Prickly heats are rashes that appear on the skin due to excessive sweating, especially in the summer season. They are also popularly known as heat rashes or sweat rashes. In medical terminology, prickly heats are known as miliaria rubra or simply miliaria. Prickly heats occur because the excessive sweating caused due to the external heat temporarily blocks the sweat glands, due to which a proper purification of the blood does not occur.
Prickly heats occur in people of all ages, but it is seen much more commonly in children and in infants. This is because their sweat glands are not yet fully developed. Also, this condition is seen much more in the tropical humid countries.
The common symptoms of prickly heats are small eruptions on the skin which are small and grainy in nature. They could be red, or they could even be just a shade darker than the color of the skin. These eruptions are always itchy and they are accompanied by a prickly burning sensation. For children, prickly heats are always very discomforting. In addition, there is always a change of a more serious bacterial infection once the prickly heats have occurred.
Home Remedies for Prickly Heat
Prickly heats are very common in the hot summer months. When they occur, the natural instinct is to buy some cream or powder readily available in the market and apply it on the skin. This does work most of the time, but we must remember that each of us has a unique kind of skin. Hence, the patent formulations may not work, and may actually aggravate the condition.
Therefore, it is much safer to use some herbal and natural remedies, which will not have side-effects even if used in an excess amount. The following is a list of some of the most effective home remedies for prickly heat to do when heat rashes occur.
This is a very elaborate, but certain method to remove the prickly heat. Take an earthen vessel. Fill it with clean potable water. Take about fifteen to twenty gooseberries (amalaki, Emblica officinalis). Wipe each gooseberry in turn and add it to the water in the pot. Then cover the earthen pot with a lid. Let the gooseberries remain in the pot for one whole night. In the morning, the fruits will have become soft. Mash the gooseberries in the water itself. Then strain the water, add sugar in it and drink. Drink as much as you need to quench your thirst. This remedy removes the heat from the body. The prickly heat is treated within about seven days. There are other benefits too. The stomach will remain clear and digestion will be improved. This is one of the useful home remedies for prickly heat.
Take the leaves of the Indian plum (jamun, Syzygium cumini) and mix some baking soda in it. Then crush them to make a paste. Apply this externally on the prickly heat. This is an assured remedy for prickly heat. This is one of the natural remedy for prickly heat.
Home remedy for prickly heat - Consuming a lot of limejuice is also a very good remedy for the treatment of prickly heat. This will cool down the internal heat of the body, due to which the prickly heat occurs. If you have prickly heat, then drinking about three to four glasses of limejuice daily will clear the prickly heat in one fortnight.
Another effective prickly heat treatment is sugarcane is another excellent remedy for prickly heat. Sugarcane juice is well-known to have cooling properties for the human body. Drink at least one glass of sugarcane juice every day in the hot season. This will keep the prickly heat at bay. If you already have prickly heat, then having two glasses of sugarcane juice daily will solve the problem in three to four days.
Add some camphor extract to the oil extracted from the neem tree. Then massage this oil in the area where the prickly heat has erupted. Keep this oil on the body for about half an hour and then have a bath with cool water. This will surely provide relief and treat the prickly heat within a few days. This is one of the best prickly heat cure.
Neem soaps are easily available in the market. Having a bath with this soap, especially in the summer season, will keep the prickly heat away. It is also a good remedy if you already have prickly heat eruptions.
Take the pulp of a watermelon and apply it in the areas where the prickly heat has erupted. This will cool the body down and will certainly provide valuable remedy for the prickly heat.
Immerse four to five pieces of kokum in two glasses of water for the night. In the morning, take the water and boil it till the water reduces to half the quantity, i.e. to a volume of one glass. Let it cool. Then add three teaspoonfuls of sugar in it and drink the water. Kokum is an excellent remedy for cooling the body down and to treat the prickly heat. This is one of the best home remedies for prickly heat.
Make some paste of sandalwood and mix it with an equal amount of rose water. Apply this paste on the prickly heat. This remedy cures the inflamed skin and takes care that the portion of the skin does not sweat excessively. Also, sandalwood is a cooling herb, so it is effective in removing the excess heat from the body. Sandalwood can be easily used as a remedy for prickly heat in children as it does not have any side effects.
You can make a fine powder of sandalwood and dust it all over your body. This will also be very helpful in keeping the prickly heat in check.
Another good home remedy for prickly heat is to take equal quantities of the powders of sandalwood, coriander seeds, nutgrass tubercle, and the roots of the khus-khus grass. Mix all of these in rose water. Then apply this paste all over the body. It will give immense relief from the prickly heats.
Prickly heat treatment - Make a diluted paste of the gram flour. Apply this on the body and let it remain for about half an hour. Then have a cold water bath. Wash off the paste from the body thoroughly. This will bring very good relief from the prickly heat inflammations.
Cut open a watermelon. Then take it peels off. Eat the fruit. It will provide coolness in the body. Then apply the peels on the prickly heat affected areas. Use the inside portion to rub on the skin. Such a remedy cools the body from the inside as well as the outside, and helps to get the prickly heat treated soon. This is the best diet for prickly heat.
Prickly heat remedy - Drink several glasses of citrus fruit juices in a day. You can have juices of oranges, sweet lemons, watermelons, pineapples, etc. These cool down the body and arm it against the external heat.
Make a paste of cornstarch or flour in water. Apply this paste onto the portion of the skin affected by the heat rash. Let this paste remain there for about half an hour. Within this time, the paste will dry completely. Then take a cold water bath and wash the paste away. Otherwise, you can use a towel soaked in cold water and apply this cold compress onto the skin. Either way, your skin will cool down and you will get relief from the prickly heat inflammation. This is one of the important natural remedy for prickly heat.
One central Asian remedy really works wonders in treating prickly heat conditions in both adults and children. You will need some Fuller's Earth for this, which is locally known as Multani Mitti. Make a paste of this mud in water. The consistency should be runny, but not too diluted. Apply this paste on the skin with the help of a wooden spatula. Smear the prickly heats very nicely with the Fuller's Earth. Then sit in an area where there is a good circulation of air, keeping your affected part of skin exposed to the air. You will have to sit for about an hour, so you can catch up with some of your reading or stuff like that. In this time, you will find the mud hardening and stretching at your skin. This is actually a good sign, which indicates that the healing process has begun. When the hour is done, go and have a nice cold water bath. You will find yourself quite refreshed. Your sweat pores will open up, and the prickly heat will be gone the next day. This is one of the prickly heat remedy.
If children have prickly heat, then dusting the area with baking soda or unscented talcum powder can also provide good benefits. You can also apply the gel of an aloe vera leaf onto the affected region. There are several ready gels available in the market with aloe vera as the active ingredient. You can get them at a chemists' or a cosmetics' shop.
How to get rid of Prickly Heat
Prickly heats are the most simple summer ailments that can be avoided. If a person is well-aware of personal hygiene, then heat rashes will certainly never occur in them. The following are some guidelines to be borne in mind to keep heat rashes away:-
(i) Avoid hot and humid climates as much as possible.
(ii) Do not exert yourself so much that you produce more sweat.
(iii) If sweat occurs on the body, clean it off as soon as possible. If you can, have a bath to remove the sweat, or at least wipe off the body with a rough towel in order to unclog the sweat pores.
(iv) Try to use air-conditioning wherever possible.
(v) In summer air circulation is very important. If there is no air conditioner, at least keep the room well-ventilated. Also wear loose cotton clothes to allow the air to pass through it.
(vi) Have a bath several times a day in the summer season, if your work involves a lot of sweating. Also, very important to remember, have a bath in the night before going to bed. Or else the sweat will dry up on the skin and will possibly cover the sweat pores by morning.
(vii) Drink lots of water in the summer season. This helps to keep the sebaceous (sweat) glands functional.
