Prickly heat symptoms can include small red spots, an itchy, prickly feeling, or redness and mild swelling. These can appear anywhere on the body and spread but it’s not infectious to other people.
The main thing to do is keep your skin cool so you don’t sweat and irritate the rash. Wearing loose cotton clothing, taking cool baths or showers, and drinking plenty of fluid to avoid dehydration can help this.
But if you’re looking for fast relief to calm the itching or prickly rash, there are three things the NHS recommends you do.
The first is to apply something cold, such as a damp cloth or ice pack (wrapped in a tea towel) for no more than 20 minutes.
The second is to tap or pat the rash instead of scratching it.
Finally, don’t use perfumed shower gels or creams.
A pharmacist will also be able to help you with prickly heat. They may recommend calamine lotion, hydrocortisone cream or antihistamine tablets.
The health body explains the causes of prickly heat. It states: “Heat rash is usually caused by excessive sweating.
“Sweat glands get blocked and the trapped sweat leads to a rash developing a few days later.
“Babies often get it because they can’t control their temperature as well as adults and children can.”
It further advises to see a GP if the rash doesn’t improve after a few days or your baby has a rash and you’re worried.
The hot weather can also cause heat stroke and heat exhaustion – but do you know the difference?
Heat stroke requires emergency treatment and there are nine signs to watch out for.
The condition usually develops from heat exhaustion. This is not serious and usually gets better when you cool down.
According to the NHS, the signs of heat exhaustion include a headache, dizziness and confusion, loss of appetite and feeling sick, excessive sweating and pale, clammy skin, cramps in the arms, legs and stomach, fast breathing or pulse, a temperature of 38C or above, and intense thirst.
If someone show signs of heat exhaustion they need to be cooled down.
Moving them to a cool place, getting them to lie down and raising their feet slightly, getting them to drink plenty of water, and cooling their skin with cool water, a fan or cold packs, are the recommended methods.
A person with heat exhaustion should start to cool down and feel better within 30 minutes.
But if someone’s heat exhaustion develops into heat stroke, nine other signs can show.
You should call 999 if the person is not better after 30 minutes, feels hot and dry, is not sweating even though they are too hot, has a temperature that’s risen to 40C or above, has rapid or shortness of breath, and is confused.
There are a number of things you can do to prevent heat stroke and heat exhaustion.