Scabies Health Video

Video Transcript

DR. LORETTA CIRALDO: Hi, I'm Dr. Loretta Ciraldo, author of "6 Weeks to Sensational Skin" and a board-certified dermatologist for nearly 30 years and professor of dermatology at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Now, there is kind of a dread skin disease called scabies. And what this is, is a very itchy rash, sometimes more itchy at night. And it's a rash that has a predilection or tends to come in our creases. So you're especially going to see it between the fingers, sometimes under the arms and oftentimes in the genital area. And this is caused by a microscopic mite, a mite that cannot be seen just with our eye. And the mite gets under the surface of the skin and unfortunately has a tendency to spread all over the skin. If you are someone who has an itchy rash, the first thing you can do is you can try to just buy a little bit of over-the-counter cortisone, get into a nice oatmeal bath and see if the itch will go. But I do really kind of beg of you that if the rash is in the genital area, if it's between your fingers, then sooner instead of later, please seek medical advice from a good board-certified dermatologist so that you could have an early diagnosis made of scabies if you do have this because there's a wonderful effective treatment that can just help so much to keep you from having many itchy sleepless nights and to prevent you from spreading it to your loved ones.