Doctors don’t know what’s wrong with DS’s face. Can the MN hive mind help?

[Havanawinter]

I wouldn’t post here if I wasn’t at a total loss. For 3 months nearly DS2 has had progressively worse acne spreading across his face. It started on one cheek, then another, now it’s all on his chin. The GP has been very helpful but ultimately we’ve tried everything he can think of and it’s only getting worse. We’re waiting for a dermatology appt but that could be months.
Things we’ve tried: fucidin cream, anti-fungal cream, course of antibiotics, cutting out dairy, soy and gluten, and treating it like eczema. We’ve also just tried leaving it. Nothing works. I have to take matters into my own hands because I can’t wait months letting it get worse and worse. If anyone has any ideas on what I could try next I’d be so very grateful.

I would be keeping a good diary and seeing if you can identify a pattern rather than cutting out foods at this stage.

It looks very like my DS's reaction to tomatoes which is because of the histamine mimicking effects rather than a true allergy. Also common with strawberries.

Skin prick tests are fairly useless. Full blood test is better for allergies. Also chuck out his pillow. What’s he sleeping on? Is the mattress dusty?

They are spots, almost like whiteheads, although hard to tell from the pic. Some dry/scaly skin too which I use aveeno on. They don’t appear to itch or bother him.

no change to nappies, he’s always been fine in that department. He’s had no skin issues at all until this. He’s 2.

@Ihavethisthingwithcolour I have boil washed his pillow and bedding, hoovered the mattress etc. I change the pillow case every day.

in that case it could be
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/molluscum-contagiosum/ harmless and disappear overnight.

Does it get worse in the sun?

Oh thats the same as our almost 3 year old some days theres loads and others it's not there much. Tried the creams from drs didn't do anything. Health visitor said he will grow out of it. He doesn't itch it or anything it just appears on his cheeks sometimes for days sometime not so long

Not medically qualified but in my opinion this could be caused by an allergy to some food(s) as has been mentioned - like tomatoes. Need to cut diet back to the most basically tolerated items (I think lamb is well tolerated) - to test for his food allergies. Some homeopathists will do diet tests.

Oh and like someone said above strawberries and tomatoes thats what a nutritionist said and prawn crisps they reckoned its a slight reaction but nothing major

My ds has a skin reaction to acidic food especially tomatoes.
Also had this with strawberries.
Try oilatium bath oil and bathing less..we bathe twice a week.
Also put cream on after every meal.

Hmm. Responded to this but does not seem to have posted. Apologies if you can see two replies from me!

My sons both had similar red scabby, scaly rashes as babies/toddlers. In my kids' case it was sebboreic eczema and it cleared up in just a few days once we switched all soaps, shampoos and oils into aqueous cream.

They are both adults now and can use soaps etc now, grew out of it, though we stick to non-bio powders.

I would consider if he’s reacting to the sunscreen you are using

That’s what I just came to say. One of my nieces reacts this way to tomatoes.

If you think it could be atopic in nature please please try steroids if advised. DS was allergic to tomatoes and by the time we were finally referred to the derm nurse prescriber he was 80% covered in eczema, it was horrific. the GP had not been advising us on how to use the steroids correctly, which resulted in him suffering and needing much stronger steroids for much longer than it could have been.

Once you try the steroids, if they work and you taper down correctly you should be able to manage with mainly emollients (and also hopefully finding a culprit - turns out DS is allergic to soy, nuts, trees, grass and most fruit and veg - no way we'd have been able to discover and remove all this back then, he's now nearly 18!). Steroids will only be needed with a flare up and you'll learn to recognise these and for the most part head them off at the pass.

Best of luck

This is exactly what my face was like as a child. It turned out to be a soya allergy in my case but kids can be allergic to absolutely anything. My DD had a tomato allergy phase which she thankfully grew out of which also did this to her face.

Also echo the sunscreen mentioned by PP. My DD and I are both allergic to Nivea and Soltan and they make our faces inflamed like this.

I would try steroid creams, it's often the only thing that will get eczema under control - but I'd do so very carefully in consultation with the GP given it's his face.

I was also going to suggest trying Dermol, it resolved my facial eczema completely.

My DD had allergic reactions to low sugar products, like low sugar baked beans, tomato ketchup and to certain food colourings. Worth eliminating - moving to a very bland diet to see if that clears it up and then reintroducing foods gradually to see if there's a reaction.

Just to check your washing powder also.

Make sure it is non biological and perhaps also phone the eczema society Contact | National Eczema Society
for support.

From the eczema nurse when ds was about 18 months old.

Dont worry about the skin thinning on his face with hydrocortisone. It’s only the more powerful that is an issue.

(after I was worried about using it on his face for so long)

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Btw my experience with GP and eczema is that they assume its atopic and that finding the cause/what he is allergic to is near impossible.

I don’t agree and I’d really encourage you to find out what it is.
ds turned to be allergic to milk, sesame seeds and eggs…. Which were also giving him loads of digestive issues that seemed totally unconnected.

Some years ago my daughter had a problem like this. Turns out it was nickel in food stuffs, (I didn’t know that nickel was in food, just happened to read an article about it) particularly in her case hazelnuts in chocolate hazelnut spread.
Her skin cleared up in a couple of weeks.
I found this article online
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667300/

Is he Salicylate / Phenol intolerant. Certainly fits the profile in a child.

You mention it looks like whiteheads that don’t itch, so try looking into keratosis pilaris. My son has had it for a few years, it was misdiagnosed by our GP as eczema. There is no treatment for it but some children grow out of it and there are some creams you can use to improve it. It’s almost fully gone from my son.

Going to add that my GP knew little about Salicylate intolerance and it took a referral to an allergy specialist to sort it for me, as an adult, but I'd had issues since childhood.

Have they taken a swab to check it's not a skin strep or similar?