Itchy Bottom (Buttocks, Bum) Causes and Conditions

Bottom Itch

A bottom itch may arise from:

  • The buttocks
  • The buttock crease
  • The groin or inner thighs
  • The anus – anal mucosa and surrounding skin
  • The rectum

Itchy Buttocks

RED BUMPS appearing on the buttock skin may be from:

  • Miliaria, also called heat or sweat rash or prickly heat. It may appear in hot humid weather or after an exercise in the form of small itchy red bumps or patches with reduced sweating on the skin tightly covered by clothes (pants, socks) but also on the face. A rash is due to clogged and inflamed sweat glands.
  • Cholinergic urticaria due to an allergic reaction to heat or sweat during or after a hot shower or exercise in the form of bumpy or patchy hives (raised pinkish swollen areas).
  • Staphylococcal folliculitis – an infection of the hair follicles with red bumps with occasional white centres, contracted by sharing towels, clothes, athletic equipment or due to bad hygiene.
  • Hot tub folliculitis caused by a bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa contracted during bathing in a non-properly treated whirlpool or jacuzzi. Red bumps (up to 1 cm large) appear several hours after bathing mostly on the skin areas covered by a swim-suit.
  • Shingles – a reactivation of a dormant Herpes zoster virus in persons who had chicken pox at any time in their lives. Red itchy or painful bumps, developing to crusts and falling over in few weeks, usually appear only on one buttock.

Buttock Crease

  • Apilonidal cyst is an inborn disorder, in which a cyst containing hair appears in the buttock crease.

Groin

  • Patchy, scaly, reddish or yellowish itchy rash affecting moist skin on the inner thighs, groin and/or buttocks may be due to fungal infection, known as jock itch.
  • Groups of small fluid-filled translucent vesicles appearing on the border of the skin and genital or anal mucosa is probably from a virus Herpes genitalis.
  • Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic inflammation of apocrine (scent) sweat glands and hair follicles resulting in tender itchy red lumps (up to an inch in size) in the groin, buttock crease, inner thighs, armpits or under the breasts. Lumps may open and drain fluid. Scars may develop after several recurrences.

Anus

  • Anal fissure, an itchy crack in the anal mucosa commonly appears in a fungal infection of the groin or in Crohn’s disease.
  • External hemorrhoids may itch.

Rectum

  • Thrombosed internal hemorrhoids may cause deep rectal itch.
  • Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease or colorectal cancer may cause rectal itch.

Read about other causes of itchy rectum and anus.

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