(Presumed) atypical Lyme rash- cellulitis too?
Tl;dr: a week after tick bite, developed rash that spread to double its size in 12 hours. Not sure if I should be concerned about cellulitis too. Progression photos attached. Crossposted because I didn’t know where to put it.
I was bitten by a tick about a week ago. It was about the size of a sesame seed when I found it on my abdomen. It didn’t appear engorged or anything so I assumed it hadn’t been there long. First and only time I didn’t get a prophylactic doxy dose or send the tick for disease testing.
Wednesday I had a few moderately itchy bumps show up in that area but I assumed they were spider bites. I was also tired and a little achy but assumed it was because I had been working outside a lot on projects. I must have scratched them overnight because Thursday I woke up to a little redness. I noticed it seemed to be worse Thursday night and I took a photo. I usually document the progression/healing of things because I think it’s neat to see the difference.
Friday morning I woke up and it had spread. I figured I scratched it overnight again and that’s why it was larger. By noon it seemed to have doubled in size. I tried a virtual urgent care and a virtual dermatologist. Urgent care said she couldn’t treat me because the area appeared abnormally bruised. The dermatologist said it was dermatitis and prescribed triamcinolone.
It continued to spread. I told my sister/parents about it around 4pm. They urged me to go to a doctor immediately instead of waiting until after a baseball game I had tickets. So I went to an urgent care.
Based on symptoms and knowing there was a tick, she diagnosed it as presumable Lyme disease and started me on 20 days of doxycycline. I didn’t think to ask about cellulitis- is that a concern too? That would be a different antibiotic, right?
Labeled progression photos attached because I figured you’d like to see them. I’ve lost a bunch of weight and have a stomach pouch now- tried to pull it up in most of the photos for better view. .