paranoid?

So sorry about your mother. I hope her condition does improve.

Why do you think that this isn't a skin condition? That's what most red marks on the skin are, whether it's the skin on your arm or the skin on your breast. And there are so many different types of rashes that all act differently and resolve differently. I can't tell you how many different skin rashes I've had over the years.

You didn't mention Inflammatory Breast Cancer but that's always the worry when someone comes here with a rash on her breast. These are the most common symptoms:

Signs and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer include:

• Rapid change in the appearance of one breast, over the course of several weeks
• Thickness, heaviness or visible enlargement of one breast
• Discoloration, giving the breast a red, purple, pink or bruised appearance
• Unusual warmth of the affected breast
• Dimpling or ridges on the skin of the affected breast, similar to an orange peel
• Tenderness, pain or aching
• Enlarged lymph nodes under the arm, above the collarbone or below the collarbone
• Flattening or turning inward of the nipple

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inflammatory-breast-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20355413

My rule of thumb is that if I have a health concern and I google it, and I come across a serious health condition that lists 5 or 6 symptoms and I have just 1 of those symptoms, then nope, that's not what I have. And then I can stop worrying and figure out what it really is, which usually is nothing serious at all.

So other than the red rash and the breast soreness, do you have any other symptoms? As for the breast soreness, next time you think you feel something, immediately stop in place and really focus in on what you think you feel - and see if there actually is any real pain or soreness there. I do that all the time with various aches and pains and almost always if I'm not caught up in my mind wondering if I feel something but I'm focused completely on the area where the supposed pain is, I realize that there's no pain there at all.

Has the rash been getting worse? If not, since it's not even a week since you talked to the doctor, I'd suggest you give it more time. Many rashes take 2-4 weeks to go away. If you do have something serious, such as IBC, the rash will get worse and other symptoms will develop. So if it were me, I'd assume and treat this as though it's not serious, particularly in these times when going to a doctor's office for non-urgent needs is not advisable, and I'd know that if this is serious, it would show itself to be so pretty soon. And if it remains stable or lessens over the next few weeks, then it's nothing serious at all.