food allergies/intolerances & rashes

[tanyalynn]

I think my son (19mos old) has some food intolerances (I don't know the appropriate way to use allergy or intolerance, forgive me) that cause a rash on his face.

My question is: does anyone have any thoughts/experiences on whether food allergies/intolerances can/cannot cause different types of rashes as children get older? (too many /'s in that sentence, sorry, I'm trying to be as exact as I can because I am confused about what's going on with my son).

He gets a rash on his face, above his mouth and sometimes including a bit of his nose that looks like red pinpricks--that's the usual rash that I (slowly) figured was his reaction to cashews, and I'm working on whether there are other things causing it.

But lately (the past 2 months or so) he seems to be prone to a different rash, below his mouth to his chin, and it's flatter and wider. That's not the best description but basically it's just different (though he's gotten the pinprick rash in the same timeframe).

I'm really confused about what this is. Could this be a different manifestation of the same problem, or does that just not happen? I want to get as much settled & understood about this as soon as I can because in a few months we may be starting a medicine that has a reputation for being hard on the gut, and I want to be really vigilant about avoiding any problematic foods.

TIA!

[Savoir Faire]

Does the flat one feel a little dry....almost scaley?

Yes, allergies can present as rashes. Some get hives, some get eczema, some get something that looks like eczema...the list goes on and on.

Get the tests done to help you figure out what is going on.

[Chinese Pistache]

I've never seen any real evidence that particular types of rashes correlate to particular food allergies. You can find a group of children all allergic to dairy and they will each present with different reactions. What you describe *does* sound like an allergy reaction. I'd start food journaling and then, skin testing.

[tanyalynn]

I can accept that the cashews (the first and only thing I've identified so far) are causing the prickly-looking rash above his mouth. That really made sense with the food diary I did a couple months ago.

But I'm really baffled about this other rash, and whether one child could have two different types of rashes as reactions to foods (I assume another food, I _thought_ we were doing a good job keeping away from cashews). That's the confusing part--that this rash looks different, and I don't know if one kid could/would get different looking rashes (either his reaction is changing over time, or different foods are causing a different-looking rash, or the unknown weather/skin irritant theory which would really mess with my mind).

Am I clearer now?