Itchy "Bites" - Armpits and sides

[MWQ]

I have what appear to be bites (see attached picture) running from my armpits down to my hips on both sides. They don't appear on my chest or back, but do creep down my arms a bit.

This is the second time on consecutive dives (in two different locations) that this has happened. Both dives were in Gloucester, MA, but different beaches. The day of the dive I had some soreness in my armpits....the next day I had what appear to be a few bites, and then the third day more bites show up. As I mentioned, this is the second time this has happened, but this time is much worse, with probably 3x as many bites.

I rinse all of my equipment after every dive with fresh water (no soap).

I dive in a full wetsuit with a skin underneath, hood, gloves, boots, the works (it's cold up here). I did not shower until about 4 hours after the dive, which may or may not have anything to do with this.

I've been reading around and couldn't find anything that matched...first I thought it was "swimmers itch" then "sea lice" then dermititis, then hidradenitis suppurativa.....but none of those seem to match exactly.....any dive docs out there that could help diagnose and let me know what I should do to A)treat this and prevent the spread and B)prevent it from happening on my next dive.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[sasscuba]

Could be sand fleas?

 

[MWQ]

Well the bites haven't gotten any better (actually worse) so I went to see the doctor today. She was thoroughly interested and even brought in a colleague to have a look...neither one of them had ever seen something like this. They weren't sure why it was limited to the areas between my armpits and hips on both sides. In any event, they are pretty sure it's bacteria and not "bites", but they took a sample and sent it to the lab so they could see what it is. Their best guess without the lab results is that it is some form of foliculitus which I've seen discussed here in the past. They put me on Dicloxacillin and will reevaluate once the labs are back.

They also suggested that I wash my suit with a 1 part bleach 10 parts water solution and leave it in the sun inside out to dry (UV may kill some of the bacteria just in case the bleach doesn't).