Many a times we have heard that while taking antibiotics, kids witness the side effects of antibiotics as well which include diarrhea etc. But apart from these, some kind of antibiotics like amoxicillin results in causing rashes. In this article, we will discuss what amoxicillin rash is and how we can know about it, whether it has affected us or not and what should we don case your child start experiencing rashes on the skin.

Let’s know what amoxicillin rash is?

Most of the antibiotics results in causing rashes which is one of the common kind of side effect linked with consuming these antibiotics. But these amoxicillin rashes that are caused due to taking antibiotics cause a rash more quickly as compared to other kinds of rashes. Both Amoxicillin and ampicillin are derived from the penicillin family which is one of the most common kind of medicines that lot of people are sensitive to. More than 10 percent of the people are found allergic to these medicines- penicillin; though the percentage can be much higher as well as people mistakenly assume that they are allergic to penicillin, even if they are not. Actually, a rash is a most common occurring reaction which people witness after taking penicillin.

Ampicillin or amoxicillin rashes are kind of changes on the skin that develop due to any kind of reaction of medicines as well.
In some cases, the change can be immediate and gets noticed within few hours only while in some other cases; you might start noticing the reaction after few hours or after some days as well.
You must get in touch with your child’s doctor in case they have developed some serious allergic reaction and is looking unwell along with finding it difficult to breathe as well.
Maculopapular rashes are the most common kinds of rashes which don’t always mean that your children are allergic to some kind of medicines
Patients that have hives must be referred for allergy test by the doctors.

Ampicillin or amoxicillin rashes are non-allergic rashes that are caused in case your children take any kind of medicines and these rashes are a kind of side-effect of the medicines. These rashes in most of the cases appear on the 4^th or 5^th day post your child starts taking some kind of antibiotics which results in having some kind of side-effects. Some of the common symptoms of these rashes are appearance of pink or red colored spots which mostly develop in the main body of the child. Sometimes they also spread on the face as well.

What this kind of rash, amoxicillin look like?

There are two kinds of amoxicillin rashes one of which one is mostly caused due to an allergy and other one is not caused due to the same reason.

Hives

In case your child develops hives that look raised, pain full and result in white or red bumps on the skin then it is due to allergic reaction to penicillin. These kinds of rashes start appearing after two to three doses of taking the medicines. In case your child has hives post taking amoxicillin, then you must get in touch with the doctor for your recovery, as unattended allergic reaction can become more troubling in the future. You must stop giving the next dose of medicine to your child without referring the same with the doctor.

Maculopapular rash

This is other kind of rash that looks quite different from hives and in most of the cases, it appears after than the hives. These rashes look flat like red patches on the skin and smaller, paler patches also accompany the red patches on the skin. This phase is being known as maculopapular rash.” Your child will start experiencing this kind of rash post 3 to 10 days after taking amoxicillin; however, this kind of amoxicillin rash can occur at any point of time while your little ones are taking antibiotics. Any medicine that belongs to penicillin family like amoxicillin antibiotic result in some serious rashes which include hives as well. In case these rashes are left untreated, then they can spread to other parts on the body as well.

What are the reasons of an amoxicillin rash?

Though in most of the cases, the most common reason of appearance of hives are allergies, still the doctors are not sure about the exact causes of maculopapular rash which develop on the skin. In case your child experiences a skin rash without hives or any other kind of symptoms as well, then it doesn’t gradually means that he/she means is allergic to amoxicillin. It also means that they are reacting slowly with the amoxicillin without resulting in a true allergy.

It is believed that more girls experience having a rash while taking amoxicillin as compared to boys. The children who have mononucleosis and take antibiotics have higher chances of developing these rashes on the body. Earlier in 1960, these amoxicillin rashes were observed among the children who were given antibiotic treatment with ampicillin for mono. The rashes are reported to be witnessed in almost each child with percentage varies between 80 and 100 percent among the kids.

But today things have changed a lot and less number of children take amoxicillin for mono as they are lesser effective treatment and there are many other antibiotics available in the market for quick recovery. But still almost 30 percent of children are advised to take amoxicillin which results in the development of rashes.

What is the treatment for amoxicillin rashes?

In case your child develops hives then you can get cure for the reaction by giving over-the-counter medicines to them, after reading all the dosing instructions mentioned on the packaging. You must not give your child any other kind of antibiotics till the time you have contacted your doctor for the same.

But in case your child has any other rash apart from the hives, then you can get them treated by giving Benadry. You must take your doctor’s advice before giving any other kind of antibiotic, just to see the chances in their allergic reaction. Sadly, rashes are one of those kinds of symptoms that are difficult to understand and rather make the case more confusing. In some cases a rash means nothing while in other cases, a rash could possibly means that your child is allergic to amoxicillin. Any kind of allergy can be very serious and can put your at a higher risk of experiencing more complications.

Some general treatment which are recommended in case of amoxicillin rash?

stopping giving the medication to the patient
you can give oral antihistamines for reducing the itchiness
you can use topical steroids which will lower the redness from the skin
you can take the pictures of the rash so that you can show it to the doctor, in case the patient is unable to visit the doctor
you can have a detailed discussion with your doctor regarding whether you should continue or change the medicines presently giving to the patients

Prevention of an ampicillin or amoxicillin rash

You must have a transparent approach while talking to your child’s doctor and let them know in case your child is having allergic reactions to rashes due to taking any kind of medicines. You must describe your doctor in detail how it these rashes have affected your child. In case your child is witnessing:

Hives or a maculopapular rash
Dried skin
Finding it difficult to breathe
Have swelling on the face

In case any of the above-mentioned symptoms are observed in your child, then you must get in touch with the doctor. Ampicillin and amoxicillin skin rashes can be diagnosed easily after considering the history of the patient and after doing a physical test. However, the more you are making delays in the treatment, the more difficult it would be for your doctor to treat your child. Also your child will feel more troubling with the passage of time in case no treatment is offered to them.

Non-allergic that occur while consuming amoxicillin or Augmentin:

A non-allergic rash look like a small pink spots which is symmetrical in pattern and have resulted in raised pink bumps
This kind of rash mostly appear on the day 5^th or 7^th day post taking amoxicillin or Augmentin, but since varies from child to child, so it can develop at any time while taking the medication
Mostly the rashes appear on the chest, abdomen or even on the back side as well and later spread to other parts of the body as well which include the face, arms and legs. The rashes will worsen before they become better
These non-allergic rashes vary from hives in the looks appearance and occur on even other parts of the body as compared to the location of the hives.
In most of the cases, these non-allergic rashes disappear within three days, but in some cases, they might last for more than six days as well.
In case the non-allergic rashes are not contagious in nature, then it is okay if your child goes to the school.

Amoxicillin dosage for children

When the doctor advises amoxicillin for your children then they will let you know the dosage as well. the doctor will decide the right dosage for your kid based in various factors like your child’s age, his/her weight, any kind of infection besides considering many other factors. Since each case is different, so the dosage decided by the doctor will also be different from child to child, you must take care that you are giving the right dosage to your children as mentioned by your doctor as taking care while giving antibiotics is important, especially in case you are giving amoxicillin medicines to your kids.

In case you are giving the medicine in a wrong way, then the antibiotic will not treat the infection completely which could make the case more worse or even there are higher chances that the same problem arises in the future as well. The bacteria could develop again in the future which clearly indicate that antibiotic might not work to cure the infection anymore. So make sure that you are giving only the prescribed dosage to your children which are prescribed by your child’s doctor.

When to see your doctor?

In majority of the cases, the rashes will disappear on their own post your start giving medicines to your children. But in case there is residual itchiness, then you must get in touch with your doctor as he/she might advise some kind of steroid cream which you need to apply on the affected skin. Children mostly develop rashes once they take taking amoxicillin and sometimes it becomes hard to understand the exact reason of rash, whether it is caused due to some antibiotic reaction or due to your child’s illness itself. In case things are not clear, then you must immediately stop giving amoxicillin to your children till further advice from the doctor. Also, in case your child is experiencing some other kind of illness or allergy in addition to rashes then you need to call the doctor immediately without any kind of delays at all.

Are amoxicillin rashes harmful?

No, amoxicillin rash in itself is not harmful but in case, but in case the reason of rash is allergy then the allergy can be harmful for your children and the allergic reactions will get worsen the more the allergen is exposed. There are higher chances that your child might develop an anaphylactic reaction and find it difficult to breathe as well, in case you continue to give them the same kind of medicine.

Warning signs

Warning signs include sudden appearance of rashes after taking the first dose only and in these cases, your children might start having breathing or swallowing problem and the itchy are getting much painful. Many times, these kinds of allergic reaction appear without any reason, its just that a particular medicine is not doing well for your child and you must stop giving that particular medicine to your kids.

In case your child is amoxicillin or Augmentin and rashes are appearing in his skin, then you must contact your paediatrician who will examine the case in a better way. In case your paediatrician asks to get in touch with an allergist, you must follow your doctor’ advice as an allergist will be the best person who can help you in this case and will give the best medical treatment to your child.

Skin tests

By undergoing a skin test, the allergist or the doctor will be able to understand the case in a more detailed way. For doing this test, the nurse administers of the doctor will take a small amount of the suspect penicillin using a tiny needle and positive reaction of the test will result in red and raised bump. Positive test means that your child has allergy while negative test means that there is no need to worry. But sometimes a negative result is much more difficult to understand as there are many drug reactions that are not detected by different kinds of skin tests and might need some other way to look for the cause.

What to do in such cases?

You must immediately rush to your doctor in case your child has hives or is witnessing any other kind of symptoms as well which include wheezing or difficulty in breathing as well. You can also call the doctor at your place if the rashes instead of getting better are in fact becoming more troubling for your kid even after the medication is completed. Referral to an allergist

If your child’s past reaction involved hives or any symptoms of anaphylaxis, they should be referred to an allergy specialist for evaluation before using penicillin-like drugs in the future. If there is any doubt about the nature of the previous reaction, your health-care provider can also refer to an allergy specialist to exclude immediate allergy.

In case you are making delay in the treatment or giving wring treatment to your child, then it will only worsen the case. Since there are significant loses attached with an inaccurate allergy, so you need to contact an allergist at the earliest for the below-mentioned reasons.

Penicillin-kind of antibiotics is one of the best antibiotic available which are given in many common childhood infections. A child who si allergic to amoxicillin, but is not witnessing any immediate allergy, will be asked to take first line medicines by the doctors.
More than majority of the children labeled as allergic to amoxicillin depending on the history of rash are actually not allergic when they undergo a physical test.

After the occurrence of ampicillin or amoxicillin on your child’ skin, you must book an appointment with your doctor which you visit during the routine check-up of your child.

Doctor’s Interaction

Your child develops a skin rash then you must refer to an allergist who can understand your child’ condition in a more accurate way.
In case your child is developing symptoms of intolerance and feeling uncomfortable

Lastly in case the situation is not improving at all and your child is developing symptoms like fever, diarrhea, redness in the eyes, pain etc then you need to contact your doctor.

Rash due to Amoxicillin Intake – How to Identify and Treat

Let’s know what amoxicillin rash is?