Dark brown blotch randomly appeared on my daughter's finger, pic inside

July 6, 2015 10:02 AM

This past weekend a dark brown blotch appeared on my daughter's finger. It kind of looks like someone took a brown marker and just dabbed it quickly. My daughter wouldn't let us touch it at first and she kind of acted like it hurt but wouldn't confirm or deny it hurting. There is no difference in texture to the skin - it's not a scab. It's just discoloration.

This weekend's activities mainly involved sparklers and swimming... Neither had any incident. Is it possible this is some form of burn from a sparkler? My daughter is 4 so I'm pretty sure if she got burnt she would have immediately started crying.

Final comment: I have great health care and my wife and I are in the process of making an appointment for my daughter. We just wanted to see what other people thought it was.

posted by ascetic to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Could it just be a blood blister-- particularly given the way it seems to have spread outward along the skin creases at the edges?
posted by Bardolph at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

It looks like a blood blister to me.
posted by Think_Long at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

It looks like a blood blister from a pinching kind of injury, maybe from a folding chair or a cabinet door with child safety latches.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:09 AM on July 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Thirding blood blister as a guess--I just had one that looked nearly identical (acquired while trying to get an angry kitty into a carrier). They aren't always painful enough when they happen to startle a kid into crying, though they can be tender later on.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:10 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

There are some ground covers, one succulent in particular that will make brown blotches, and then blisters if the kids really break them up say, having a tea party or something. I was almost to Lake Powell when my two year old suddenly had a spray of blotches on her face, and one large blistering one. She was getting red in the face, so I went in to an ER. We called her friend's house and she had the blotches too, they had been into that plant playing, we didn't know it had caustic properties. It cleared up, and the affliction is common. It bears a faint resemblance to poison ivy contact, not so weepy, and clears a lot sooner.
posted by Oyéah at 10:10 AM on July 6, 2015

It is called Myrtle Spurge. Plenty of pics on the web.
posted by Oyéah at 10:17 AM on July 6, 2015

My brother and I were pretty rough and tumble and we had these all over our hands our entire childhoods. I nth the blood blister guess. They're so stupid easy to get, usually from trauma that's so quick and seemingly minor you don't even notice it happened. Sometimes they can take a while to go away.

Most common culpirt with us was hotwheel cars. Rolling them fast around we'd get our tiny fingers pinched up into the space between the wheel and the die cast housing.
posted by phunniemee at 10:24 AM on July 6, 2015

Black Walnuts can cause similar skin staining. Not hazardous though.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:25 AM on July 6, 2015

Response by poster: I hadn't thought of a blood blister - but the only thing throwing me off is that it's flat on her skin. It's not bubbled up, nor is it circular, like most blood blisters are.
posted by ascetic at 10:36 AM on July 6, 2015

I have had a fair number of blood blisters that were neither round nor raised, I think it depends how the skin is pinched as some look more like very tiny, intense bruises rather than blisters. I would vote blood blister too, if she didn't pinch it hard enough to cause an actual blister looking thing then it might not have hurt her enough to cry or let you know.
posted by Peetree at 10:46 AM on July 6, 2015

I've been scouring my records and I can't find what I'm looking for--so here is my mostly useless anecdote. I have a spot on my shoulder that looks almost exactly like that. It comes and then it goes. When I showed it to a dermatologist, she told me what it was called and told me it was harmless. I have since shown it (when it's there) to other dermatologists (I get regular mole checks) who called it by the same name and agreed that it's not entirely common, but not in the least something to worry about. I also initially thought it was a blood blister, except that it's flat and I had done nothing to cause a blood blister.
posted by crush-onastick at 10:47 AM on July 6, 2015

It could be a small burn from a sparkler. She was probably warned repeatedly of the dangers of fireworks and then told to be careful. In a four year old's mind, that can translate into her believing that she did something bad and will get in trouble from being burned by one.
posted by myselfasme at 11:38 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have no idea what it is but wanted to comment on this:
My daughter is 4 so I'm pretty sure if she got burnt she would have immediately started crying.

I wouldn't make such an assumption based purely on her age. I mean, you know your child better than I do, but:

I think I was something like 18 moths old when my mother left her hot iron momentarily unattended and I put my right forearm up against it. I am 50 years old. To this day, I have a (barely visible) burn scar that runs half the length of my right forearm. My mother says I made no sound and she would not have known had she not watched me do it. I have no memory of doing this -- I was really little -- so I am guestimating the age at which it occurred based on half-remembered discussions with my mother. I also have two sons who were hellions when they were little and one of them has an inordinately high tolerance for pain, which helps explain why he was such a stressful child to raise.

So I wouldn't be too quick to rule out small burn from sparkler if your only reason for doing so at this time is lack of crying. I mean, by your own description, it seems to hurt her but she won't confirm or deny.
posted by Michele in California at 3:17 PM on July 6, 2015