Weird skin issues/reaction

[devotchka]

A few months ago we moved into this new place, and around the same time, M got the 2nd part of his flu shot. After we took off the bandaids, I saw what I thought was irritation from the shot. It looked like swollen red skin. A week later, he had a few of these on his leg. It didn't seem like a rash but after a week, he got a few more and they started scabbing up. It looked like scabbing, in a way, basically skin irritation.
I started looking into it to see what it could be and asked a friend who works at a pest control company because we had a few itchy bites and thought they were spiders and she said that it could be bird mites, or another kind of mite. He had a few bites in his ear, which he would scratch so hard they would bleed.
Ever since it's been a lot colder, the ear stuff started getting better and it looked like he had fewer bites (?) but the scabbing was still there and it spread to the other leg, and I looked the other day and there is a little bit on his lower back. I am with him all day and I NEVER see him scratch it, which is curious because he did scratch his ear bites.
I will be going into the pediatrician's office for his 9 month appointment in a few weeks and I will ask about it. I am guessing it's just skin irritation/inflammation from bites (mites or whatever) but I hope it's nothing worse. Then again if it is mites, I just hope he stops getting irritated by it because I don't really want to bomb the house with a pesticide (I am pretty crunchy like that) nor do I want to use any other methods because frankly, most don't work and it's a huge PITA. I think if we keep drying out the house with the heater on in these cold months and vacuum we can get it under control if it is a mite.
I am just feeling really bad for this poor baby who has these welts all over his legs I think I saw a red bite on his arm today too. ARGH!
Interestingly, my friend in a different part of the city has had crazy rashes/welts similar to these (she called them hives but I'm not sure they) all over her legs too. Hers are a different color but it might be because her skin is a little darker than M's? Not sure if they are connected...

Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? Any insights?

Picture attached. Poor M

(EDIT: Here is a larger photo)

[jaime183]

the patches looks like Luke's eczema... are they super dry? Do they go away with hydrocortisone cream? Our pediatric derm told us to bathe him everyday (twice a day if possible) then follow up immeditately with vaseline on all the dry patches to seal in the moisture.

Trying to dry out mites might be drying out his skin. I thought mites would be more speckled and not so patchy

[jaime183]

google image seems to mostly have faces but the few body pics they have are patchy like that. I google imaged "Baby eczema"

Also in it's google-like way it does tend to show extreme cases.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:21:06 GMT -5 jaime183 said:

the patches looks like Luke's eczema... are they super dry? Do they go away with hydrocortisone cream? Our pediatric derm told us to bathe him everyday (twice a day if possible) then follow up immeditately with vaseline on all the dry patches to seal in the moisture.

Trying to dry out mites might be drying out his skin. I thought mites would be more speckled and not so patchy

I thought it might be eczema! Yes, the patches are super duper dry and we've put coconut oil on them but that only does so much - but we also lost both of our containers somehow, I have no idea how, so we haven't been doing it very regularly. I just put some hippy butt balm on it (it's o.o. based w/o anti-inflammatory herbs in it, I figured why not) to see if that helps. Anyway, we haven't used cortisone yet. I know it will thin your skin permanently so I just didn't want to do it until I knew for sure what to use on it.

So why bathe twice a day? That's interesting. And just vaseline? Does it help?

[gmoneymommy]

Does it feel really dry? G gets a rash that looks like that, and the pedi said it is eczema. The Aveeno eczema cream really helps. We also have to be very careful with our laundry detergent. It seems like leg warmers make it worse sometimes too. I'm not sure why.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:23:32 GMT -5 jaime183 said:

google image seems to mostly have faces but the few body pics they have are patchy like that. I google imaged "Baby eczema"

Also in it's google-like way it does tend to show extreme cases.

Oh - this looks really similar to ours!
bit.ly/SeEc34

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:24:12 GMT -5 gmoneymommy said:

Does it feel really dry? G gets a rash that looks like that, and the pedi said it is eczema. The Aveeno eczema cream really helps. We also have to be very careful with our laundry detergent. It seems like leg warmers make it worse sometimes too. I'm not sure why.

Yeah, I am starting to think you guys are right. It is really dry. Does the baby eczema ever go away?
Ohhh I wonder if the leg warmers are making it worse! We've been using super duper scent-free/sensitive (the 7th gen. brand) detergent, what do you use that works well for it?

[jaime183]

the derm said that eczema research has changed a lot in the last 5 years and they used to tell you to limit baths but now they think the moisture is actually better as long as you seal it in right away with vaseline or aquaphor type (greasy) layer.
Supposedly eczema is a missing protein in the skin layers and it cant seal itself. She compared it to bricks where the mortar didn't seal all the way.
She said the other creams have too much other stuff in them and petroleum jelly is enough. Aquaphor is fine too but it has lanolin and some people are sensitive to it.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:27:29 GMT -5 jaime183 said:

the derm said that eczema research has changed a lot in the last 5 years and they used to tell you to limit baths but now they think the moisture is actually better as long as you seal it in right away with vaseline or aquaphor type (greasy) layer.
Supposedly eczema is a missing protein in the skin layers and it cant seal itself. She compared it to bricks where the mortar didn't seal all the way.
She said the other creams have too much other stuff in them and petroleum jelly is enough. Aquaphor is fine too but it has lanolin and some people are sensitive to it.

Interesting! Should I ask my pedi for a referral to a pedi dermatologist, you think?

[jaime183]

we use unscented 7th generation detergent.

She (dermatologist) said that the dry air from the heater, weakened immune systems (colds, teething, etc) can cause flare ups.

[jaime183]

our peds office is part of a university system so they are all researchers too- I think pediatric dermatologists are hard to find.
I would try the vaseline first and if it doesnt clear up they gave us a RX hydrocortisone (2.5%) to just use during flare ups. There isn't much else you can do.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:29:19 GMT -5 jaime183 said:

we use unscented 7th generation detergent.

She (dermatologist) said that the dry air from the heater, weakened immune systems (colds, teething, etc) can cause flare ups.

Very interesting. TY!

[gmoneymommy]

Jan 6, 2013 23:26:30 GMT -5 devotchka said:

Jan 6, 2013 23:24:12 GMT -5 gmoneymommy said:

Does it feel really dry? G gets a rash that looks like that, and the pedi said it is eczema. The Aveeno eczema cream really helps. We also have to be very careful with our laundry detergent. It seems like leg warmers make it worse sometimes too. I'm not sure why.

Yeah, I am starting to think you guys are right. It is really dry. Does the baby eczema ever go away?
Ohhh I wonder if the leg warmers are making it worse! We've been using super duper scent-free/sensitive (the 7th gen. brand) detergent, what do you use that works well for it?

We use Tiny Bubbles for all of his stuff. I notice a reaction anytime we stray and use another unscented detergent.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:31:03 GMT -5 jaime183 said:

our peds office is part of a university system so they are all researchers too- I think pediatric dermatologists are hard to find.
I would try the vaseline first and if it doesnt clear up they gave us a RX hydrocortisone (2.5%) to just use during flare ups. There isn't much else you can do.

Looks like there are a couple in the dr group that we are in, but I bet the wait to see them is nutso.

[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:32:19 GMT -5 gmoneymommy said:

Jan 6, 2013 23:26:30 GMT -5 devotchka said:

Yeah, I am starting to think you guys are right. It is really dry. Does the baby eczema ever go away?
Ohhh I wonder if the leg warmers are making it worse! We've been using super duper scent-free/sensitive (the 7th gen. brand) detergent, what do you use that works well for it?

We use Tiny Bubbles for all of his stuff. I notice a reaction anytime we stray and use another unscented detergent.

Do you get that online?

[lolaburns]

The only thing that concerns me is that you said they start out looking like bumps or bites and then turn into these dry , scaly patches. It looks like eczema, but it also looks like ringworm. Ringworm starts out looking like a bug bite. Is his skin dry all over or just the patches? I would take him in early to get it diagnosed.


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[devotchka]

Jan 6, 2013 23:53:51 GMT -5 lolaburns said:

The only thing that concerns me is that you said they start out looking like bumps or bites and then turn into these dry , scaly patches. It looks like eczema, but it also looks like ringworm. Ringworm starts out looking like a bug bite. Is his skin dry all over or just the patches? I would take him in early to get it diagnosed.


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ack!!! it's only dry in the patches. should i wait for the 9 month appointment or go in sooner than that? thing is, it's been happening since nov. and is getting better, not worse :/

[devotchka]

Wow - I just looked it up ringworm and that dry, scaly ring around the rash does look familiar, although most of the patches are not round.

[lolaburns]

Hmmm...If it were L I would take him in earlier. There are OTC antifungals for ringworm like Lotrimin but I would want a pharmacist/doctor's advise on topical application to a baby.L had eczema that has cleared up ( his was diet related). His eczema had the scaly round patches but also all of his skin was really, really dry along with it.

The only reason I suggested ringworm is because I've had it before and it looked really similar to eczema round patches. It sounds scarier than it is...and it isn't a worm ( thank God)!


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[devotchka]

Jan 7, 2013 0:04:56 GMT -5 lolaburns said:

Hmmm...If it were L I would take him in earlier. There are OTC antifungals for ringworm like Lotrimin but I would want a pharmacist/doctor's advise on topical application to a baby.L had eczema that has cleared up ( his was diet related). His eczema had the scaly round patches but also all of his skin was really, really dry along with it.

The only reason I suggested ringworm is because I've had it before and it looked really similar to eczema round patches. It sounds scarier than it is...and it isn't a worm ( thank God)!


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Does sound scarier - it's a fungal infection rt? Did you pass it onto anyone? I am curious why we haven't gotten it if that is the case.

I may take him in this week. Thank you for the advice!!!

[lolaburns]

My ringworm wasn't perfectly round and they didn't all have some of the red round circle tugs some of the pictures on the Internet show.


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[lolaburns]

I actually got it from a cat when I was younger. For whatever reason, I was the only person in my family that got it, despite all of us touching the cat. I think some people are more susceptible to it?


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[devotchka]

Jan 7, 2013 0:07:58 GMT -5 lolaburns said:

I actually got it from a cat when I was younger. For whatever reason, I was the only person in my family that got it, despite all of us touching the cat. I think some people are more susceptible to it?


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bad cat!!!

[DesertMoon]

Julian has some rough eczema...I used cortisone...it gets rid of it, but once I stop using it, it comes right back. I use a ton of aquaphor, vaseline and aveeno baby eczema lotion... I have a pic of his eczema when it was at it's worst...

[gmoneymommy]

Jan 6, 2013 23:34:05 GMT -5 devotchka said:

Jan 6, 2013 23:32:19 GMT -5 gmoneymommy said:

We use Tiny Bubbles for all of his stuff. I notice a reaction anytime we stray and use another unscented detergent.

Do you get that online?

The company that makes it is based in my town, but they also sell it online. I think Amazon has it, and I know Costco has it online too.

[lolaburns]

Jan 7, 2013 0:10:40 GMT -5 devotchka said:

Jan 7, 2013 0:07:58 GMT -5 lolaburns said:

I actually got it from a cat when I was younger. For whatever reason, I was the only person in my family that got it, despite all of us touching the cat. I think some people are more susceptible to it?


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bad cat!!!

Hehehe he was a sweetie...my Sir Lancelot. I loved him so much.


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[Deleted]

Ringworm was my first thought too but I don't have experience with eczema.. I wouldn't wait until the appt just to be safe I'd take him in this week- especially if he has active lesions right now that the doctor could examine.

[devotchka]

Jan 7, 2013 0:31:14 GMT -5 DesertMoon said:

Julian has some rough eczema...I used cortisone...it gets rid of it, but once I stop using it, it comes right back. I use a ton of aquaphor, vaseline and aveeno baby eczema lotion... I have a pic of his eczema when it was at it's worst...

aw poor baby!

[devotchka]

Jan 7, 2013 1:00:28 GMT -5 ladybug said:

Ringworm was my first thought too but I don't have experience with eczema.. I wouldn't wait until the appt just to be safe I'd take him in this week- especially if he has active lesions right now that the doctor could examine.

ok i will do that based on so many of you thinking this!!! eep :/ i wonder if he's given it to anyone else...

[JuliaGulia]

If It is eczema I recommend using Cetaphil body wash. Ever since we started using it DD's eczema has pretty much went away.