Rash/allergy help

[scatterbunny]

I don't know what this is, but let me preface it by saying this: Hayley has always gotten weird rashes. I take her to the doctor, they brush off my concern and say it's just contact dermatitis, and give me some hydrocortisone cream.

A few times her rashes were bad enough that they covered her abdomen, most of her legs and arms. About a month ago she had a rash like this on her face. It's warm to the touch, a little swollen-looking, and it spreads before it disappears.

For about a week now she's had a sore, red rash around her lips. No individual sores, no spreading, just right around her lips. I have her wash her face and we put Neosporin on it, and the next day it seems better, but then a day or so later it's back again.

She is a messy eater and gets food all the way around her lips when she eats, and she has a habit of licking her lips, so I've been brushing it off as irritation from those two things, but now I'm not sure, and figured I'd get some opinions. I Googled a bit but couldn't find much. Some said it was an allergy to certain citrus fruit, but she hasn't had any citrus fruit lately (orange juice, but that's it), and she's always eaten citrus fruit without a problem that we've noticed.

 

[Jewels]

She is a messy eater and gets food all the way around her lips when she eats, and she has a habit of licking her lips, so I've been brushing it off as irritation from those two things,

This was my first thought too! Sorry, don't know what it could be.

A thought about the rash on her stomach though, my DS would get a rash and it would spread, be raised and bumpy but never seemed to bother him. I changed laundry deteregents and that cleared it up. I have switched to a detergent without fillers added to it and it seemed to clear up his rash.

To tell if your deterget has fillers you can put 1-2TBSP of laundry detergent into a baby food jar, fill it with water and shake it up. Let it sit for 10-20min for it to settle, detergents with fillers in them will have a lot of residue left in the jar.

 

[rlsadc]

FWIW I am allergic to citrus and didnt know until I was 16 . I get a differnt reaction each time I eat it (or drink orange juice, pineapple juice etc.). The most common is that I get LARGE canker sores in my mouth. Ones that are so big and hurt so bad I end up not eatin until they are gone. But I have also gotten sores around the outside of my mouth, and I just thought they were cold sores, but had them tested and they werent. But there were sometimes when I ate it, nothing would happen.

 

[Amaris]

I'm not actually allergic to orange juice, but the acid in it causes blisters around my mouth so I can't drink it. Michael has the same problem. He can have a little every now and then as long as I can find the low acid kind!

 

[SPJ&E]

Pacey's gets the same way sort of. He always has a rash around his mouth that will be so red and dry one day and basically gone the next...he has such sensitive skin! I've found that anything acidic makes it worse...especially tomatoes. I just put something like Aquaphor/Vaseline on it twice a day and make sure I clean his mouth well with a plain wet washcloth or paper towel as soon as he's done eating.

 

[Morganthe]

I got a call from a friend last week telling me that she & her 2 1/2 year old daughter wouldn't be at a story time because she (dd) had a facial rash. Her doctor told her that it was a virus going around town and the primary symptom was rashing or hives first on the face, then everywhere else.

If you like, I'll call her in the morning to find out what it was called. It just sounded very wierd to me at the time. But her dd was back to normal within a week.

Hugs to Hayley

 

[scatterbunny]

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas, everyone!

The citrus thing makes sense, as far as what I Googled, and how it looks, and we have been drinking orange juice quite a bit...but we almost always have orange juice in the house. It's just odd.

Her rashes are never bumpy, just redness, warm to the touch, sometimes slightly swollen-looking (raised all over, not bumpy).

I don't know that the detergent would have anything to do with her mouth rash, but I'll test it anyway. We've been using Tide Coldwater and just bought some Sun Free & Clear.

 

[mamato2]

I've heard of and seen (but can't remember what their rash looked like exactly) kids with yeast infections around their mouths. Licking around her mouth will provide a nice moist environment for yeast to grow. Might be worth looking into, even if just on the internet for photos. (Be warned,you could see some 'gross' looking rashes!! I looked up chicken pox rash a few weeks ago when DD had an odd rash spreading across her abdomen and back. I saw some stuff that made me queasy!!)
C.

 

[Jewels]

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas, everyone!

The citrus thing makes sense, as far as what I Googled, and how it looks, and we have been drinking orange juice quite a bit...but we almost always have orange juice in the house. It's just odd.

Her rashes are never bumpy, just redness, warm to the touch, sometimes slightly swollen-looking (raised all over, not bumpy).

I don't know that the detergent would have anything to do with her mouth rash, but I'll test it anyway. We've been using Tide Coldwater and just bought some Sun Free & Clear.

I was thinking the detergent could cause the rash on her stomach.

I have tried this with Tide and have found there is a lot that doesn't disolve in the water, but it is interesting to see In case you are interested to know, I use this Laundry Detergent and found that it help clear up his rash on his stomach.

 

[Suzibeck]

My middle dd had a red, swollen, rash like you describe from wheat allergy. It was on her chin, I think from drooling. She was a baby at the time and I called it her reflux rash because she was a virtual fountain and her spit up burned me! Anyway, it went away when we removed wheat from her diet, as did her terrible diaper rash that nothing helped.

Have you ever done allergy testing?

Something that I've found to be great for my kids sensitive skin/excema is Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap.

Suz

 

[amy919]

Kaylie gets hives and what you're describing is exactly how I would describe hers. We know that she is allergic to strawberries and that causes hirrible hives - inside her mouth and everything. But, she also gets hives for absolutely no found reason. Her pediatrician said it could be a variety of things. It could be a minor virus, a reaction to something she ate, detergent, soap, different shampoo, etc. There are just too many possible reasons to list.

If they disappear with a shot of Benadryl, it's likely that it's an allergy to something. You could try that next time and see what happens. If they don't seem to bother her, aren't compounded with a fever, lethargy, etc., I probably wouldn't worry too much about it. Although, it's hard when you can't figure out what's causing it.

Good luck!

Amy

 

[Lea_Ontario]

The mouth bit - I'd put money on being from her licking her lips.

 

[skipspin]

I like the irritation/infection from licking her lips theory too.

When DD was really little she drooled a lot and had neck rolls. (VERY chubby.) She would get rashed around her paci (till I changed the type) and from her lips, down her chin, and sometimes her neck and even chest from drool and heat. One time she did get a yeast infection in her neck rolls even though I washed them out several times a day. LOL. I'm sure a lot of it was the chubbiness and FL heat, but it's definately possible. The A&D diaper ointment helped her not get the rash (vasaleine would probably do the same thing!), but something with a high percentage of zinc oxide would help it go away once she did get it. When she had the yeast infection my Dr just had me try the over-the-counter ointment and it cleared it up.

Now she only gets a rash around her mouth when she eats ranch dressing, but it goes away a few minutes after her face gets washed off. Weird.