YANMD but please help me identify this mark on my skin (Pics included)

January 4, 2014 10:34 PM

I woke up with two marks on the inside on my arm three days ago, which I originally thought was a bruise. The marks haven't faded or changed colours, and now I am wondering if it's some kind of burn? They aren't raised at all. I don't remember hurting my arm (it doesn't hurt when I touch them) and I haven't changed my soap or anything. I do have eczema but my rash doesn't look anything like this. Here are a couple of photos - one, two. They are slightly browner than they appear.
posted by tegna56 to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

The best I have to offer is that it looks like a spider or insect bite.

But it's also odd that you seem to have them perfectly spaced from the joint...almost like your arm was burned when it was folded together.
posted by guster4lovers at 10:39 PM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

It looks to me as if the hot end of a cigarette had fallen into a nook created by your arm while it was bent, maybe while you were in a deep sleep. (Zero judgment if this is a possibility; I am pretty sure, but can't confirm, that such things have happened to me.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 11:04 PM on January 4, 2014

It looks like a spider bite on my wrist once. The spacing was possibly caused by you closing your arm on a spider, then bitten on both sides in same place. My bites faded after a couple of days. I had no pain or swelling or any symptoms.
posted by nogero at 11:08 PM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

If you couldn't see them, would you be able to feel them or would they feel different from the skin around them? Is it below the surface or on the surface? If it was a burn of some sort, you would be able to feel the blister. Could you have spilled/dripped some sort of chemical on your arm? When you fold your arm, do they touch each other? Do you think anyone had the motive and opportunity to mess with you while you were unaware? Do you ever (recently) wear a shirt with buttons on the ends of the sleeves that you rolled up and might have been pinched into your skin when you bent your elbow? Do you have any pets?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:49 PM on January 4, 2014

Response by poster: They are perfectly spaced from the joint, so if I bend my arm the two marks line up.
I don't smoke and I don't live with/am not around anyone who smokes.
They feel different to other parts of my skin, but it doesn't hurt.
I can't determine whether it's above or below the surface - it isn't raised.
I haven't spilled anything on my arm, no one has the motive/opportunity to mess with me.
I don't wear those type of long-sleeved shirts.
I have had the same cats and dog for over 5 years and have never had anything like this.

Hope this can help!
posted by tegna56 at 12:30 AM on January 5, 2014

Is it possible that you got a drop of lemon or lime juice on your arm and then spent some time in the sun? Could it be a really minor case of phytophotodermatitis?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:07 AM on January 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

I also have eczema and occasionally get these when I'm too warm/cold. How's the temperature in your home?
posted by tabula rasa at 6:38 AM on January 5, 2014

Did you carry anything in the crook of your arm? Sometimes I will pinch my skin with something I am carrying... or in the gym... etc. on both sides and end up with matching marks.

Generally not round like you are seeing, but they do look like bruises or a spot of popped blood vessels that don't play out like a normal bruise would.
posted by Mysterious Trousers at 8:20 AM on January 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

Do you have a nickel allergy, or any other allergy? I can't imagine how you'd fall asleep with a nickel wedged in there, but if I did that's what it would look like when I woke up.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:24 AM on January 5, 2014

The corpse in the library, that's a good call. And since nickel allergy is a delayed allergic response, it could have been something done 2-3 days beforehand. And as you said, not just nickel but any other metal or chemical that could have been in contact with that area of the skin. Usually the site would be itchy. An irritant reaction (again possibly from a chemical or metal) is similar but unlike a contact allergy can occur within two days of contact.

There's also nummular dermatitis, which is also itchy. More info here.
posted by slomodinkens at 8:36 AM on January 5, 2014

Do they itch, even occasionally? Could be guttate psoriasis.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 3:51 PM on January 5, 2014

Looks a little bit like the beginnings of impetigo sores (which are highly contagious, also known as school sores).
posted by dil.emma at 7:32 PM on January 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everything for the input, turns out they were blood blisters!
posted by tegna56 at 2:09 PM on January 6, 2014