Please tell me what’s going on with my child’s skin (pictures included)

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My 10 year old child has been suffering from itchy pimples for over 3 months now. They started in his belly then started spreading all over his body. We had a phone consultation with the gp who suspected heat rash first, then she thought it might be a skin reaction to food allergies and asked us to observe it. A month later, I insisted that he needs to be seen as he used to wake up at night due to itchiness. She saw him and said that it could be scabies, so he did the scabies treatment and we were asked to wait 2 weeks before calling again. It didn’t do anything as it’s not scabies. She then prescribed him a hydrocortisone cream and a moisturising lotion and it’s been 3 weeks now and there’s no progress. I’m so frustrated and feel powerless looking at him struggling and getting moody as a result of this condition… He also said that some children with him at school were making comments about his hands and laughing and he was so upset that night.

Please tell me what’s this I’ve googled and googled so many times but nothing looks like this. His GP is useless and doesn’t even inspect his skin and just looks from 2 meters away!!

P.s the pimples are worse on his crotch area and upper legs.

I'm no expert but my son has eczema and a latex allergy. The latex allergy is a recent development and looks exactly like this.

It looms like there might be a couple of things going on, one on the hands and another on his body. Your GP sounds useless, can you afford a private GP appointment?

Things you can try at home (one at a time for a few days in a row as it will help to rule things out)
Antihistamine creams and pills (like childrens piriton before bed)
Antifungal cream
Heavy duty moisturizer for sensitive skin

Switch to using soaps, laundry powder and that are hypoallergenic
Put bin bags over his mattress under his sheet and over his pillow under the pillowcase to reduce any dust mite reactions

can you see a different GP?

Thank you. I've asked him if he wore latex gloves at school and he said that he did a month ago whilst doing an experiment! Does your son have any creams or medication that makes his eczema get better?

Thank you for all the suggestions. I think I will have to go private now because he needs someone who is willing to actually have a look at what's going on and diagnose his condition.
He was taking Piriton at first but it affected his sleep massively. Unfortunately, I was told that it could either make children sleepy or awake which is what happened to him. His GP asked us to stop it.

This may sound a bit random but I believe a latex allergy can also be linked to a kiwi allergy, does he get spots on his lips if he eats kiwis?

I’m not sure what this is but my bet is allergy or some irritation. He needs seen by paediatric dermatology and you are absolutely within your rights to ask for him to be referred by Gp. As your one sounds about as useful as a chocolate teapot, I suggest you see a different one or failing that write to the practice manager and state how long it has been going on for, how it is getting worse and it’s now affecting him at school with comments and bullying and you would like a derm referral as a priority. Good luck 💐

GPs in my surgery work mostly from home and do phone consultations. It's just like it was during Covid it's utterly laughable! They have two doctors and a nurse in the surgery. The GP that we always see and another one who's always booked up weeks in advance. I will enquire about going private now as we have no choice.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will try it as a last resort on Monday. I'm afraid even if they agreed to the referral, it might take months for him to be seen by the paediatric dermatologist. My trust has one of the longest waiting times in the country.

You can get different antihistamines- Loratedine and ceterazine which might be tolerable - super cheap so I'd grab both tomorrow and see which is tolerated.
I'd also show a pharmacist - as its Saturday and get a decent emollient over the counter - we use Aveeno and then a Barrier cream for his hands - again as bland as possible, ask the pharmacist for one first - it can feel like lard so will take some getting used to.

I'd look at using the emollient / aveeno all over his torso to help alleviate the itching and rashes and then also look at his clothes - are they breathable cotton or not, what do you use to wash with / shower gel etc all of that as plain as possible and hopefully it will ease.

Take lots of photos and keep a diary - latex exposure / food etc and then push like hard for a referral - allergy clinic appts are like gold dust so if you can afford private then it's worth it but push via the GP - this is now affecting his well-being so I'd say it's urgent

Hopefully he'll see an improvement over the next few weeks with emollients and a barrier for his hands to heal and you'll have referrals in place

PM if you'd like to chat - have two atopic kids adn years of allergy clinic experience x

First glance, it looks similar to my ds who has eczema because of allergies. But you say that the hydrocortisone didn't do anything, that's definitely different. My ds's eczema certainly improves with steroid creams.

Ah I’m sorry 😞 I’m in Scotland and we don’t have any private paediatrics here so we have to just push stupidly hard for referrals where needed! as you say, maybe worth a shot in case they refer and it’s not a crazy long wait. but if you can afford to go private it does sound like it will speed up a diagnosis sooner. Sending lots of luck.

Is it itchy?

It looks like a combination of ezcema and dry skin