Distinguishing shingles and three compartment ants: Wounds and treatment

Many people have made the mistake of not distinguishing between shingles and three different compartments, leading to inappropriate treatment, causing bad effects on the skin or experiencing unnecessary complications.

These two diseases have a very high rate of confusion, so it is necessary to distinguish between shingles and three lesions before proceeding with treatment.

1. Differentiate between shingles and three-cavity ants: Wounds

When infected with the toxin of three-cavity ants, many people mistakenly think that they have shingles, so they should buy medicine to apply at home or self-treat according to folk methods.

This makes the wound even deeper. As a result, the treatment takes a long time and leaves a very unsightly bruise for a long time. Differentiate between shingles and ants through the wound as follows:

For shingles

Shingles is common in a few people who have had chickenpox before, then the bacteria migrate to live latent in the sensory ganglia in the lumbar nerve.

When the body is weak, stressed, or after stressful working days, suffering from other diseases that reduce immunity such as tuberculosis, AIDS, etc., the virus will follow the nerve to reactivate and cause disease.

The onset is usually a mild fever of about 38 degrees Celsius, headache, fatigue, pain in the spine, pain along the nerve in the area of ​​​​the skin that is about to be damaged and present only on one side of the person (except in AIDS patients ) . .

About 2-3 days when the signs appear outside, the patient feels that the skin area is itchy, tight, burning, and painful. Painful swollen lymph nodes may be present at the respective site. In addition, the body also feels fatigue and headache. We can distinguish shingles and ants through this expression.

Appears red patches, mild swelling, ridges slightly higher than the skin surface, circular or oval in turn floating along the nerve. They can be scattered or in clusters, in long strips, in streaks.

Appears red patches, mild swelling, ridges slightly higher than the skin surface, circular or oval in turn floating along the nerve.

Next, clear fluid-filled blisters begin to appear on red patches in clusters. They are often stretchy and difficult to break; then it gets bigger, the fluid becomes cloudy and easier to break.

They eventually break, ooze, and deflate, and the surface begins to dry, scab over and leave a scar (if infected).

For people with three-cavity ants:

Signs of lesions caused by ants often appear suddenly: Usually appear on open skin areas on the body such as the face, hands.

Wounds in long streaks or clusters.

Initially just red spots, then swell into pustules, with a yellow-white spot in the middle.

Lesions caused by ants are red spots, then swell into pustules, with a yellow-white dimple in the middle.

If you do not take care of it carefully, it can cause ulcers and leak fluid.

There will be a burning sensation, itching, discomfort, in some cases fever, lymphadenopathy.

Thus, we can see that the wound caused by an ant sting is not completely similar to shingles.

2. Distinguishing shingles and three-chambered ants: How to handle it

Contact dermatitis is caused by ants, but if misdiagnosed as shingles, it will cause dangerous complications. Therefore, distinguishing between shingles and ants is very important to avoid the dangers of the disease.

As noted, more than 80% of patients who come to the Central Dermatology Hospital for treatment often confuse the symptoms of three burning compartments with shingles.

Because of confusing the sting caused by ants with shingles, when the skin appeared wide, diffuse, pus-filled burns, many people bought drugs to apply themselves. There are patients who apply too much Acyclovir to the point of skin ulcers, deeper lesions, at this time the treatment will be more complicated.

How to treat shingles:

Shingles (or shingles) is a reactivated form of the varicella zoster virus; ie the patient has previously had chickenpox (also known as varicella).

As mentioned above, some patients infected with chickenpox as children recovered, but the virus was not killed but hidden in nerve cells - the nerve ganglia in an inactive form. After a long time, the virus reactivates into shingles.

Therefore, the treatment is that as soon as there are suspicious signs of the disease, the patient needs to be examined in time to accurately diagnose the disease and have an appropriate response plan to avoid complications and protect health. self.

The best way to handle it is that you should see a doctor to receive the correct indication of shingles or trident stinging.

As for the wound of the three-chambered ant, you need to do the following steps:

• Local: Wash the lesion with solutions such as physiological saline, or clean water to neutralize chemicals that cause burns caused by ants.
• After that, you can use topical creams to soothe the skin such as: lake, zinc cream, corticosteroid cream...
• When the lesion shows signs of blistering, depending on the extent of the injury, the doctor prescribes the appropriate drug. In mild cases, just disinfecting, the disease will go away on its own.
• If the condition is moderate and severe, it is necessary to apply skin softening drugs, topical corticosteroids, take oral antihistamines, or take antibiotics when there are signs of superinfection.

These two diseases have a very high rate of confusion, so it is necessary to have a way to prevent three compartment ants, distinguish shingles and three compartment ants before proceeding with treatment. Do not self-treat without a specific diagnosis to avoid complications!