Insect bite - should I be concerned?

[SilverBellsandCockleShells]

On Tuesday evening, I was, I presume, bitten by an insect of some kind on my thigh. When I went to bed, I noticed a red pin-prick and thought nothing of it.

By morning, the pin prick had grown to a red area about half an inch wide by an inch long, with a pinkish circle all round. The red area is not tender and does not itch, but the whole leg aches a little. By yesterday evening, the red area was about an inch in diameter and the pink area all round was probably five inches in diameter and it's about the same this morning.

I've put some antihistamine cream on it, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect. Should I be concerned and seek medical attention or is it all perfectly straightforward and will heal in its own time (don't want to waste medical professionals' time if it's nothing to worry about!).

Thanks!

I think you need to consider a tick bite with a circular rash. If it is, you need antibiotics to counter Lyme disease. The rash going will make it harder to diagnose. I would def go to the GP and explain and let him look at whatever remains of the rash. It is not in any sense being "a bit of a fraud".

Hi Larry,

It's not really a circular rash, not like the tick bite pictures I found when googling. It was an angry red blob in the middle, with a bigger area around it which was clearly still affected but just pink rather than bright red. The pink area (which was covering about half of the top of my thigh in the end) has disappeared this morning to the extent it is no longer visible and I'm left with a pinkish/reddish blob about one and a half inches in diameter. The aching has gone too and it's started to itch a bit, which is often a sign of healing, I believe!

Thanks for your concern. I'll be keeping a very close eye on it and will seek medical attention if it gets worse or if I develop any other symptoms!

Good luck, hope it's all a faint memory soon.

Thought I'd come back with a quick update on this one, in case anyone is interested! I was actually going to update at the weekend, to say that the pink area had disappeared completely and I was left with just a small scab where the initial puncture wound was.

However, in the last couple of days it has flared back up again and it is now very red, hot and itchy over about half of my thigh! Yesterday, I marked the edges with a pen and took an anti-histamine and this morning the redness had increased further. So I got an emergency appointment with the GP and he suspects cellulitis and has prescribed a week's course of anti-biotics.

So, in short, you were all right and I was wrong! Sorry!