Red Bumps and Welts All Over Scalp - Help

I never had anything like that, but it sounds to me like you might have an opportunistic infection in the skin.  I would talk with you onc or see a dermatologist.

good luck.

It could be folliculitis.  There was some discussion a while back on the Hair hair hair thread - see Chelev's post on  Nov 3rd  http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/707348?page=124#post_1579805   

Link doesn't seem to work for me - but when I copy and paste the page comes up.

I've read that a couple people used a cotton ball to apply 3% hydrogen peroxide and it felt good and worked quickly.  Other ladies have washed their heads with an antibacterial soap like Dial and then applied an antibiotic cream like Neosporin.  They recommend against an ointment because it's greasy.  Some have used 1% clindamycin solution - might need a prescription for that.  Those are a few things that I found.

I did a search on folliculitis hydrogen peroxide and found some good posts.

Magister, if your scalp is covered with the red bumps, the odds are high that it's folliculitis, as chrisct suggested. Tender could be right, though -- I've heard of some women developing herpes zoster (a.k.a. "shingles") during chemo.  The bumps from shingles are indeed painful and need to be treated medically.  So, in any case, check with your oncologist or his/her nurse.

I developed red, itchy (but not especially painful) scalp bumps midway through my 2nd round of Taxotere & Cytoxan.  They formed yellow "heads", like ugly zits; but the official name is "pustules".  The yellow heads turned to crusts and the bumps eventuallydried up and went away, just in time for my next chemo tx.

I did call my onco's office when I first found the bumps, and I was told they most likely were folliculitis.  My onco said to stop using whatever shampoo I'd been using and switch to something really mild.  She suggested Johnson's baby shampoo, which would keep my scalp clean and would dry out the bumps without causing irritation.  I'd tried Dial liquid antibacterial soap, thinking I had an infection; but it just made the bumps more angry. I'd even tried Head & Shoulders shampoo, thinking it would do something magic; but it made the situation much worse.

The bumps went away within a week or so, once I'd switched to baby shampoo.   I took pictures of them when they were at their worst, just in case they did go away by the time I saw my onco at my next chemo tx.  My onco confirmed that the bumps were folliculitis when she saw the pics.  She said she could have prescribed an antibiotic, like tetracycline; but generally the papules/pustules would go away on their own as long as they were treated gently.

Be forewarned:  DO NOT SCRATCH the bumps.  If you do, they could seriously become infected; and that's not a good thing when you're in the middle of chemo.

Also, because it's impossible for us to know for sure what the bumps are, be sure to call your onco's office.  Some docs recommend a different solution to the problem than mine did.

otter

Magister, do let us know what your doctor said.  I'm so glad you are calling him

I also had this. It was folliculitis. The onc prescribed Dalacin T, which is an antibiotic lotion that I applied to my head and it made it much better.