What is the name for sudden multiple subcutaneous pinpricks??

Our bodies are strange. I once found 2 long scratch marks on my left arm , almost the whole length of the arm. I had no cats or pets of any sort. I still often wonder what that was. Another time, on the same arm, I developed a rash - could not understand …
So sorry, I have no answers for you.

I think you mean petechai which are tiny blood spots from burst capillaries, can be caused by excess coughing or retching among other things

I once had prickly heat which sounds a bit like what you are describing. It was my lower legs which were affected and felt like excruciatingly painful needle stabbing.

Have you had Covid?

It could be a lingering symptom. I have had them on my hands, some people get them on their feet.

Petechia is due to infection and reaction to medication.

Cherry angiomas or purpura are associated with aging and are harmless.

Google images to see which you have.

I had lots of these tiny blood spots on my thigh after my knee replacement a few years ago.

Thank you for replies. Appreciated greatly that people took the trouble.

No infection. No Covid. No coughing or retching. No pain. No medication. Not raised.

Tired, perhaps, but no change in routine or diet or anything. Lack of exercise, true, but unavoidably and for years.

None of the images look right.

Age yes, true. But not dramatically increased, in days!

The dots are so multiple, and mainly miniscule.

To reproduce the effect, you could spend five minutes jabbing your torso at random with a biro for the larger ones.

But the medium ones would require say fifteen minutes of jabbing with a dressmaking pin.

The rest are miniscule specks, and would need perhaps an hour or so of intense concentration using just the tip of the finest dressmaking needle.

Henetha's post-operative 'dotty skin' experience is not mentioned in the searches I've made.

(Did it look like what I describe, and did it go away, Henetha?) That could be inactivity related, I suppose?

Searches will insist on 'rash' results, and this isn't a rash.

Thank you again, everyone

Have you had any blood tests?
I have the same issue, and it is because I have liver problems.

I'm not saying you have, too, just that it may be worth having a check up.

Have a look at ‘Small Fibre Sensory Neuropathy’ and ‘Parasthesia’. Here’s a link to an article from Johns Hopkins on the former - www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/peripheral_nerve/conditions/small_fiber_sensory_neuropathy.html

I have something that sounds similar, minute blood spots under the skin, no irritation or pain. I call it fizzy blood.

If it is just a sensation under the skin, though, nothing visible, I agree it could well be small fibre peripheral neuropathy.

I think it's petechiae

My Dh has sudden pin prick blood spots. It turned out to be guttate psoriasis. It went away eventually.

I think it sounds like petechiae too, with many causes from mild to more serious. Considering they have appeared suddenly, it is probably a good idea to contact your GP, for a consultation, deepgreen.

Thanks again. The extra suggestions seem to be dead ends, too. I do have numb toes for a year now, but presumed that's lack of exercise. It was just a surprise when this mystery 'dotty' skin happened suddenly. And when nothing matching was searchable.

It is so good of the people here to try to help solve the novelty 'join the dots' puzzle.

I'm thin, don't drink or smoke, don't like sugar and have I think a very good diet. Therefore, I don't believe I have any excuse for being ill in any way (!)

(Can't help lack of exercise because those who can't walk can't go for lovely brisk Park Run)

Being housebound makes seeing a g.p. even more of a distant dream than it is nowadays for everyone else in the U.K. Plus, I'm more closely related to a doormat than to an insistent demander(!)

Numb toes sound very like small fibre peripheral neuropathy.

If you can take decent photographs of the affected areas, you can email them to your GP, ask for advice. I had to do this because of a facial skin problem that occurred during the first lockdown when no-one was being seen at all.

Do send photos of this to your GP. They can then decide if it requires further investigation.
Do NOT use Dr Google (or indeed 'helpful' advice from people on GN.

ITP presents as lots of round circles of dots like this.

Sorry for the delay, I've only just read this thread again.
The tiny dots are still there, above and below the replacement knee. But not as many as there were, I think. They don't cause me any problem, so I've just ignored them.

Taking a photo and sending to your GP is a good idea.

If a GP can't diagnose the skin problem this is what they seem to do now too - send a photograph to a dermatology consultant for diagnosis.

I had this many years ago and got scared because the doctors thought it was leukaemia. It was diagnosed as vasculitis and one day it just disappeared and I have never had it since. I had it on and off for a year or so.

Many years ago DH rang me from work and asked about a rash like this, his friend had developed it after having a course of antibiotics. I told him to go straight to his GP for advice, he was sent to hospital and had his spleen removed, a very rare reaction to a drug.