What Causes Red Swollen Bump After An Insect Bite?

Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 Answered on

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Is this a product burn or an insect bite? It is very red and raised and little sore. I dont know how i got it. Came up yesterday. Today is a little worse

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
An acne cyst Or bacterial skin infection

Detailed Answer:
Hello. Thank you for writing to us

I have gone through your query and I have also reviewed the Image. Seems like an inflammed acne cyst/ nodule Or a bacterial skin infection.

Is it hot to touch? Does it pain/ is tender, when pressed?

I would suggest an Oral antiinflammatory i.e Ibuprofen twice daily for symptomatic relief.
I would also suggest an Oral antibiotic e.g either Azithromycin 500 mg once daily for 5 days Or Cephalexin 500 mg twice daily for a week Or Amoxicillin 500 mg thrice daily for a week.
Topically you may use an antibacterial e.g Nadifloxacin 1% gel twice daily.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Kakkar (46 minutes later)

Is warm but there is not pain. Skin seems raises but no fluid

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Topical antibiotics along with ibuprofen and cetrizine

Detailed Answer:
Ok. Thank you.

You may apply a topical antibiotic, either the one that I mentioned before i.e nadifloxacin 1% gel Or Clindamycin 1% gel, twice daily.
In addition to this a tablet of cetrizine 10mg once daily and a tablet of ibuprofen once Or twice daily, would help in reducing swelling and redness.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Kakkar (53 minutes later)

Could it be a hive from stress? Its the only one

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I have considered angioedema (deeply set hive) as a possibility

Detailed Answer:
Hi.

I did consider it to be a Hive initially, however since it has persisted for >24 hours (you say it had appeared yesterday; hives usually last for a few hours i.e 4-6 hours), therefore it seemed unlikely to be hive. Hives usually have some associated itchy feeling and are more often widespread.

A single hive like lesion can occur though, and when it does occur singly then it is usually an 'angioedema' (i.e angioedema is a deeply set lesion involving subcutaneous tissue but is otherwise similar to a hive, which is usually limited to upper dermis only). Angioedema can persist for 24 hours or more.
Therefore, I did ask you to take a tablet of cetrizine 10mg in my previous reply and that would very well take care of angioedema.

I also considered treating it simultaneously as an isolated acne cyst, with either clindamycin 1% Or nadifloxacin 1% gel because it is really hard to be absoluetly sure about the exact diagnosis just on an Image, therfore trying to cover this possibility as well, though I ruled out bacterial infection because it lack pain.
I suggested ibuprofen to bring down swelling, in case it is an acne cyst.

To summarise, I tried to cover for both possibilities i.e acne cyst and andioedema.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Kakkar (6 minutes later)

Ok thanks. Also It keeps changing. Throughout the day. Without treatment. It was almost completely gone then came back a little. Here it is a photo of a few hours after the first pic almost gone

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (36 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
a tablet of cetrizine once daily

Detailed Answer:
hi. thank you

This is a useful information. Since you say that it keeps changing ( i.e appeared after it went down completely) therefore it is very likely that it is a hive or an angioedema. So I will cut down on my advice and just ask you to take cetrizine tablet for 5 days, once daily.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar