What does scabies look like?

Scabies are an extremely contagious cutaneous disease. Of course, today it is not so common (according to statistics, there are 14-33 cases of the disease per 100 000 people), but it is necessary to know how scabies look.

It must be said that this disease has no definite incubation period. The first symptoms can appear in a few hours, and a few weeks after infection. If the skin has fallen on mature males of scabies mites, they quickly penetrate the skin, so the disease will manifest itself very quickly. In the event that the larvae of a mite have got on the skin of a healthy person, the incubation period will increase until they reach maturity.

If you want to know what scabies looks like, you need to get acquainted with the characteristic symptoms of this disease. On the affected areas of the patient's skin will be visible itch, papules and serous crusts. It should be remembered that most often the scabies are affected by such areas of the body as elbows, belly, groin area, hands, buttocks and mammary glands in women.

The main feature of the disease is the itch moves, which adult mites mite pads under the surface of the skin. They look like white-gray lines, slightly rising above the skin. Lines can be straight and curved, their length, usually, does not exceed one centimeter, and at the end of the line you can see the dark point, which is the female of the scabby tick. It should be noted that in some cases the itch moves look like chains of small bubbles, and if the infection has occurred recently, then the moves may not be noticeable at all. Therefore, it is unambiguous to say what scabies looks like, maybe not always.

A characteristic sign of scabies is also a strong itch, which, as a rule, increases later in the evening. In addition, if an infection was inflicted during combing, the affected areas of the skin can be covered with pustules and crusts.

And how does scabies in young children look like? It must be said that this disease in babies has its own characteristics. In children, as a rule, a large area of the body appears, including the scalp and the soles of the feet. In addition, when the scab of the wrist is affected by the scabies, the nails are modified in children, they thicken, crack and crumble.

Naturally, you may have a question, how to determine the scabies, that is, how to accurately diagnose? The right decision if you suspect a scabies infection will be to contact a dermatologist who will carry out the necessary tests and determine if the skin is actually affected by an itch mite or if you are concerned about a skin condition that has similar symptoms.

It should be noted that there is another type of this disease, called Norwegian scabies. This form is often observed in people with weakened immunity. When infecting with Norwegian scabies, there is practically no major symptom - severe itching, although millions of pincers are found under the skin of the patient. The disease remains acute and is manifested by the presence of exfoliative dermatitis.

Spontaneous scabies are not cured, in the absence of therapy, the disease turns into a chronic form. Chronic scabies can occur for many years, exacerbated from time to time. Thus the sick person remains infectious for associates.

In order to be cured of the disease, it is necessary to destroy the mite and its eggs. To do this, use external means that have an acaricidal effect. General treatment, as a rule, is not required.

Successful treatment of scabies requires compliance with certain rules. And the most important of them is the simultaneous treatment of all people who are in contact with the sick. The family members of the patient living with him, must prescribe a similar treatment, even if they do not yet have signs of illness.

The therapeutic agent should be applied to the entire body, excluding the head and face (for small children this exception is not made), and the application of the drug is recommended by hands, not a tampon. If scabies triggered complications, for example, associated skin infections, then treatment of the underlying disease and complications should be carried out simultaneously. It is also necessary to disinfect the clothes and clothes of the patient.

If you follow these principles and follow the recommendations of a dermatologist, you can cure scabies quickly enough.