Lyme Disease Rashes and Look-alikes
“Classic” Lyme disease rash
Description:
Circular, expanding rash with target-like appearance.
Expanding rash with central crust
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
Expanding lesion with central crust on chest.
Expanding erythema migrans
Photo Credit: Reprinted from Bhate C, Schwartz RA. Lyme disease: Part I. Advances and perspectives. J Am Acad Dermatol 2011;64:619-36, with permission from Elsevier.
Description:
Early, expanding erythema migrans with nodule.
Multiple rashes, disseminated infection
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
Early disseminated Lyme disease; multiple lesions with dusky centers.
Red, oval plaque
Photo Credit: Alison Young
Description:
Red, expanding oval-shaped plaque on trunk.
Expanding rash with central clearing
Photo Credit: Taryn Holman
Description:
Circular, expanding rash with central clearing.
Bluish hued rash, no central clearing
Photo Credit: Yevgeniy Balagula
Description:
Bluish hued without central clearing.
Expanding lesion, no central clearing
Photo Credit: Gary Wormser
Description:
Expanding lesion without central clearing on back of knee.
Red-blue lesion with central clearing
Photo Credit: Robin Stevenson
Description:
Red-blue lesion with some central clearing on back of knee.
Insect bite hyper-sensitivity
Photo Credit: Chris Ha
Description:
Large itchy rash caused by an allergic reaction to an insect bite.
Fixed drug reaction
Photo Credit: Shahbaz A. Janjua
Description:
A skin condition that occurs up to two weeks after a person takes a medication. The skin condition reappears at the same location every time a person takes that particular medication.
Ringworm (Tinea corporis)
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
Ringworm is a common skin infection that is caused by a fungus. It’s called “ringworm” because it can cause a ring-shaped rash that is usually red and itchy with raised edges.
Pityriasis rosea rash
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
A rash without a known cause that can be a round or oval, pink, and scaly with a raised border. It can sometimes itch. Larger patches than the one shown here are also common.
Granuloma annulare rash
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
Reddish bumps on the skin arranged in a circle or ring.
Urticaria multiforme
Photo Credit: Bernard Cohen
Description:
Also known as hives. Often caused by an allergic reaction to food, an infection, or a medicine. May burn or itch.