Ringworm - Calera,AL

Yes, please go to a dermatologist. I had a similar problem with my youngest daughter when she was about a month old, her regular Dr. thought it was cradle cap and advised that I put a little baby oil on it - which made it worse. It was a form of ringworms. The dermatologist prescribed a shampoo, medicine and advised against putting any oil on her hair - oil helps it to spread faster and the hair falls out. I had to shampoo her hair every and keep everything clean that I used for her. Don't use what you use for him and don't use what he uses for you. I had to have separate everything for my older daughter. I hope everything works out and this helps.

My son, too, had ringworms at an early age. He got it from a cousin that visited. When the cousin left, the ringworm stayed. I too, had problems with the doctor prescribing ointments and medications that did not work. I tried two things. Selson Blue- medicated, and Blue Star Ointment. I am a full time mom and I have a full time job but, and I washed my sons hair once in the morning, and once at night, and applied the ointment afer. I used white pillow cases, and bleached them daily. And it worked. The rigworm was gone within a week of me being consistent. I really works!!!! I hope this helps!!!!!

Ringworms come from the dirt. Anyone can get them. The best things to use on them is the old fashion Iodine you can get it at Wal Marts. Start with a wide circle around the outside of the worm (do it fast or they will move areas) then fill the circle in with the Iodine. It will start drying up within a day or two. There is no way to stop them from getting more except to keep them out of all dirt. And that can be hard to do for all little boys love to play in the dirt. LoL.
I hope this will be of some help to you.

Hi A.,

Ringworm could also be caused by a yeast infection. If he's also been on antibiotics, his immune system is probably down. Stress reduction and a candida diet will be very helpful in eliminating this condition. NO sugar or sugary foods, including sweet fruits, foods with vinegar or yeast, fermented foods or mushrooms, can be eaten. A diet rich in fresh vegetables and lean meats, simply prepared, will not only reduce the yeast population but also build the immune system.

I would also recommend very good daily vitamins (NOT Flintstones)- http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/product/20007, an Immune System builder - http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/product/20639, as well as a probiotic - http://www.shaklee.net/thewrightplace/product/20241 - to put the good bacteria back into his system - that any antibiotics may have killed).

I hope I've been able to help. Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions at ____@____.com

V.

Do you have cats? Cats carry ringworm. Is he playing with cats at the sitters?

Also, Nizoral shampoo is a medicated shampoo that can help control "ringworm". The problem may actually not be ringworm but a fungus that is related to ringworm. Its treated the same way and is in the same family of skin problems so its ok to refer to it as ring worm.

I have the condition and its something that some people are just more suseptable to.

Stress, heat and food allergies can make him more prone to get the condition. Use the nizoral every day until the condition is visually absent then twice a week to help keep it under control. Also, on days you don't use nizoral use head and shoulders original formula.

And by all means get him off the interal chemicals. They are hurting his organs and making him more suseptable to getting the condition and keeping the condition. I do not know why this is tru but it is.

You may need to see a nutritionist and allergist to find out what he's allergic too.

Get some honey from the local area and have him take a spoon of it every day.

Realy there are only three or four changes here, use nizoral, use head and shoulders, use honey, don't use pills.

I'd suggest using a tincture of propolis and alcohol on the affected areas but its a pain in the butt to get ahold of.

Good luck to you!
R.

My daughter, which is 6 yrs old, is going through a ringworm nightmare. Hers is right in the top-center part of her head. She has long thick hair and the spot is humungous. She will lose that hair but we're praying it will grow back. One spot is slick though and it doesn't look like it will. Anyways.... She went to our PCP a couple of times and he kept prescribing things until "I ASKED HIM" to refer us to a dermatologist. She went a couple of weeks ago and it's clearing up really well, although the hair is coming out. He prescribed her an oral fungus medicine and a shampoo called T/Sal. HE also gave her an oral steroid to keep her from having permanent scarring (bald spots) from the hair loss. I would definitely suggest a dermatologist, especially with them reoccurring the way they are. God bless~

My son got one on his head once. I cut my boys hair too. I shaved it really close on and around the ringworm. Then I took a warm washcloth and rubbed it vigorously it hurt a little but it opened all the pours of the ringworm. Then I put jock itch cream on it. I did this everyday twice a day until it was completely gone. It has never came back. I only shaved it when the hair got long around it. I was told if I could get the pours open it would heal faster and stay gone. That is the reason for the washcloth and making the pours open up.
I hope this helps.
S. Jane

You might want to try Lotrimin.

I had them as a child and my mother use to soak a penny in vinegar. It did the trick.

You might go to search for home remedies for ringworms.
I am a firm believer of home remedies. Example, my wife sufferred a quite a period of time with leg cramps, then I read a column by Dr Gott in the paper that suggested putting a bar of soap between her legs. It did not give a specific brand so out of curiostiy I put a bar of Dial Soap between her lets. In a couple of days no pain. I continued it for some time, then misplaced it. she went for over a year with no pain. When she complained again I put the soap again, in a day or two no pain. It has been over two years no pain.

God Bless

I got ringworm once from a cat. My friends mom was a nurse and brought home something called Fungi Cure. It worked wonders!! I would call some pharmacies and see if they have that. Good luck! I didn't go to the doctor for mine,I just treated it myself and it went away and never came back!

Embarassingly enough, I have suffered from ringworm my whole life. Of course trying to explain to people that is is actually not a worm is a drag. I have always used tinactin cream, it also comes in a spray. Works like a charm. Always use a clean towel after bathing him if he is having a break out, which is kind of a drag having to wash all the extra towels and maybe try some tea tree oil applied directly to the rash. About the time I got into high school the symptoms dramatically reduced and now only every now and again I might get an isolated spot on my arm or stomach. Stress seems to be a factor and if you have any pets they maybe giving it to your son. Any spots on your pet will show up with a black light. It was really embarasssing for me as a child. I would try to minimize the condition so your son feels less self conscious about it.

The fact that you do not have pets has nothing to do with it...Ringworm, or Tinea is a common contagious fungal infection that can affect the scalp, body, feet or nails. Ring worm is caused by fungal dermatophytes and has nothing to do with worms. If you had pets it would be a good idea to treat them because ringworm is contagious and if they had it they would just pass it back to your child. You can protect yourself and those around you by disinfecting your home and work areas and washing your hands regularly.

As for a cure...

My mom used to use a green walnut to get rid of ringworm when my older sister got it. Pick an unripe green walnut from a tree and crack it open. Inside the shell will be a layer of black paste or oil. Apply the black paste to the affected area several times a day and watch your ringworm disappear.

I am currently going through this exact same thing w/ my 11 month old. We have been fighting ringworm of her scalp for the past 3 months. We did all of the things you are doing also. Her pediatrician finally sent us to a dermatologist. I've waited 2 months since I made the appt and her appt is this Friday. I am so ready to get this over with. I suggest a dermatologist, ask your pediatrician to reccomend one for you. Good Luck!

Definitely a dermatologists. Some people can carry ringworm.
B.

Hello, I too am going through a ringworm battle with my oldest son who is five. He has always had trouble with his scalp. When he was a baby, we were told it was just cradle cap but now I think he has always had ringworm. In September, we had him treated for ringworm for the second time. This time he did lose his hair. We shaved his head, treated it with Selsun Blue, and gave him the anti fungal the doctor prescribed. We waited and watched and the hair finally grew back. Earlier this week he said that his head itched and I got nervous. I also stopped sending him to barbers and purchased my own clippers. I cut him bald and today we found another spot. I feel horrible. The funny thing is that he and his brother sleep in the same room and even though I try to make sure they do not share personal hygiene items, they are little boys who follow each other around constantly.
So I am sure they do. No one else seems to be affected.
My next stop is a dermatologist but what I want to know is how we can tell if we are carriers. I am so nervous that my daughter will get it and lose all her thick beautiful hair.

I will throw away all the combs and brushes again and now I know that the thick coating of Vaseline I put on him might not be a good Idea but what about the furniture in the house. They all lay on the sofas. Do I need to clean the sofa daily? Change his sheets daily, or wrap his head in plastic daily. Is he a carrier or is it my husband or me?
Also there is a little boy in his class with an obvious bald spot. Should I inquire? No one asked about my sons spot and I was grateful because no matter how common it maybe as a mother I am mortified. Also I find it insulting that in the description of what type of people commonly get ringworm it says they are from poor urban environments. Not true in my case.

I'd be surprised if your son was getting the ringworm from the barber, especially on several different visits.
Does he go to daycare or a friends house that has a sand box? Could he be coming in contact with someplace that may have cats around? My daughter contracted ringworms from our neighbors cat when she played next door (their children did too). I guess you could get them from a dog also, it just happened that they had a cat. Also, I believe that you can contract them from person to person because our doctor had me check my other children for several days to make sure they didn't show any signs of them showing up. I don't know any way other than the medication to get rid of them and then I just had to go through and sterilize everything she'd come in contact with.

Good luck!

Make an appointment with a dermatologist. Don't be surprised if it takes a while to get an appointment. It took us three weeks, but now we are established patients and can get an appointment the next day. There is a simple test they can do to determine if the spots are ringworm or another type of fungal infection. They scrape some of the scaly part and pull one hair. With my little boy it was a different type of fungus and we now use a special shampoo once a week. The dermatologist said he could have gotten the infection from anywhere, the park, daycare, our yard, ect.

I just need to add (because I am a hairdresser for over 11 years) that I have NEVER heard of anyone who has contracted ringworm from a pair of clippers.
Children can get it from walking barefoot outside. Sometimes stray cats roam in yards and leave it behind. But our skin does 'carry' forms of fungus, some people's immune system is more prone to fight it off, and some others aren't. Are the ringworm areas in the same place? Or moving? Also, is the dr. SURE it is ringworm and not something else?
Good luck. I really wanted to add the comment that the clippers in the salon is NOT where he got in.

Eeek, oral meds are the worst. Check out this website for some immune-boosting tips and less invasive treatments :}
www.yeastinfectionadvisor.com
Barber shops are usually very good at sterilizing all their instruments for that reason. I'm VERY sensitive to ringworm, but usually wind up getting it from the yard or off the dogs if they've been running around in the yard - scratch them, scratch me, and the rest is history. The top of his head is interesting tho.
Here is what someone online recommended, "For an anti fungal shampoo get Nizoral. It is 1% ketoconazole, which is a prescription anti fungal cream (the prescription dose is 2%). You can find Nizoral in WalMart, Walgreens, CVS, etc., it costs about $10 a bottle and it does work. You can get ringworm or any of the "tinea" skin fungi from contact with anyone who has it, whether human or animal. However, you should go to a doctor to be on the safe side." Questioner wrote back and said that the doc had prescribed Nizoral as well. I believe that's the same stuff my hub uses when he has summer beard probs too. I do know that it is highly contagious, and the bedding has to be cleaned regularly as well. Does he go to a daycare or babysitter? Football, baseball, or bicycle helmet? Hope this helps. :]

A.
Scalp ringworm is very common in children. Is he in school? The best place to get it, since it is very contagious. Once you get rid of it, you need to disinfect everything, espicially your hair grooming products. You cannot create an immunity to it. You can get it many times. Combs, clothes and just surfaces that have been contaminated, can cause an outbreak. You have to be treated by a doctor or it can become chronic. There are medications to take by mouth, but also powders that can be applied directly to the affected area so it will be kept dry. Let us know your outcome

S. Miller

Now your kids could also catch ringworm from playing in the sand at a park also. when you wash his hair try to dry it right away because it like mosture, you want to keep it dry. Plus use anifungal cream for athletes foot it will get rid of it quick. now if your 3 year old hasn't caught it, it may not be ringworm maybe it's just dry skin. well try that athletes foot cream for about a week and see how it goes.

First ringworm is a fungus not yeast. Difluan is a medication used to treat yeast infections. I had the problem due to my child caught it from a animal. Try washing his head with a shampoo call kenakazole(i know that it is spelled wrong). In between shampoos also wash with selsun blue medicated. Your child could have gotten anywheres. A animal doesn't have to actually have the ringworm, but just be a carrier of it. Just like a human can be a carrier of it. He could have petted a animal at a friend's house or the pet store that is a carrier. In fact the animal that my child caught it from was a carrier, the animal never had the first lesion, but tested positive.

My mom used the hull of a freshly picked walnuts which cleared her ringworm up. I have since learned that walnuts are high in Iodine. But iodine might burn. M. W

A.,

Ringworm is an extremely difficult beast to get rid of and I can't imagine having to fight ringworm with a small child. I know this is a difficult time for your family.

We didn't have children, but we did have a litter of kittens and the whole lot of them had ringworm. We used the powder on them a minimum of 3-4 times a day. We powdered the carpet, bleached the floors and used multiple cans of the spray on the furniture.

I won't lie....it took us about a full year to rid all the nooks and crannies of the recurrent nighmare.

We had to replace our vacuum, all items connected to cleaning (dust rags) and pretty much anything that could have and did come in contact with the ringworm.

It CAN be beaten. I promise. But it will take a huge amount of effort on your part. (Sorry!) Change, replace, dust, spray and wash anything that REMOTELY may have come in contact with the ringworm spores. These spores can be smaller than a dandruff flake or dead skin. That's what makes it so difficult. You can't see the stuff. It's maddening.

Like I said....eventually, you will win the war. Ask the Dr if you can dust your daughter's skin and hair with the powder......ONLY IF IT IS SAFE.

Hang in there and good luck to you.

My son when he was a baby had a severe case of eczema and i tried everything including selson blue. The only thing that worked to wash his head with is called T-Gel. It had gotten so bad that he developed staff infection and became sick. Everyone thought it was cradle cap. (except for me) Make sure what he has is ring worms, doctors are wrong some of the time. They were with my son and could have cost him his life. When they found out that it was eczema then they new how to treat it. But just try the T-gel, you can get it at walmart.
D.

A.,

It is my understanding that most ringworms come from cats. You didn't mention in your request whether you have a cat or not. You might ask your doctor about that.

B. M.

Hi A.,
You could try treating the Ringworm with some Vinegar (you can also soak your removable clipper parts in it). I caught ringworm 3 times this summer on my leg and got a topical treatment then had to get an Oral one. After doing some research Ringworm IS a Fungus and Doesn't like Acidic things (I read about the Bleach thing, which could work but if your son has a sensitive scalp I'd try vinegar first and if it burns I'd use the bleach w/ water).
Also, I noticed my ringworm got worse if I slept with my feet covered- I found heat makes it worse, might try and see if he's covering his head at night and if so try and keep his head/scalp cooler...or if he takes baths might try giving him a shower and see if that helps.
We don't have pets either, and I don't know how I got the ringworm unless as another Mom suggested from my Hubby.
Hope this helps,
C.

Just to let you know, ringworm is caused by the same fungus as athlete's foot. My husband had athlete's foot, and he actually ended up giving me a ringworm patch on my leg from contact.

Had similar issue. One pediatrician only gave me shampoo and it didn't work. Went to another pediatrician. She had me to put betadine on the affected spot(s) and let it set for a few minutes. Then wash it out. Then wash with medicated shampoo (We had nizoral). After a few days of that, along with taking oral meds, we no longer had the problem. However, throwing out everything that was previously used, along with avoiding public barbers, is still a good idea. The thing is, because it has become so out of hand, it takes a few extra measures. I think the betadine played an important role.

A.,
Have you tried cutting his hair short enough to require little or no combing ? He might be reinfecting himself with a comb...his or a buddy's at school. Good luck. A.

A.,

My daughter also had ringworm on her scalp when she was around 2. Probably contacted from the beuty shop as you said as well. Our peditrician prescribed an oral antiboitic as well as a medicated shampoo that we had to use for 2 weeks or more might have been 6 weeks. I'm sorry I can't recall the name or the time regiment. That's been 4 years ago and 2 kids later. Check with your peditrician about the shampoo maybe thats all that is needed to stop it from reoccuring.

ringworm also comes from cats,dogs,chickens. and my brother got one from swimming in a creek. so it could be several things i would take him to a dermatologist. it might be something else.

I highly doubt that the ringworm epidemic is coming from your barber. Ringworm is a fungus that is transmitted by animals. If there is a stray cat in your neighborhood, or your son has a sand box, that can be why he repeatidly is getting this. Has there been an outbreak in his school? There was in my school's wrestling team, by the guys rolling around on the mats.
i had ringworm when i was younger, and what worked really wel was the ointment used for athlete's foot, i don't remember the name. (I have also heard of using iodine, but I would check with someone with a degree before trying that out on a child.) Good luck!! i know that ringworm really sucks, and it's a pain to get rid of. You might want to put something on it for itch, like hydrocortizone.

WE have cats and as kittens they shared the problem with everyone of the family and generally it showed up on us before it even showed up on them. I got an antifungal treatment for them at the feed store and for us I headed right to the natural food store and picked up a bottle of tea tree oil. It cleared it right up and then came in handy again when our children brought home head lice from grade school. Took care of that problem as well. For the ring worm we simply put it on with a Qtip and for the head lice we put it in the shampoo and creme rinse.
Hope this helps, Bblessed always in all things

I used a green walnut cut in half, as it is a natural safe treatment and the only thing that helped my son

When I was young, I stayed with a ringworm from one time to another. My Mom used every medicine the Doctor prescribed. We had no pets, but the ringworm kept coming back. She finally got some bleach, dipped a cutip in some, and dabbed the bleach only on the ringworm. It burned a little, but after a few times of doing that, it went away, and I have never had another problem with them. Try and see, I pray it works for your son.