Skin Feels Raw But No Rash: 9 Causes, 9 Treatments

“Skin feels raw but no rash”, are you familiar with this problem. Is this making you worried? Then let’s explore its causes and remedies.

Our skin reacts differently to specific environmental factors causing discomforts characterised with when your skin feels raw but no rash is visible. In addition to that, you might feel a lot of itchiness, a burning sensation and your skin may also turn red on the affected areas.

Most people tend to assume that these discomforts are as a result of them having sensitive skins. In some cases, this might be true. However, several medical conditions cause similar aches and could be confused for skin sensitivity.

In this article I will be covering:

• Possible causes of increased sensitivity to your skin
• Treatment for increased skin sensitivity or having the feeling of “skin feels raw but no rash”
• When to seek medical attention

Causes of increased sensitivity to your skin (Skin feels raw but no rash):

                                Image Source: scottishwomanmagazine.com

1. Fibromyalgia:

Fibromyalgia is a long-term medical condition associated with elevated muscle pain. Other symptoms include memory problems, fatigue, poor sleeping patterns, and numbness in arms, feet, and legs.

When you have Fibromyalgia, your skin feels raw, but no rash is evident.

There is no clear cause for fibromyalgia, and the fact that its symptoms are similar to those of other diseases makes diagnosis difficult. According to healthline.com diagnosis can be made if you experience pain for three months with no identifiable cause.

Even though there is a no known cause for Fibromyalgia, researchers have come up with factors that collectively cause Fibromyalgia. These factors include:

• Prolonged stress
• Physical and emotional trauma
• Infections
• Genetics

2. Migraines:

Migraines refer to severe headaches which last for hours or even days. Its symptoms include eye pain, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and the most distressing symptom being Allodynia. In addition to that skin feels raw but no rash.

Allodynia is a condition associated with a painful sensation on the skin. You might have come across a person complaining about pain on the skin but nothing there to see. This could be Allodynia.

Allodynia is said to be caused by touch from things that in normal circumstances don’t cause pain.

Things that trigger Allodynia include gentle touch from others, bedding, wearing jewellery for examples earrings, water or even clothing.

The following are some of the causes of Allodynia:

• Peripheral neuropathy
• Postherpetic neuralgia
• Fibromyalgia
• Migraine headaches

In case you get chickenpox or shingles your chances of developing allodynia are high.

3. Neuropathy:

Neuropathy is a nerve condition that occurs when peripheral nerves are damaged. Its symptoms include impaired muscle movement, numbness, and pain, unusual sensation on the skin where the skin feels raw but no rash.

Causes of neuropathy include:

• Diabetes
• Kidney or thyroid disease
• Alcoholism
• Vitamin deficiency and
• Some inherited diseases.

4. Anxiety:

When you have anxiety, you might experience a burning sensation on your skin which comes and goes. This itching and burning feeling on the skin can occur anywhere in the body. The skin feels raw but no rash for no apparent reason.

The itching and burning sensations on your skin are not constant. They might come in flashes and sometimes last for hours.

Jim Folk, the president of anxietycenter.com, states that even though stress and anxiety caused skin sensation maybe unusual, it is not harmful. There is, therefore, no cause of alarm.

5. Sunburns:

Sunburns come about as a result of overly exposing your skin to the sun. Sunburns are associated with redness on skin, skin sensitive to touch no rash and also pain tenderness and itching.

Continued exposure of your skin to the sun after you have developed sunburn, increases your risk of other skin conditions and diseases. An example of a skin disease is skin cancer. According to Mayo clinic.

6. Plants (herbs):

Some plants have chemicals that will cause a burning sensation when it comes into contact with your skin. An example of these plants includes stinging nettle and poison ivy which when they get into contact with your skin, skin feels raw but no rash evident.

7. Shingles:

Shingles is a painful viral skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Its symptoms include pain, fever, headache tender skin where the skin feels raw but no rash for the first few days after which a painful rash with blisters appears.

“This symptoms only occur in the affected areas which are mostly one side of your body. However, it is not possible to have shingles if you have not been exposed to chickenpox or the varicella virus that causes it.” Says Hannah Nicholas from Medical News Today.

8. Drugs and toxins:

Before a doctor assigns you a specific prescription, they also ask whether there is any drug that gives you an allergy. Doctors do this because not all drugs will agree with your body.

Some of the symptoms of side effects from drugs include fever, headaches, numbness, a burning and itchy sensation that makes your skin feels raw but no rashes. However, a rash may appear over time.

9. Midbrain issues:

Midbrain is a region of the brain responsible for motor control and body temperature regulation. Its primary role is integrating and receiving sensory information.

Problems start cropping when you develop midbrain damage which comes with migraines. With the sharp migraine pains, allodynia develops causing sensational reactions to pressure, light, and touch whereby your skin feels raw, but no rash is there.

Treatment for increased sensitivity on your skin (skin feels raw but no rash):

1. Fibromyalgia:

Fibromyalgia is long-term and in some cases a lifetime condition. Therefore its treatment aims to manage pain and improve one’s quality of life.

Medications include painkillers, antidepressants, and anti-seizure drugs. In addition to that physical therapy, regular exercise, yoga, and a balanced diet can help ease the pain, according to healthline.com.

2. Migraines:

For you to treat skin sensitivity to touch with no rash while experiencing migraines you have to address one of its common symptom which is allodynia.

Allodynia, however, cannot be adequately treated on its own. For the medication to be effective, you have to address the causes of allodynia first. As this will help reduce the risk of allodynia and as a result eliminate the problem where your skin feels raw but no rash.

3. Neuropathy:

Just like allodynia, for you to handle neuropathy, you have to address the underlying cause first. For example, successful diabetic treatment will make neuropathy treatment easier and faster.

Painkillers and ergonomic casts or splints will help relieve the discomfort. In addition to that, yoga, meditation and regular exercise help relief the pain.

4. Anxiety:

Since most of the anxiety symptoms are as a result of stress, you should, therefore, try to reduce stress. As a result, the condition where your skin feels raw with no rash evident will end.

You should, however, note that the treatment is gradual. The sooner you are stress-free, the sooner your skin condition will end.

5. Sunburns:

There are some ways in which you can treat sunburns. Pain relievers such as aspirin will help reduce the pain and redness on your skin, take a lot of water to prevent dehydration, take frequent cold baths will help relieve the pain, use a moisturiser on the affected areas to help soothe the skin.

Most importantly, keep away from the sun until you fully recover so that this condition where your skin feels raw but no rash ends.

6. Plants (herbs):

Different plant reactions have different treatments. You should, therefore, consider the plant type and the side effects it has to you before administering any medication.

For example, when your skin feels raw but no rash as a result of getting into contact with poison ivy, it is advised to take baths immediately and soak in water containing aluminium acetate.

For mild itching, irritation and the burning sensation use over-the-counter topical steroid cream or antihistamine for treatment.

7. Shingles:

Just like most viral diseases, there is no complete treatment for shingles. However, treatment with antiviral drugs started early in the course of the disease can help reduce healing time, and also diminish the chances of complications to occur, according to Mayo Clinic.

Pain relief medication, anaesthetic, and anti-inflammatory drugs are also recommended.

For children, it is better to prevent than treat shingles. You should, therefore, ensure they are administered with a chickenpox vaccine or a shingles vaccine.

8. Drug and toxins:

The first treatment is to stop taking the drug causing increased skin sensitivity. In case the condition escalates it is better to visit your doctor for expert treatment.

You should also stop toxin exposure to your body.

9. Midbrain issues:

For you to treat midbrain issues that bring about the condition where your skin feels raw but no rash, you should focus on healing allodynia.

Once you find out what the cause of allodynia is and successfully treat it, the condition where your skin feels raw but no rash will subside.

When should you visit a doctor?

There are different factors that prompt skin sensitivity. The skin reactions vary in intensity and longevity. There are those that are severe and require more serious treatment than others.

However, there are mild skin conditions that you can self-medicate from home. For example, in some cases, it just takes a pain reliever to relief the pain or the feeling of your skin being raw or itchy. Regular exercise, yoga, and meditation can also help.

But if the symptoms persist even after self-medicating, you should consult an expert to diagnose your condition better and give proper treatment.

Symptoms may persist if you are using the wrong treatment if your body is allergic to that drug or treatment. In other cases, there might be an underlying cause for your skin irritation that you don’t know.

References:

1. https://blog.themigrainereliefcenter.com/do-migraines-affect-your-skin
2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sunburn/symptoms-causes/syc-20355922
3. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154912.php
4. https://www.healthline.com/health/allodynia
5. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=125551
6. http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety/anxiety-101.shtml