My son who is 3yrs old, will be 4 in January has been suffering now for almost 3 yrs from this continuous skin problem. He gets what looks like mosquito bites all over his body. They are so itchy and make him miserable. He scratches at them so much that they end up leaving little scars.
It flares up and lasts usually a few months at a time then will go away. Then maybe several weeks or even months later it is back again.
His dr. suggested it may be flea bites (he stays at his grandmas sometimes and she has animals) but noone else in her home has these spots. Then he suggested possible bed bugs...my son ends up sleeping with me 99% of the time, along with his sister and my daughter nor myself have these spots. Plus I wash the bedding frequently.
He has it so bad right now that I made an appointment with the allergist. I thought maybe an allergic reaction to something, both his sisters have allergies, but the testing showed he had no allergies.
I have an appointment scheduled with the dermatologist next month. Hopefully he will be able to solve this mystery for me. In the meantime I wondered if anyone else has had this problem with their child and if so..what was it and what helped. For now the allergist gave him Zyrtec for the itchiness. Help!
Thank you all for your suggestions and input on my sons skin problem. I really appreciated all of it! I took him to the dermatologist today and found out that he has both eczema and foliculitis. He prescribed an antibiotic for the present infection as well as Bactroban for the open sores. For the itching he gave me an anti-itch cream as well.
The dr. wants to see him again in 10 days if it isn't cleared up though he believes it will be and I will be able to cancel the appt.
Thanks again!
On a few occassions my son has broke out in hives for no reason at all and his doctor told me to give him children's benadryl and it worked for him so maybe try that :)
Did you find a pediatric dermatologist? If so, you may call back and ask to speak with the nurse there, not the receptionist. Explain to her your child’s age and see if there is any way he can get in sooner, because he is miserable and you don't want the rash to go away before the appointment. My experience with the dermatologist is that they are packed with teenage acne problems, and if you can talk to the right person, they will make room in the schedule for young children who are suffering much sooner than the receptionist says she can. The Dermatologist I took my son to when he was 18 months was so agree with his secretary when he found out it took me 8 weeks to get in to see him when my son was only 18 months, and by then the rash was gone, and not much he could do but wait for it to come back.
Try cetaphil it works wonderfully. To me it sounds like eczema. My niece also has a sever case of it and everything itches her. Big bumps turn to sore and scares. They go to a doctor for it and they can give you medicine for it. However my daughter has eczema, hers is not as bad as my nieces but we use cetaphil and you can get it at krogers or wal mart. They have a cleanser that contains nothing that will harm their sesitive skin. They also has a loition that when i put it on my daughter she says aww. seriously! Everything burns hr skin or irratated t and turns it red. this stuff is wonderful.
Hope this works good luck with your son.
D.
I haven't read the other replies, so I don't know if you already got this advice or not. It sounds exactly like my son's eczema. My first pediatrician just kept telling me to use lotion. When I started at my new pediatrician, she diagnosed it in like 2 seconds flat. We have been treating it and keeping it under control. One thing I can say is that she said it's not "curable" with the treatments, you just keep it under control. The other treatments that we do is bath and wash clothes in dye free fragrance free soap and detergent. We also use cetaphil lotion. (I recently tried eucerin and like it better, so we are switching when this runs out.) Also, if it's really bad, you probably need to get a prescription to really get it under control and then it's just a matter of doing the best you can. It will be really clear at times and be totally flared up at others/ Best of luck!
It definetely sounds like eczema. My son is 4 and was diagnosed with it around the age of 6 months. His usually is all over his leg and turns to red itchy patches. It's horrible. I have gone through so many remedies to control it(it's not curable but may grow out of). My son gets is the worst during winter season and then usually goes away by spring providing I get a handle on it. What I do is give a bath every other day(soap takes the natural moisture off the skin) and I put baby oil in the tub then I don't dry him off but put more baby oil on his skin and let it dry. Then I use my prescriptions (Hydrocortisone 2% on the really bad spots, Elidel over entire body, including face) Elidel is the only on that CAN be applied on the face. Then I use a body lotion with no fragrance and apply that over entire body. The main goal is to keep his skin moisturized all day long. Elidel twice a day and I use lotion the rest of the day. It sounds like a lot to do(It is) but it's better than hearing "Mommy, I'm itchy". I hope that this helps and best of luck to you.
C.
My two yr' old daughter went thru this & still gets it sometimes,my dr. thought I used a new deterg. I did'nt,He also said it could be dust mites to make sure I clean her bedding twice a week & under it well, some kids are more sensitive then others. Since I have done this it's been better.
Yes One time I thought she had Chicken pox it was all over her,used benadryl cream in a few days it was gone. If you tend to find out anything. Message me. Good luck.
My son has this same issue.
His is from bug bites in general. He is severely allergic to any bug bites (mosquitoes, fleas, chiggers...) to the point that he has huge almost chicken pox looking sores all over his body. The rest of us, in the same environment, don't have the issue.
We had to get him on a moisturizing soap with OTC cortosone cream for his bites. Now, they are pretty much under control.
Although, you can tell when he snuck into the yard without his bugspray/sunscreen.
Personally, it sounds more like flea bites. We had a huge issue with fleas this summer. They ate my 6 yr. old son alive. They bit my feet and ankles, but no where else. They didn't bite my husband at all. And they didn't touch our infant. Fleas are picky eaters, believe it or not. We found using cortisone on his bites was the only thing that helped them heal. Of course, if he's in constant contact with the source of the problem, it won't end. Have his grandma check and treat her animals, pronto. Until then, don't let him go over there.
My seven year old actually went through the same thing when he was about 2 or 3. I had him at the doctors office 4 different times within a week until I got an answer. We finally ended up taking him to a dermatologist and they told us it was psoriasis. They gave us ointment to use and he has finally outgrown it. Now, my 15 month old twin has kind of the same thing. He gets the bumps sometimes but mostly has very dry patches of skin which my doctor tells me is exczema. She gave us hydrocortisone cream(prescription strength) and that really helps with the itching.
I've had this problem before. It turns out I was allergic to Tide. I switched out my laundry detergent and was fine, though it was a miserable month or 2 while I found out what was causing it.
Ask your doctor about Exzyma (sp?). My son had a similar condition and I have occasional exzyma flare-ups. They leave lil bumps like mini blisters on me, but on my son, it looks like little red bumps, sort of like how you describe. I think there is a cream called Eladel (sp?) but that doesn't work for me or my son, we use a different type cream that clears it up in a couple days.
Anyway, check into that, maybe you will find a solution there. Good luck!
I would definetly see an allergist...it also could be eczema....that can be flared up sites commonly on the face, back of knees, elbow, and on the body.....it can itch like crazy...my son has this...it is easily cured with a Rx of cortisone cream but nothing over the counter works for eczema!
If nothing from the allergist, go see a dermatologist!
Hi C.! My daughter kept having these rashes well more like welts and swelling of her body I took her to the emergency room one morning because her face and lips were starting to swell they did some bloodwork and scared me to death asking me if anyone had ever checked her liver. Her liver enzymes were HIGHLY elevated. They gave her a shot of benedryl and it cleared them up in seconds. They sent us home and refered us to our family doc. I took her in to the doctor the next morning because the rash was back. They send us to Columbus Childrens Hospital... What a joke. Liver doctor said it was kidney's, kidney doc said liver. We drove back to Lima from Columbus and I was scared to death that my baby was deathly ill. I called our friend that is a chiropractor and was talking to her about what to do. I called these people that the Amish go to. They read her eyes and told me that the bottom of the liver was not letting the bile out of her body and that is why she was yellow. They gave me 6 different erbs to put her on. She was on a ton. They told me to expect her to be on them for at least 6 months but they wanted to re-check her in 3 weeks. They told me to pray for her ALOT! I called everyone I knew and had then praying.
At her 3 week check up they took her off everything! No problems and the bloodwork is normal. She did however get the rash again. They told me the skin was dehydrated and to give her this flax seed oil ( I put it in her cereal daily and her rash is gone) I am doing weight watchers and they push flax seed oil. So just a thought you may want to try. Good luck in finding your solution.
