Question: I am a male and I have had a skin rash on my inner leg near my groin. It has a mild itch and originally has very small bumps similar to poison ivy (but without the open ***** bumps I usually get with poison I went to a doctor about 6 weeks ago and she prescribed Benadryl and a steroid cream (Clobetasol Propoinate). I took both medications and the rash seemed to subside. Recently the rash has come back even bigger than before and the bumps are much bigger. I thought it may be jock itch and treated it with Lamisil AT for a week with no avail. The only thing that has affected the rash is the steroid cream. The cream gets rid of most of the itch and all of the redness, but the bumps are still there. As soon as I stop using the cream, the redness and itchiness of the rash comes right back.
There are a total of 5-6 bumps. The biggest is about 15mmx8mm and the smallest is about 4mm in diameter. They all feel hard underneath the skin and are raised 1-2mm. The whole rash covers an area about 3 inchesx1 inch. None of bumps hurt and there is no scaly-ness like I've seen in pictures of jock itch. The bumps don't appear to be in a small ring as in pictures I've seen of Granuloma Annulare. Also, there are no whiteheads or anything filled with puss that would lead me to believe it is a boil or anything like that. I had the rash for 2-3 week before I went to the doctor the first time and during that period it did not seem to spread. The only thing that changed was the intensity of the itch.
My questions are:
What is causing this rash? Is it a fungus or bacterial infection?
Is it contagious? And what is the best way to treat it?