What do Leukemia spots look like?
Leukaemia is a blood cancer that affects a huge number of people every year all around the globe. There are several symptoms of Leukemia, and suffering from it might lead to a variety of rashes, bruises or bumps, which becomes next to impossible to understand without a doctor’s assistant. So, if you begin to notice any of the symptoms affecting your skin, the ideal choice will be to consult with a doctor and seek the best possible treatment for it.
Some of the major symptoms of Leukemia are given below.
Symptoms of Leukemia
Nausea
Frequent bleeding of the nose
Bone pain
Poor blood clotting
Fever
Feeling tired or weak quite often
Sweating a lot exceptionally during the night hours
Rashes and bruises
Now, let’s find out what rashes, bruises, or spots look like for people who have Leukemia.
What do rashes caused by Leukemia look like?
Suffering from Leukemia often causes the tiny blood vessels to burst beneath the skin. After a certain point, the production of abnormal blood cells ends up acting as a barrier to the normal production of platelets. Therefore, it might happen that the body might not have enough platelet count to block the burst capillaries, and as a result, the blood seeps out into the skin.
This leakage results in red, purple or brown tiny spots called petechiae. A certain collection of these petechiae often look like a rash. A fruitful way to distinguish petechiae from a rash is by pressing down on the affected spot of the skin. If it is a rash, the colour will change into white, and if it is a petechia, there would not be any change in the colour of the spot.
Types of Leukemia Spots
AML Rash
AML or Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia often affect children, which leads to swelling or bleeding of the gums. Besides affecting the gum, it also leads to an accumulation of dark spots on the skin, which looks quite alike to a normal rash but is completely different in nature.
Bruising
People who have leukaemia tend to suffer from even the smallest knockdowns. As the body's platelet count reduces highly, there is no way it can manage to block the bleeding under the skin when an injury takes place. These bruises look the same as ordinary bruises and don't really differ much in appearance.
Sweet’s Syndrome
People diagnosed with leukaemia have higher chances of being affected with Sweet's Syndrome, which leads to high fever and rashes. The rashes look like bluish or red bumps and can occur on the skin of the legs, arms, face; instead, they can appear at any portion of the body.
Treatment of Leukemia
The treatment often depends on the stage and the type of cancer from which the person is suffering. Some types of leukaemia do not demand immediate advice as it develops at a slow pace. Whereas a certain type grows rapidly, and in that case, a delay in treatment might complicate the situation more.
One of the best ways to treat leukaemia is chemotherapy. However, it has a number of side effects which includes rashes on the skin too. These rashes are pretty hurtful and can also give a burning or itching sensation. If you notice that the rashes from chemotherapy are making you suffer more, maybe you should consult with your doctor about it at the earliest.
Some of the other possible ways of treating a patient suffering from Leukemia are:
Radiation Therapy
Biological or immunotherapy
Stem cell transplantation
Targeted therapy
The chances of recovering from a severe stage of leukaemia are pretty low. Certain other factors should be considered, such as other health disorders, the age of the person, etc. However, if the treatment process ends up suiting the patient well, the chances of healing become better automatically.