Heat stress rash: what should you know?

Heat rash tends to cause small itchy or prickly bumps in warm, covered, or skin-fold areas. Atopic dermatitis may be dry, scaly, and recurrent, while contact dermatitis follows exposure to an irritant or allergen. Intertrigo affects rubbing folds and can become sore or moist. Ringworm often forms a scaly ring, and scabies can cause intense itch with bumps in characteristic locations. Psoriasis may produce well-defined scaly plaques. A drug rash can begin after a medicine and needs individual assessment.

Cool the body, move away from direct heat, and keep the affected skin dry. Wear loose clothing, change damp garments, and wash gently without scrubbing. Avoid fragranced products and heavy ointments unless a clinician recommends them. Do not share towels if an infection is possible, and avoid applying steroid creams to an undiagnosed ring-shaped or worsening rash without advice. Note new medicines, products, travel, household contacts with itch, and whether the rash returns with heat.

Arrange a clinical review if the rash lasts after cooling, spreads, becomes painful, cracks, drains, or affects sleep. Seek urgent help for fever with a rapidly spreading rash, blisters, skin peeling, mouth or eye involvement, facial swelling, or breathing difficulty. A rash beginning soon after a new medicine should be assessed promptly.

Does the rash fit heat rash or another condition? Could a medicine, product, fabric, or infection be involved? What can I apply safely? How can I protect skin folds during hot weather?