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Original poster

Gap socks have PERMANENTLY SCARRED my 4 month old daughter... I want to write to them I AM SO LIVID

143 replies

newmomma · 07/10/2010 15:29

My daughter wore some GAP socks (3-6mths) when she was just 3 months.

She wore them for a day (8am - 6pm ish) and was left with a VERY swollen and red raised bleed behind the skin - not just your normal bruise, really quite heavy duty.

I have just seen the doctor as 6 weeks on it isn't going away to be told that the dark red stripe across thoe whole of the back of her calf is a scar and won't improve much.

I cried. I am so cross that I want to write to gap and feel like asking for compensationas my perfect little girl will always carry this scar across the back of her legs.

Does anyone have any bad experience with faulty clothing and the outcomes?

Or any advice as to what I should say to GAP?

Please help.

OP posts:

MimsyStarr · 07/10/2010 15:33

I don't understand how could it have been the socks? Was it on both legs?

colditz · 07/10/2010 15:36

How did you not notice that they were digging into her leg for 10 hours?

Marchpane · 07/10/2010 15:38

Were they pulled right up? I don't think it sounds like Gap's fault tbh. I think it's unfortunate and upsetting but you have to take take some responsibility if they were too tight.

And fwiw it's quite possible the mark will fade away on it's own eventually. Goodness knows my ds has had some bumps & scrapes that i've been very anxious about but they've all faded in time. He's 18mo so bruises/bumps/scratches are par for the course.

Greensleeves · 07/10/2010 15:38

how awful

Were you with her the whole time? Wasn't she crying?

Can anything be done to minimise the marks? Could you ask to be referred to a skin expert?

LIZS · 07/10/2010 15:39

Unless the pressure was very tight then it cannot be the socks alone ! Nor can a dr tell now that any remaining scar is permanent. Did you notice it during the day when you changed her ? If she bruises that easily I think I'd be concerned abotu an underlying health issue, sorry.

Bucharest · 07/10/2010 15:39

Her calf? Were they knee high?

Fimbo · 07/10/2010 15:39

Poor mite must have been in pain - wasn't she screaming or crying more than normal????

huffythethreadslayer · 07/10/2010 15:40

If there's a scar on the legs, it will be tiny as your child grows...not that that's much consolation, but as a mum of a child with a corking scar on her face when she was 3, she has now grown out of it at 9.

I know that doesn't help with your anger and doesn't make the situation right, but am hoping it will help you put the scar into perspective.

herbietea · 07/10/2010 15:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

DanceInTheDark · 07/10/2010 15:42

erm...if they were digging in so much that they caused a scar wasn't there some kind of injury? and wasn't your baby in pain? and if you went to the Dr 6 weeks later, how do you know it is those particular socks?

Madascheese · 07/10/2010 15:43

Sorry, but how come you didn't notice this swelling during the day?

pagwatch · 07/10/2010 15:43

I genuinely don't understand.
If they were tight enough to scar how did you not notice the bulging around where they were tight ?

how can that be?

FoghornLeghorn · 07/10/2010 15:43

OrmRenewed · 07/10/2010 15:44

Were they made of chain mail?

booyhoo · 07/10/2010 15:47

how did you not notice when putting them on her that they were too tight? if tehy were tight enough to scar then you would have had to really stretcht them to get them round her foot and up her leg. and how did you not notice during the day. her leg would have been red and swollen before the end of the day and she undoubetdly would have been crying in pain.

Rhian82 · 07/10/2010 15:50

I don't understand. When DS was tiny I specifically liked Gap socks because they were so elastic. How could you have got them on and off if they were so tight?

Or is it some kind of allergic reaction? That's all I can think of - like I scarred on my leg as a teenager because I put a plaster on top of germaline and they reacted together and 'burned' my skin. That faded in time though.

Lulumaam · 07/10/2010 15:55

it sounds far more likely something else is the cause.. an accident of some other sort..

Flighttattendant · 07/10/2010 15:55

It sounds like the type of injury that could be caused by something like leaning on a hot radiator, not wearing socks...i'm also pretty mystified. OP, could you give us a better idea of how this happened, whether she seemed distressed etc. Also which socks they were...

if you can't get any recompense from Gap, at least let's use this thread to prevent it happening to other children.

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 07/10/2010 15:56

I agree, how can socks cause that much damage? I also love Gap socks as they're the only ones that bloody well stay on...

If it makes you feel any better, DS had a horrible burn on his hand from a lightbulb (he was digging around in a lamp when it was on), all across the back, when he was two. I was mortified. It was a horrible scar and I felt sure his hand would be ruined forever.

He's nearly four now and you can barely see it....

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 07/10/2010 16:00

I can't add anything about socks, but my DS1 scratched himself horrifically (excema) as a baby of about 5 or 6 months. He'd really ripped the back of one leg with the toenails of the other, and it was heavily-bandaged for weeks. It scarred - but now DS1 is 23yo, the scar is tiny and insignificant.

NickOfTime · 07/10/2010 16:02

gap socks are ace - the only ones i would use on all my three for the first four years.

it can only have been an extremely rare allergic reaction if the socks were to blame tbh, and whilst gap might give you some compensation as a goodwill gesture, you'd be better off taking her to a good allergy specialist to find out exactly what she's allergic to so that it doesn't happen again. sounds like elastic, does she have any sensitivity to latex etc - anything else similar?

i'd doubt it was the socks tbh.

(my assumption is that these are the fold down ones - the ones that fold down twice, and are pretty much the only socks in the world that don't fall off?)

it's a shame about her leg, but i'm not sure if you can say with certainty what caused it.

(am also curious how you didn't notice a 'heavy duty bleed' happening...

it will probably fade - mine have had all sorts of scars that have disappeared over time, and it will be teeny when she's grown.

Olihan · 07/10/2010 16:05

Surely if they were tight enough to scar then her whole foot would have been dark purple where the blood supply had been cut off when you took it off.

She really would have been in huge amounts of pain after 10 hours in socks that tight. I can't believe you didn't realise earlier that they were causing her a problem if it really was the socks.

Original poster

newmomma · 07/10/2010 16:08

The socks were worn under jogging bottoms.
I DID notice it on the day and have been keeping any eye on it since, but have had health/family issues recently and haven't been able to get to the doctor until now. They certainlyl didn't LOOK like they were digging in - I would obviously have removed them.

She was no more upset than normal because she has had 'colic' since she was three weeks old and cried for 14 hours a day anyway.

I feel bad enough that this has happened without people making me feel worse on purpose. It WAS the socks - not a radiator burn or anything else. The bleed was elastic shaped to start with - and it was the only knee high socks she had. I am a very careful, conscientius mother. Not neglectful. I had no idea people would automatically assume that I was in the wrong. The socks did this, babyies are so delicate and it was obviously restricting the blood flow for the 10ish hours she was wearing it for and that is what has done the damage.

The socks were knee high - the sort of ones designed to have a thick elastic band around the top to stop them coming off. A bit like sports socks? With non-slip Gap wrods written on the bottom. They didn't come off once. Didn't budge, and I remember thinking what great socks they were because of it until I took them off.

At first glance I thought it was a 'sock mark' that would fade overnight but in the morning, on closer inspection (a friend asked what was on the back of her leg) I realised it was more serious.

It has lessened and lessened, but to be told yesterday that it is a scar is depressing.
IME, scars grow with the person, they don't stay the same size, no?

It obviously wasn't an allergic reaction as she'd have it on both legs.

I will try and post a pic on my profile - please treat your responses as if this were your child. I have done nothing other than put a pair of expensive socks on my daughter to discover that she'll be left with a mark on her leg forever.

OP posts:

Original poster

newmomma · 07/10/2010 16:09

p.s. it was an under the skin bleed.
not a red blood bleed iyswim

OP posts:

MackerelOfFact · 07/10/2010 16:10

Is it a chemical burn? Were they sharp in some way? Is she allergic to the socks or something you washed them in? I can't quite picture how a pair of socks would scar a child unless they were exceptionally tight or very, very faulty. We need more detail.

Your poor DD, the scar will likely fade and shrink though.

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