The condensed version is this:
almost 3yo with what we thought we knew was a tomato intolerance. We axed tomatoes, the reactions got better (reactions were a windburn rash on cheeks, and truly nasty poo) but not ever totally gone. Well, actually, his poop has gotten much better, but the red cheeks come and go still, and he still has keratosis (goosebumpy patches) on his arms and legs, and still has cradle cap (at this point, is it seborrheic dermatitis or eczema?).
We've been trying to figure out what the additional allergies/intolerances were by a kind of lax deductive reasoning, but that hasn't worked so far.

Early last week I decided to take another hit at the cradle cap, so I broke open a few evening primrose oil capsules and used those to rub into his scalp. He had some pinkish cheeks, so when I was done, I wiped the small amount that was still on my hands on his face, too. Within fifteen minutes his face was almost purple, it was so red. We immediately washed that off in the tub.
That was when I decided we needed to figure out the real problem by any means necessary, and I started him on an elimination diet. He's been eating rice, quinoa, squash, turkey, lentils, and some flaxseed (um... and olive oil and sea salt) since Tuesday. He was looking pretty good, face was healing up quickly- after a flare like that, it usually gets kind of dry looking and a little flaky, then fades back to normal. Then on Thursday I made the mistake of putting a little apricot preserves on a rice cake for him and all hell broke loose with his cheeks again. Immediately there was a contact rash where the preserves touched the sides of his mouth, and about 45 minutes later there was a really bad chapped cheek thing. Again.

So. The two latest huge reactions were from evening primrose oil capsules, ingredients: Evening primrose oil, gelatin (not a factor because I opened them up?), glycerin and water and then apricot preserves, ingredients: apricots, sugar, water, fruit pectin, citric acid, locust bean gum, potassium sorbate, calcium chloride, yellow #5 and #6.

The things that stand out to me here are the glycerin (maybe corn?) and the citric acid (maybe corn?), and less so the fruit pectin (uh, oranges or apples? maybe) and less so the locust bean gum (we haven't noticed any immediate problems with legumes in the past).

So, I am very suspicious that this may actually shake out to be corn. We won't know for certain until we can get him to a cleared up skin place to trial, but still. You guys here know more than I do about this sort of thing. Do any of those ingredients scream out 'likely allergen' to you besides the corn derivatives? I've been scanning the corn-avoidance lists, and that just seems huge.

Oh, and since yesterday morning, the red cheeks are fading quickly, and we seem to be back on track with what I was feeding him this week- so none of that appears to be an issue.

Thanks for the help.

My thought is a salicylate sensitivity. Tomato and apricot are both high on the scale and EPO contains salicylates, but I couldn't track down an amount specifically. I just know that several sites gave warnings about using EPO if you were sensitive to salicylates. Are you familiar with the Failsafe or Feingold diets? If he is sensitive to Salicylates, those diets have a lot of information about what to avoid and other food that might cause issues, like food colorings, additives (msg, sulphites), etc.

Thanks! I'll start looking that direction, too. I wondered about salicylates, but never really researched it. I appreciate the heads up!
stephanie

I was also going to suggest failsafe. tomatoes are crazy high in amines & salicylates. apricots, especially preserves are high in salicylates.

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

http://blog.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/what-is-failsafe/

FWIW, glycerine is usually from palm, I think.

I'm familiar with Feingold, but not Failsafe. I'll look into that. We did see a mild reaction to eggplant, which we didn't think was a trigger, but knowing that both tomato and eggplant are nightshade family, we weren't surprised. The obvious rash is so random, it seemed, that everytime we thought we knew what we were dealing with, it turned out we were wrong. We've thought cinnamon, strawberries, citrus, er, other things... and in doing informal avoidance and then reintroduction, came up with nothing. We've been going in circles for about a year, but I give. We have to get to the bottom of this so we can fix it.

Thanks to you both! I'll get on to those links and the Failsafe thing, too. Of course I'm interested in any other thoughts- I've cut out all the vites and fish oils and whatnot because it's all flavored and full of who-knows-what. Hopefully we can get this thing all worked out soon.

I just wanted to follow up here- it looks like we may have a winner. We're doing the failsafe elimination diet, and I'm seeing an immediate improvement in my son's cheeks. I was reading some contradicting information, and we had a couple of slip ups. Cauliflower, which on a couple lists was listed as ok, turned out to not be ok. Immediate red cheeks. Honey is listed everywhere as bad, but I used it before we went down the failsafe road and forgot it was in an otherwise 'safe' food- red cheeks. I bought avocado, yellow squash and zucchini when I was still in the typical top 8 allergen elimination, and it turns out we can't do those, so it's not without frustration.

At least it's making sense now, though. I truly do appreciate the advice that got me looking in the right direction. We still have some time to bear out the elimination diet, but i have hope that we're on our way.

I'm using this as the blueprint for his meals- RAPH diet (http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuff.info/content/elimination-diet.aspx), but I still haven't added back in eggs, dairy or wheat. As far as I can tell, though, those are not an issue and we'll be giving them a shot relatively quickly.

Something I have not seen addressed in my reading so far is the likelihood that this can be outgrown. Is that a possibility?
Also, the healing measures I normally see recommended here like bone broths or fermented veggies or yogurts or CLO/fish oils are apparently not Failsafe acceptable. What can we do that would be ok in this situation?

Agian, I really appreciate the advice!
stephanie