Itchy skin on areola

March 13, 2009 12:38 PM

What is this dry, itchy patch on my areola?

I know you are not my doctor and I will go back to see my doctor (or another doctor!), but I wondered if anyone out there has any idea what this could be.

For over a year now I've had a patch of dry, itchy skin on my areola. I saw my doctor about a year ago. He thought it was tinea and prescribed a prescription anti-fungal cream (clotrimazole and betamethasone). That didn't work. I saw another doctor. I explained the previous treatment. She said to try Lamisil, which contains clotrimazole but no betamethasone. I have been applying this twice a day as directed for over three weeks now, with no change to the condition.

Both doctors did not think that the condition was serious - ie. not Paget's disease of the breast. I don't have children, so this wasn't caused by breastfeeding.

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (8 comments total)

Chafing? Eczema? If it's eczema, OTC hydrocortisone should do it up.
posted by Juliet Banana at 12:44 PM on March 13

Try getting some sun (yes, I know it's awkward, given where it is perhaps). I have psoriasis, and light therapy worked for me. Note, you shouldn't stay in the sun for longer than 15 minutes without some sort of sunscreen. But yeah, whenever I get little psoriasis patches, I'll hop outside for a while, for a few days in a row, and they tend to get much better, if not go away entirely.

Psoriasis, by the way, is misdiagnosed a LOT. I went through a plethora of doctors and treatments before one figured out what I had right before performing a biopsy on me.
posted by metalheart at 12:58 PM on March 13

I'm with Juliet Banana-- try some OTC hydrocortisone (1% and ointment, not cream) along with some Eucerin (or even better the generic equivalent). Hydrocortisone twice a day and Eucerin whenever you can. I don't have breasts, but oh man have I had eczema. If that's what it is, this should clear it up in a week.
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:41 PM on March 13

I occasionally have some similar patches around my ears and the only thing that works is betamethasone valerate (.1%) (prescription). Application hurts, but it does the trick.
posted by null terminated at 1:49 PM on March 13

It does sound like eczema. If so, the good news is that it's really easy to treat with hydrocortizone. The bad news is that it will probably come back the second you stop using the ointment.
posted by arianell at 2:30 PM on March 13

Nthing Juliet Banana and Mayor Curley, that this could be eczema. My eczema is exacerbated by certain laundry detergents, and fragrances in soaps and other products, so maybe also try switching to fragrance free or hypoallergenic products for anything that touches that part of your body, and use a moisturizing soap, like Dove sensitive skin unscented. Eucerin is good but can be kind of sticky so maybe use that at night and use something else like Moisturel or Aveeno during the day.

Also, you say you've seen 2 doctors about this - were either of them a dermatologist?
posted by gudrun at 4:41 PM on March 13

My eczema is exacerbated by certain laundry detergents, and fragrances in soaps and other products, so maybe also try switching to fragrance free or hypoallergenic products for anything that touches that part of your body, and use a moisturizing soap, like Dove sensitive skin unscented. -Gundrun

Oh, I can't second this enough; I'm guessing you wear a bra, and if so, you could be pressing something you're allergic to against your skin 12+ hours a day. Fragrance-free laundry detergent and glycerin soap aren't any more expensive than the allergen-loaded varieties, and it doesn't hurt to see if switching would help. Tide is my personal enemy, along with dryer sheets and anything with lanolin or anything that stinks like "fresh rain."
posted by Juliet Banana at 6:01 AM on March 14

Seconding to check what you're washing your bra in--even stuff with natural lavender irritates my skin. Also make sure you're washing your bra frequently enough and not sweating in it and then continuing to wear it (pressing the sweat against your skin can make you break out, too). Make sure that you are not in any situation, whether after your shower or, erm, recreational, in which the area gets wet and isn't patted dry right away. And yeah, if you haven't seen a dermatologist, see one.

I also have to strongly and emphatically disagree with the people who said that if it's eczema, hydrocortisone will fix it up right away--eczema is often extremely difficult and sometimes virtually impossible to treat. (Hydrocortisone may still be worth a try, though.) I have never had any eczema that was actually treatable with it, unfortunately.

Good luck.
posted by wintersweet at 1:04 PM on March 14