To think my BF should go to the doctor? (Warning - pics included)

[BFE]

My bf has had these large red areas on his chest/back for around 4 months. He won’t go to the doctor, to be fair it’s not very easy for him to do that as he works 12 hour days. He finally went to the pharmacy last weekend and asked them what they thought it was, they said psoriasis and sold him some E45 itch relief cream and he also got some vitamin D tablets. But now it’s more irritated than ever and so I don’t think the cream is helping, it seems to be doing the opposite.

Is he going to have to take a day off work, or are there any medical types on here that could point us in the right direction?

I thought Pityriasis rosea was there an initial patch at all?

He could go to the nearest walk-in centre. They are open 7 days a week. Maybe he could go tomorrow.

nails are normal!

Have they been wet at all or stayed dry the whole time? DD had very similar, was originally misdiagnosed as ringworm by a pharmacist, turned out to be impetigo. They started off as small wet areas then quickly grew to big, dry circular patches.

@BFE if it is Psoriasis, I can recommend the cream Charity Pot from Lush (maybe once this has calmed down a bit). It has really helped mine & my Dad's. You can get a smaller pot for a fiver and a little goes a long way.

If he was helping with sheep, could he have been bitten by a tick and got lyme disease? They can be tiny, not always the huge bloated thing of nightmares

Looks exactly like the psoriasis that an ex of mine had. GO should be able to prescribe a topical steroid.

Yes a pharmacist can diagnosis and treat fungal infections. You need clotrimozole for fungal infections (the active ingredient in canestan). Fusidic cream and ointment is for bacterial skin infections and is prescription only. Go back to a pharmacist (there will be some open over bank holiday)

Must point out I'm not saying it is ringworm, it needs to be seen by an actual pharmacist or gp before beginning treatment of any kind.

Hopefully he find get some answers but that looks like ringworm to me.

This

Ooooohhhh, << rubs thigh with one hand because strictly speaking it isn't sporn but I'll take what I can >>

Does it smell ?? And is it wet or dry ?

looks like Psoriasis to me.

You can temporarily register with a GP if you work away or split living. I have had to do this a few times.

He's got 3 lesions, you've self diagnosed 3 possible causes. Perhaps treat each lesion differently ie one as if psoriasis, one as if ring worm and the the other as if eczema and see which one starts to improve.

That's what I'd do if I couldn't see a Dr in the near future.

Or perhaps prioritise your health like a sensible person and see a doctor?

If he’s in construction and doesn’t want to take time off because it’s a days wages missed I’d be tempted to go private in his position for a one off gp appt. Normally £100ish. Will save all this faffing.

That's also the first thing I thought when I saw the pictures. Definitely needs to see a doctor.

Could be this:

https://dermnetnz.org/topics/granuloma-annulare

He needs a doctor to confirm though.

Still waiting for 111 to call back, a bank holiday weekend probably wasn’t the best time for him to finally try and see a doctor. He’s nearly at the end of the job he’s doing, then he should get a few weeks break before the next job, so he can get seen then if all else fails.

If it is a fungal infection, Nizoral shampoo is great. DP had something like this all over his back/chest and had to lather it and sit for 10mins before showering (can't remember how often, sorry!).
Hope you get your call back!

My first thought was also ringworm! Be interesting to know what the Dr diagnoses. Hope he gets seen soon.

The fact that people are replying, with total confidence, that it’s definitely any one of numerous conditions is the reason he needs to see a doctor, who will likely refer him to a dermatologist.

If it helps, I had an awful bout of psoriasis, triggered by an infection I’d had a month previously, when I was a student. It looked very like this. It took a long time to diagnose and various different treatments to deal with it, so the fact that he hasn’t seen an improvement from the pharmacy products doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t psoriasis. But equally it could be something else. So he needs to get it looked at.

Also the wait to see a dermatologist locally is over a year so he really ought to et in the system sooner rather than later. In my dh’s case the gp(s) openly admitted he didn’t have a clue what it was. They kept shrugging and prescribed steroid cream which didn’t help. So he was deteriorating while potentially having a very lengthy wait.

i think he should go to the doctor however I think it looks like ringworm.