follow and subscribe if you can on whatever podcast streaming platform you use. Thank you.
