7 year old shepherd with skin lesions

Question
My 7 year old german shepherd has had enlarging skin lesions for the past year.  The skin under her legs ("armpits") is stretched and open.  It is as if her skin was "slit"open.  She has many openings around her lower back and smaller sores on/around her nostrils.  Today I noticed that her tongue was red, thin and flat.  Last year she was treated with antibiotics which temporarily fixed the problem.  The sores are becoming more severe.  They have slight amounts of blood seen occasionally when she has been lying on a particular surface.  They are infected and appear to be quite sore, of course.  These sores began about 3 years ago but started in a very  mild form.  Please help!  thank you very much

Answer
Sincere apologies for the delayed response.

Given the sores are in various locations and getting worse over time I would first ask if your veterinarian has done skin scrapings for parasites such as mange or discussed the possibility of an allergy.  If not, I would suggest bringing her in to your veterinarian to discuss these as being the possible cause of the sores.  Determining the cause of the sores is the first step in deciding on a treatment plan.  While antibiotics would improve the infection temporarily, the very best plan for her her long term comfort and healing will be to find the underlying cause.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance and again apologies for the delay.