How Is a Skin Rash Diagnosed?

Physicians often face difficulty in diagnosing a skin rash of generalized condition as a lot of varied conditions lead to the development of similar skin conditions like bumpy and irritated skin. A single medical condition can often result in several different skin rashes with varied appearances. An accurate and rapid diagnosis is critically crucial to take decisions concerning the treatment of the person. Particularly in the case of higher mortality or significant morbidity patients, there is a need of prompt intervention. It is equally important to get an inclusive differential diagnosis when a certain diagnosis is not rapidly apparent to plan a diagnostic strategy and initial treatment. [1]

The first part of the diagnosis for a skin rash involves the evaluation of skin by marking off the tables listing all the rare, common, and uncommon causes of generalized skin rash to help achieve an inclusive differential diagnosis. The tables explain the primary clinical features and suggest tests to accurately diagnose skin rashes. If the diagnosis of skin rashes remains unclear, the primary care physician then decides whether to observe and treat the patient empirically or to perform further diagnostic testing. Sometimes, the doctors refer a patient with skin rashes to a skin specialist or dermatologist to get a more accurate diagnosis.

The decision of doing what kind of diagnostic testing depends on the possibility of the patient’s health condition and occurrence of a serious disorder. Generalized skin rashes are the most commonly occurring conditions among a majority of the people by primary care doctors and one of the most frequent reason of new patients to visit the dermatologists. Some diagnostic errors are common involving the skin rashes of generalized nature.  However, an accurate diagnosis for skin rashes is also important as the course of the treatment varies depending on the cause and etiology of skin rashes.

As some rashes can be dangerous if we do not treat them immediately so a better diagnosis can help in properly treating the skin rashes. There are different ways to diagnose a skin rash and the type of test a person gets will depend on his medical history and symptoms. The healthcare provider will order one of the following tests for diagnosing skin rashes: