Articles

Saudi Arabia is a very hot area of the world most days of the year, and the incidence of dermatitis (skin diseases) have increased in KSA especially in the period of hajj for many reasons, including:
   
    Increased secretion of sweat as a result of the impact of the hot sun.
    High humidity.
    Large gatherings.

Crowded conditions during the Hajj among people who come from around the world increases the incidence of infections, especially Skin diseases. 
The following are the most common skin diseases during Hajj session:


o    Hyperhidrosis

Sweat increases during the hajj season considerably due to high air temperature, high humidity most of the day and night, resulting in lack of secretion of urine, and feeling thirsty.

Prevention and Treatment:

People who tend to sweat profusely in both summer and winter should avoid hard work, especially in the hot hours of the day. They can take some of the medicines that reduce sweating under the supervision of a physician specialist. Hygiene remains the best defense against hyperhidrosis.


o    Exfoliation (Abscess in Curves of the Body)

It can occur in overweight or obese people under the armpits and breasts (especially women), upper thighs and sensitive areas in men. In these cases, the skin becomes inflamed and red, and if the disease worsens, more severe symptoms come into play, such as secretions accompanied by painful wisely. 

Prevention and Treatment:
Personal hygiene, avoid direct sunlight as much as possible, and sit in a well ventilated area. Pilgrim can wear "Hajj Pants" that is permitted by the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. These pants will cover the lower part of the abdomen to the bottom of thighs and can be wearing under the "Ihraam Clothes" prevent friction between the thighs and genitals and surrounding area. 


o    Fungal Diseases
Fungal diseases are a group of infectious skin diseases that are capable of causing different diseases. Such parasitic infections are widely spread in areas with hot weather conditions.
The following are the most common o    parasitic infections during Hajj session:

1.    Tinea cruris:
It is an infectious disease that happens due to some parasitic infection. Patient suffering from this disease has severe itching between his thighs. The disease spreads through using the clothes or towels of an infected person. In addition, great overcrowding in hot weather at the time of Hajj causes this disease to widespread among the pilgrims.

Prevention and Treatment:
  Avoiding using the clothes and towels of others, washing all one's clothes in a boiling water and then ironing them to kill all parasites therein, avoiding scratching the infected area with the bath sponge, and consulting the doctor to take necessary procedures.

2.    Tinea Versicolor:

This disease infects the pilgrims due to hot weather and extra sweat excretion. It takes the form of round rash whose color becomes light after taking a bath and then it darkens and becomes brown after some days. It spreads in the same way like tinea cruris.

Prevention and Treatment: Taking a hot shower every evening for a long period that may amount to two months, and smearing the infected areas with antifungal ointment upon the doctor's prescription.

 
3.    Ringworm‏:
It happens due to infection with a certain kind of parasites. It appears in the form of groups of small bubbles around the mouth and the genitals. This is usually accompanied with hypertrophy and inflammation of the lymph nodes, and in most cases, it is accompanied with itch. It is an infectious disease, which spreads through touch and use of a patient's personal things. Overcrowding at the time of Hajj causes wide spread of the disease. There is another form of this disease, which infects the nerves and appears as bubbles, which spread in one side of the body, especially in the face and trunk.


Prevention and Treatment:
Caring for personal hygiene, avoiding using others' personal things, seeking the doctors' consult, especially the last type of the disease, to take the suitable medicine
   
Scabies:
This is one of the commonest infectious dermatitis, which the pilgrims contract. It happens due to some parasitic infection. The symptoms of this disease include severe itching at night.  The superficial burrows of scabies usually occur in the area of the hands, feet, wrists, elbows, back, buttocks, and external genitals. There may also be some red rash on the abdomen where the female parasite makes her course through the body.
This disease is really infectious, so that it may spread among a whole group at once.
Treatment of this disease is nothing than washing the body, scratching it with warm water and soup; then smearing the whole body except the face and the head with the Bezanil cream or sulfur ointment or anything the doctor prescribes. This is to be repeated for two successive nights.
Hajj can use the same treatment if he is infected with head or body lice.

o    Eczema:
It is a kind of inflammation in the skin which is accompanied by severe itching. Acute lesions are composed of many small fluid-filled structures called vesicles that usually reside on red, swollen skin. When these structures break, the fluid leaks out, causing characteristic weeping and oozing. When the fluid dries, it produces a thin crust. In older lesions, these vesicles may be harder to appreciate, but an examination of the tissue under the microscope will reveal their presence. There are different kinds of eczema, including atopic eczema, contact dermatitis, xerotic eczema, seborrhoeic dermatitis, dyshidrosis, discoid eczema, venous eczema, and dermatitis herpetiformis ... etc.


Prevention and Treatment:

The skin infected with eczema is a good environment for microbes, which cause skin inflammation. Therefore, it is necessary to follow these instructions:

-    Taking care of hygiene so as to avoid unnecessary complications
-    Protecting the skin from materials that cause itching, such as wool, artificial fibers, fur and soup.
-    Keeping the skin soft by using moisturizing oils. Avoiding using this kind of oils profusely because it may obstruct the sweat glands and cause more itching.
-    Food allergy is very important, all food and materials that are offered to the patient must be well monitored to see which ones cause the eczema and keep away from it.
-    Consulting the specialist who would prescribe the suitable medicine.

o    Urticaria

The symptoms of this disease are itching and hypertrophy of the skin. It may last no more than some hours, and it may last some days up to two weeks. It usually happens due to allergy to some food or medicine. Chocolate, egg and fish are the most likely to cause urticaria, whereas Penicillin is the commonest medicine that causes urticaria. Urticaria may also happen due to allergy to artificial substances that are added to food to give it some color or taste or to some toothpaste.

Doctors advise such patients to write a diary through which they can discover the main reason for urticaria. Sometimes food is not the cause for it, but rather infection with intestinal worms or due to hot weather or even cold weather, or due to hyper-tension.

Urtecaria patients may have severe itching in their hands when they hold driving wheel for a long time. Urticaria which happens due to cold weather is usually the result of sudden change from hot weather into cold weather, such as the case when one takes a hot shower and comes out in a cold room, or when one remains without clothes till he dries. Hence gradual change protects one from infection with urticaria. Urticaria may also happen due to allergy to sun rays. But such disappears after a short period after sunset. Some medicines may cause allergy if the person who takes them stays in the sun. In such case, the disease appears in the form of skin eruption on the face and any other part of the body that is exposed to the sun. This may happen with medicines like salfa compounds, oral diabetic and diuretic medicines. Also some kinds of food may cause the same effect if one eats them and then go out in the sun, such as eating some lemons or carrot and getting out in the sun.

The main point of cure in this case is to protect the patient from direct contact with sunrays, then to seek the doctors' consult if necessary.

o    Yellow and Dark Freckles

When one exposes oneself to the sun gradually and with care, one's skin may not be much irritated. But sometimes the skin, especially soft white skin, takes some internal measures to protect itself against the dangerous effect of Ultraviolet, forming some dissimilar yellow and brown rash without any eruption outside the skin. Such rash is known as freckles. If the skin naturally has a big amount of the coloring substance (Melanin), such small freckles may turn into large dark freckles.

If the pilgrims have large dark freckles, they should not worry, because such kind of freckles disappears gradually within some months, and the skin returns to its normal condition so long as they do not excessively expose themselves to sun rays. On the other hand, small yellow freckles are not easily cured. Rather it may need scaling off some the external layer of the skin by the specialist doctor.
o    Effects of Heat on the skin of the face
After the pilgrims return back from Hajj, some people, especially women, notice that their faces have greatly changed and that its color has become dark in some places. Moreover, the effect of the sun rays may reach the extent that causes noticeable irritation and wrinkles. However, such changes are natural, and they would take some time and the skin would return to its normal state. So one should not worry concerning that.