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Treatment of Pityriasis Alba and its Picture

Introduction

Pityriasis Alba (also called Pityriasis streptogenes) is a rather nasty skin disorder. Adults are somewhat immune to this skin disorder as it only infects children. But also Pityriasis Alba seems to only infect children that fall into a certain age group. This age group for children is between the ages of 6 and 12 years old.

What to Expect

Age Group

As stated before adults will very rarely (if ever) contract this skin
disorder. Pityriasis Alba seems to only ever appear on young children.
The age group that seems to become the main host for Pityriasis Alba is between the ages of 6 and 12 years old. Not every child in that age group will become a host to Pityriasis Alba, you have to remember that it is only a small percentage of children that will contract this skin disorder.

Diagnosis and Testing

It seems that the only way to diagnose Pityriasis Alba is to go to your local doctor. They will be able to discover if your child has contracted Pityriasis Alba. If your child is over or under the usual age for Pityriasis Alba, then do not think that they cannot contract this skin disorder.

Treatments for Pityriasis Alba

There are no treatments that you can get for this particular skin disorder, because most patients have reported that Pityriasis Alba does disappear on its own. Pityriasis Alba will take its time to disappear. But you can try and speed up the process by using hydrocortisone or even a moisturizer might help to clear up the problem quicker. Sometimes these products will help make the skin disorder disappear faster, but other times it may have absolutely no effect at all. Pityriasis Alba has been known to last on a patients face for a couple of months to a couple of years.

Prognosis for Pityriasis Alba

The prognosis of Pityriasis Alba is very good. As the skin disorder gradually disappears there will be no scaring on the child’s face. However if the patient tries to forcefully remove the skin disorder for example constantly washing their face with skin products in an attempt to remove the skin disorder. Then it is probable that the skin disorder could remain with the patient for longer then usual. But if the correct treatment is applied to the child’s problem areas, then Pityriasis Alba can disappear more quickly then first thought.

Complications of Pityriasis Alba

There are a few complications that can occur when suspecting that your child has contracted Pityriasis Alba. Some parents/doctors can confuse this skin disorder with another skin disorder. The other skin disorder that is commonly confused with Pityriasis Alba is called Tinea-Versicolor. However Tinea-Versicolor can be ruled out by the doctor by simply taking a small amount of the flakes at the surface of the rash. KOH will then be added to the flakes and the results of the mixture will then be viewed under a microscope. If there are any signs of fungal elements in the mixture when viewed under the microscope, then the skin disorder that the patient has will not be Pityriasis Alba. There is also another skin disorder that can be somewhat similar to Pityriasis Alba. This other skin disorder is called Vilitigo. The only way to tell if these two skin disorders are different is by the border of the rashes. The border of Vilitigo will have a totally different border then Pityriasis Alba as there is a distinctive difference between the color of the child’s skin and the border of Vilitigo.