The Age After Acne: Skin Health Concerns that Adults Face

You may think that skin health concerns are over once you reach the end of puberty, but many adults face issues over their skin wellness throughout their lives. The good thing about skin problems is that it’s easy to tell when your wellbeing has been affected, as when something goes awry, it is often easily visible during an examination of the skin. We’ve rounded up the top skin offenders out there, so you know what to watch out for.

 

1. Shingles: Also known as herpes zoster, shingles is basically a second round of chicken pox. The infection reoccurs due to latently infected nerve cells in your spinal cord or brain. At first, you might mistake shingles for a musculoskeletal injury, as it often begins with a painful sensation. However, the skin condition soon becomes apparent with a red, blistering unilateral (one-sided) rash. While shingles most frequently impacts the elderly, you can get it at any age. However, the good news is that you can prevent shingles with a vaccination, while antiviral drug treatment within 48 hours of the onset of the eruption limits the development of persistent, severe pain (neuralgia).

 

2. Hives: This very common skin condition – the scientific name for which being urticaria, if you’re interested – occurs when antibodies in your blood stream recognise foreign chemicals. You’ll notice elevated bumps surrounded by an intensely itchy red rash anywhere on your body. There may also be lesions, but each one disappears after eight to 12 hours. In most cases, the hives will spontaneously resolve themselves within eight weeks, but oral antihistamines can provide relief to your symptoms.

 

3. Psoriasis: In this chronic, inflammatory genetic condition, you develop scaling red bumps that combine into plaques. Typically, these appear on your scalp, elbows, and knees and will come and go by themselves. Depending on the severity and extent of involvement, you may be able to find relief by using topical creams and ultraviolet light exposure to oral drugs and injectable medications. Unfortunately, psoriasis is not curable and raises your risk for cardiovascular disease.

 

4. Eczema: Like psoriasis, eczema – or atopic dermatitis if you’re feeling fancy – is a genetic condition. It turns up during your childhood with a chronic itchy, weeping, oozing dermatitis, often localised in the creases opposite your elbows and knees. You might also experience allergies, such as asthma and hay fever. Luckily, the condition improves as you age and there are treatment options, such as the application of emollients to wet skin and the use of topical steroids.

 

5. Rosacea: This chronic inflammatory condition pops up on your face, giving you redness, dilated blood vessels, papules, pustules, and occasionally by the overgrowth of nasal connective tissue (rhinophyma) – lovely. On a superficial level, it resembles that teenage acne you were so keen to get rid of, and often incurs persistent facial flushing, which is an early sign that your skin has an uncontrolled sensitivity to certain naturally produced inflammatory chemicals. Topical and oral drugs can be used for treatment, as well as avoiding certain foods like tomatoes.

 

6. Cold Sores: Herpes labialis, fever blisters, cold sores – whatever you want to call it – is caused by the herpes simplex virus. The virus is dormant in your spinal cord nerve cells, and is triggered by environmental factors like a sunburn or cold. The virus then travels along a peripheral nerve to the same skin site over and over again. You’ll commonly find the sores on the edge of your lip for about seven to 10 days, making treatment unnecessary unless the eruption becomes too frequent.

Categories: adults face, chronic inflammatory, Cold Sores, genetic condition, health concerns, nerve cells, oral drugs, Rosacea, Shingles, skin condition, skin health, spinal cord

Could You Be in the Firing Line for Shingles?

Shingles is a serious infection which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The illness causes a distinguishing rash as well as painful symptoms which develops on the band of skin which is supplied by the nerve. Symptoms tend to dissipate after two to four weeks, but often the pain can linger once the rash has gone. It’s a common illness more in people over the age of 50, but other complications are uncommon. Your GP will prescribe antiviral medication if you are diagnosed with shingles. Although you can’t catch chickenpox twice, the same virus leads to both chickenpox and shingles, so it’s common for people who have had chickenpox in the past to later develop shingles.

 

Sometimes you can hear shingles being referred to as herpes zoster, though this is a very different condition to the herpes simplex virus. Around one in five people develop shingles in their life, and although it is uncommon to have shingles more than once, this does happen in one in 50 people. Stress can trigger shingles, but they usually appear with no real cause. If you’re immune system is lowered or has aged, this may be a reason behind you developing the ailment. So, if you have HIV/AIDS or your immune system is compromised by treatment such as chemotherapy, you may be more at risk. This virus usually affects just one nerve, on one side of the body. It’s common for two or three of the nerves in the same area to be affected though. Usually, this occurs in the nerves on the chest or stomach, as well as the upper face such as the eye area. The pain is localised and can vary in severity, often described as a dull, burning or gnawing pain. Whatever the level of your pain, the skin on the affected area is likely to be tender. The rash is noticeable as red blotches which quickly move on to become itchy blisters. The tissues under the rash may also become swollen and inflamed.

 

Shingles is contagious, as is chickenpox, and will remain so until the blisters have scabbed and dry. If your blisters are covered with a dressing, they will stay safe in terms of how contagious they are. In pregnant women, this can be a risk so if you’ve not had chickenpox and are pregnant, avoid those with shingles. It pays to stay safe with regards to the virus, so avoid using towels with others or going swimming if you have the virus, so as to limit the spread of infection. It’s rare to have any complications with the illness though. In the event of a complication, it may be an infection of the brain – this is because of the spread of the virus through the body. Although very serious, these are extremely rare.The general measures used to treat shingles include wearing loose-fitting clothes to reduce the irritations on the affected skin, as well as cooling the area with ice cubes wrapped in a plastic bag. Simple emollient creams can help to reduce itchiness if the rash is becoming a problem.

 

Shingles can cause very painful symptoms in some people, so painkillers are the best course of action for reducing this side effect. Over-the-counter options are fine and stronger painkillers such as codeine may be useful, but speak to your pharmacist to be sure. If you have shingles, or think you may have come into contact with someone who does and are worried, you should speak to your GP who can advise you and suggest treatment.

Categories: Shingles, Symptoms, Virus

Risk of Cancer for patients with Shingles

Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus resulting in a painful rash with lesions.  It does not increase the risk of cancer in the general population

Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV). VZV is the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus stays in the body. Usually the virus doesn’t cause problems, but it can reappear years later, causing shingles.

Shingles usually starts as a rash on one side of the face or body. The rash starts as blisters that scab after three to five days and usually clears within two to four weeks. There is often pain, itching or tingling in the area where the rash develops.

Shingles is not caused by the same virus that causes genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease.

Herpes zoster infection is very easy to diagnose, and antiviral medication can be used to treat the infection in the early stages.  While the mechanism by which shingles increases stroke risk remains unclear, the possibility of developing a stroke after a shingles attack should not be overlooked.

Although herpes zoster is more common in patients with cancer than in those without, it is unknown whether the risk of cancer is increased for people with herpes zoster.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at greater risk of shingles compared with the general population.

People with a compromised immune system are at greater risk of developing shingles although it has not been previously studied in patients with COPD.

Patients in Taiwan with newly diagnosed herpes zoster found no increased risk of cancer in patients with herpes zoster.

Research findings show that there is no overall increased risk of cancer among patients with herpes zoster compared with the general population, regardless of sex, age or years of follow-up.

Data on other illnesses in patients with herpes zoster, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease, autoimmune disease and heart disease indicate that at the time of diagnosis of herpes zoster or enhanced surveillance for cancer after such a diagnosis is unnecessary

Risk of Cancer for patients with Shingles

Categories: Herpes, Shingles, Virus