Prickly Heat Health Article

Definition

Also known as sweat retention syndrome or miliaria rubra, prickly heat is a common disorder of the sweat glands.

Description

The skin contains two types of glands: one produces oil and the other produces sweat. Sweat glands are coilshaped and extend deep into the skin. They are capable of plugging up at several different depths, producing four distinct skin rashes.

• Miliaria crystallina is the most superficial of the occlusions. At this level, only the thin upper layer of skin is affected. Little blisters of sweat that cannot escape to the surface form. A bad sunburn as it just starts to blister can look exactly like this.
• Deeper plugging causes miliaria rubra as the sweat seeps into the living layers of skin, where it irritates and itches.
• Miliaria pustulosais (a complication of miliaria rubra) occurs when the sweat is infected with pyogenic bacteria and turns to pus.
• Deeper still is miliaria profunda. The skin is dry, and goose bumps may or may not appear.

There are two requirements for each of these phases of sweat retention: hot enough weather to induce sweating, and failure of the sweat to reach the surface.

Causes and symptoms

Best evidence as of 2001 suggests that bacteria form the plugs in the sweat glands. These bacteria are probably normal inhabitants of the skin, and why they suddenly interfere with sweat flow is still not known.

Infants are more likely to get miliaria rubra than adults. All the sweat retention rashes are also more likely to occur in hot, humid weather.

Besides itching, these conditions prevent sweat from cooling the body, which it is supposed to do by evaporating from the skin surface. Sweating is the most important cooling mechanism available in hot environments. If it does not work effectively, the body can rapidly become too hot, with severe and even lethal consequences. Before entering this phase of heat stroke, there will be a period of heat exhaustion symptoms—dizziness, thirst, weakness—when the body is still effectively maintaining its temperature. Then the temperature rises, often rapidly, to 104–5°F (40°C) and beyond. This is an emergency of the first order, necessitating immediate and rapid cooling. The best method is immersion in ice water.

Diagnosis

The rash and dry skin in hot weather are usually sufficient to diagnose these conditions.

Treatment

The rash itself may be treated with topical antipruritics (itch relievers). Preparations containing aloe, menthol, camphor, eucalyptus oil, and similar ingredients are available commercially. Even more effective, particularly for widespread itching in hot weather, are cool baths with corn starch and/or oatmeal (about 0.5 lb [224 g] of each per bathtub-full).

Dermatologists can peel off the upper layers of skin using a special ultraviolet light. This will remove the plugs and restore sweating, but is not necessary in most cases.

Much more important, however, is to realize that the body cannot cool itself adequately without sweating. Careful monitoring for symptoms of heat disease is important. If they appear, some decrease in the ambient temperature must be achieved by moving to the shade, taking a cool bath or shower, or turning up the air conditioner.

Prognosis

The rash disappears in a day with cooler temperatures, but the skin may not recover its ability to sweat for two weeks—the time needed to replace the top layers of skin with new growth from below.

Prevention

Experimental application of topical antiseptics like hexachlorophene almost completely prevented these rashes.

BOOKS

Berger, Timothy G. "Skin and Appendages." In Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, 1996. 35th ed. Ed. Stephen McPhee, et al. Stamford: Appleton & Lange, 1995.

"Sweat Retention Syndrome." In Dermatology in General Medicine, ed. Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, et al. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

J. Ricker Polsdorfer, MD

KEY TERMS

Ambient—Surrounding.

Pyogenic—Capable of generating pus. Streptococcus, Staphococcus, and bowel bacteria are the primary pyogenic organisms.

Syndrome—A collection of abnormalities that occur together often enough to suggest they have a common cause.