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Dermatitis herpetiformis? Do I need to see GP?

7 replies

Mulloffuckintyre · 30/05/2024 20:02

Maybe four or five times in my life I’ve had an eruption of little itchy/sore bumps/scabs on my forehead and a couple of times on my scalp. Back when i was a child I was told to apply iodine to it and eventually it went away. I always thought it was something like a cold sore because there was herpes in the name but I didn’t understand the diagnosis.

So, its happened again out of the blue and googling it looks exactly like Dermatitis Herpetiformis and I’m thinking that the name is where I got the idea about herpes from. However, it’s actually not linked to herpes at all but an autoimmune response to gluten and is very closely linked to coeliac disease. Weirdly, iodine apparently exacerbates it!

It’s only a very small patch and only happened a handful of times, but i do also have extensive psoriasis, which is a different autoimmune skin condition. Should i go to the doctor? A same-day emergency appt is very difficult to get and seems unnecessary, this is hardly an emergency. But, if i go for a pre-bookable it might have gone by then (it’ll be well over a week). I dont even know if i should bother the GP at all…

OP posts:
RacingLine · 30/05/2024 20:50

You can get cold sores anywhere so it could just be cold sores on your head if you see what I mean

I get them on my shoulder!

RacingLine · 30/05/2024 20:56

I would take a picture and book a GP appointment in the interim

mynameiscalypso · 30/05/2024 20:59

My experience generally (as a psoriasis sufferer who also has some weird skin stuff going on) is that GPs aren't very good at this sort of thing. My GP gave me a cream yesterday which she said 'will either make things better or worse'.

cavernclub · 30/05/2024 21:12

I don't have anything helpful to say OP, I'm afraid, other than you have the best username I've seen in a long time 🤣

Flopsy145 · 30/05/2024 21:18

RacingLine · 30/05/2024 20:50

You can get cold sores anywhere so it could just be cold sores on your head if you see what I mean

I get them on my shoulder!

I have outbreak sites on my stomach and my knee, so random!

If it's the same place each time I would say would say could be cold sore. Try go see a GP when youve got it active!

coolpineapple1 · 30/05/2024 21:40

I have dermatitis herpetiformis diagnosed 25 years ago. The rash is always on both sides of your body and generally knees, elbows, buttocks, scalp. It is the worst itch ever, like rolling in nettles with open sores.
If your diet contains gluten generally everyday then it wouldn't come and go, it would be constant. The rash looks like fluid filled blisters that when you scratch them they turn to scabs.

Mulloffuckintyre · 30/05/2024 22:16

@coolpineapple1 It isn’t massively itchy (but neither is my psoriasis which is very itchy for many people) It’s in the centre of my forehead or centre of my scalp. It is fluid filled blisters that scab over if i scratch them at all. I scrolled through a lot of images of skin conditions and it def looks like it on a close-up level. But it does come and go, vveeerrrry sporadically, not related to gluten consumption. So i guess that doesn't fit DH does it? Hmmmm…
@mynameiscalypso it took me forever to get my psoriasis diagnosed, even though i went in saying “i think this is psoriasis”. I was fobbed off with various other diagnoses/treatments that didn’t help before one doc finally said “I think it probably is psoriasis”.
@cavernclub thanks!

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