let's play "name this rash!" (pic heavy)

[hildare]

facts about the rash:

• it's not itchy
• it appeared on one side of her mouth, and has spread
• in the photo, it's the worst that it has appeared, after facewashing and tooth brushing- it fades and revives throughout the day/week.  sometimes it's barely present.  it looks waay worse than it usually is in the photo, but does show what the worst part looks like.
• it comes and goes. 

treatments so far:

 coconut oil (no)

 weleda calendula cream (no)

tea tree oil (didn't seem to help but wasn't a long term application, it was a no-go with dd)

neosporin (worked briefly or appeared to, but then the rash spread and got worse)

the only thing that appears to work is hydrocortisone cream, which i don't want to keep using.

basically i only want to know what you mama peeps think it is so i have a clue when going to the doctor.  i am taking her as she's had it for too long and i have tried pretty much all i can think of.

it could possibly be dietary, as it faded lots when she was dairy free for a few days. 

also, she sucks her thumb.  i think she might aggravate it that way. 

so here it is, again, at the worst point.  it's not usually bad like this:

[Imakcerka]

atopic dermatitis?

[LynnS6]

My guess is atopic dermatitis too. I believe that's a type of eczema, if I remember what our doctor told us.

My daughter has eczema and I found this website once while looking for what it was: http://www.dermnet.com/dermatology-pictures-skin-disease-pictures

Unfortunately, we've never been able to isolate the cause. I think I'd have to do a full elimination diet to figure it out. It's gotten better over the years, so I'm not as motivated.

Are you washing her face with soap? I'd do plain water. I'd also cut out the toothpaste for awhile and just brush with water for a week or so to see if that helps. Our doctor recommended consistent use of Cetaphil cream (not lotion, the cream) for prevention and the steroid cream for flare-ups, as needed.

[hildare]

no we don't do soap, at all...  maybe i can brush with baking soda, i am very, very paranoid about teeth issues. 

it doesn't look like those pictures, though, and it's only on her face!  those photos are awful and sad :(

does atopic dermatitis come and go?  was it easy for the doctor to diagnose?

(i'm afraid it's going to be us going and then getting sent to a dermatologist, i hate multiple dr trips)

[Imakcerka]

Yes it comes and goes.  My oldest gets it on and off and usually it gets really dry after a day or so. 

[andromedajulie]

yeah,, I would consider the possiblity of an allergy.

[lovepickles]

Definately see a doc ... it could be any number of things. Acne, allergy, impetigo and if treated incorrectly it could get worse.

[sk8boarder15]

My son has been getting similar rashes, but mostly on his torso... I'm taking him for allergy testing this week. He's just so miserable.... 

[FeatheredLady]

Hi there! Sorry to hear about your baby's rash. It can be very trying when they're suffering from afflictions which seem hard to treat.

I don't normally post on the web, but I think I can help you with your problem.

My entire family (me, DH and DS) all had recurring skin irritations. We thought it was dust mites, food allergies, sweat, central heating, weather, washing powder, diet, stress blah blah blah. It could be that any of these things brought them on, and we tried everything from fungus creams, to cortisone, hemmorhoid creams, baby rash creams, talcum powder etc.,  but the solution came one day when our DS got an absolutely horrible case of nappy rash. He could hardly bear having his nappy changed, and i had to give him pain reliever that evening so he could sleep, it was that bad! Anyway, the next morning it was still terrible, although he'd slept without his nappy on (don't ask about the washing load that day!) so we just put some nappy rash cream on it and took him to daycare anyway hoping that activity would distract him from his troubles.

That afternoon I picked him up and asked the daycare teacher about his nappy rash - if it seemed to have improved? She just looked at me surprised and said, in German (we live in Berlin) "Oh, that's all cleared up now. I just put a whole bunch of "heilerd" on it."

I was curious, and changed his nappy before leaving, and she gave me this yellow box which had "Luvos Heilerde 2 (hautfein)" written on it in German. Needless to say, the nappy rash had almost miraculously completely disappeared!!! She then encouraged me to sprinkle the powder all over his remaining bits of nappy rash, very generously, and then I just taped his nappy together over the top.

Anyway, since then my DH and I have become total disciples of the stuff. You can mix it into a paste with water and spread it on the face as well. It's equivalent in english speaking countries is maybe "Fuller's Earth"?

I found this link where you can get it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luvos-Healing-Earth-External-Use/dp/B0029BCQFK

We used it on our own skin conditions, my DH used it on some weird neck boils (!) that he just couldn't get rid of (not even the doctor could help), I got rid of a chronic butt-crack irritation, and even gargle with it as i have sensitive gums prone to bleeding when i brush.

Anyway, I think the stuff is amazing and if you can get some you'll totally fall in love with it as did we.

Good luck!

[MarieG]

Hi there, did you ever find out what this rash was? it looks exactly like my son's rash.

We think it's aggravated by dairy and soy but not sure if this is the cause. Even with these things eliminated it's still there just not so bad.

Would really love to hear if you managed to get to the bottom of your daughter's rash.

[EmmaNoah08]

Have you tried ummm monostat? It sounds nasty, and but yeast grows easy on skin. I am surprised the dr didn't at least offer up the possibility.

[brneyedmama]

my daughter gets the same thing.  We tried cutting out certain foods and hasn't made a difference for us, strange how it's just around her mouth too.  I think it's just eczema which tons of people have and it does come and go, what works best for us is advanced therapy Eucerin.  It's really goopy but seems to calm it down.  She also is a paci user which i think definitely aggravates it.

[hildare]

Originally Posted by MarieG 

Hi there, did you ever find out what this rash was? it looks exactly like my son's rash.

We think it's aggravated by dairy and soy but not sure if this is the cause. Even with these things eliminated it's still there just not so bad.

Would really love to hear if you managed to get to the bottom of your daughter's rash.

so weird... it got worse & then disappeared completely.  i think that it was aggravated by too much citrus, but it must have either started as excema and turned into a slight infection or was an infection or rash to begin with.  i really have no clue- haven't had it back since it went away, either, knock on wood. 

[Mandy613]

Impetigo

[Toposlonoshlep]

My guess is allergy. My DS is allergic to dairy, and a rash around the mouth is pretty common. Keep in mind that dairy can take up to two weeks for the protein to leave the body, so any kind of experiment with cutting it out would have to take that long...