Four-year-old with mysterious recurring spots

January 7, 2009 7:53 AM

Mysterious recurring spots on a four-year-old. His pediatrician's not in the office today and it looks like today's batch will be faded by the time the after-hours pediatric clinic opens.

In fact, it's almost gone already. Other options are easily available if it's important to be seen by a physician sooner.

On Christmas day, both boys (2 and 4) appeared to have a mild case of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (having been exposed the week before). The two-year-old had a blister on his lip, one on his cheek, and one on each wrist (these looked like the type of blister you might get on your foot from rubbing shoes). The four-year-old had a scattering smaller spots on his cheeks, like small zits (red spots about 2 mm in diameter with a tiny pimple in the middle) -- these were pretty much gone the next day, while the blisters on the toddler were gone in just over two days.

This week, Monday and Tuesday, the four-year-old has been irritable and had little appetite. Today he is very irritable and somewhat lethargic. While I was holding him, I noticed he had about 20 of those same small red spots with the little pimple on his right ear, front and back. I didn't see them anywhere else (though I just checked areas visible with clothes on). He doesn't feel hot (and taking his temp today would require pinning him down it seems -- but he hasn't had a fever earlier this week nor at Christmas).

There's not much to see anymore (I can still see some faded spots, but it probably would not be remarkable if this was the first time I was seeing it). It doesn't seem to match what I've seen in online "identifying childhood illnesses" articles. He is completely up-to-date on vaccinations.

(The two-year old has a very stuffed up nose and is drooling today, in case that's relevant.)

posted by winston to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

My kid had a similar thing (the spots would flare up especially during a warm bath or if he was feverish) and the doc diagnosed it as a form of eczema.
posted by mattbucher at 8:16 AM on January 7, 2009

Eczema sounds like one possibility, as mattbucher says. Question though, do your kids have any food or other allergies? Could they be reacting to something they have eaten or been exposed to?
posted by gudrun at 8:53 AM on January 7, 2009

I hope you can get in to see your pediatrcian soon, or even go see one at an urgent-care type place. It sounds like an allergic reaction to me.
posted by medea42 at 8:57 AM on January 7, 2009

i'm not saying it's the chickenpox, but i have heard of many many children getting the chickenpox virus (varicella zoster) even after having been vaccinated, so don't discount the possiblility entirely just because of his vax status. "spot" and "blister" are associated with the pox, in my mind.

you say they were exposed to hand, foot, and mouth disease? is there any reason for you to think it's NOT hf&m?
posted by fancyoats at 8:59 AM on January 7, 2009

Response by poster: Well, I think the 2yo definitely had HFMD. Now that the spots re-appear on the 4yo's ear two weeks later, I'm wondering if his spots are something else.
posted by winston at 10:27 AM on January 7, 2009

I had Hand Foot and Mouth as a kid; my farming grandfather lovingly called it Hoof and Mouth and suggested I be taken out back and shot before I infected his cattle. All threats aside, my tongue and inside of my cheeks were covered in canker sores, to the point of not wanting to eat solid foods. My palms and soles of my feet broke out in tiny red blisters, like you would get when you pinch your skin in something but the skin doesn't break. The skin broke after a few days and peeled, but I did not bleed from the blisters and they never hurt. I had no fever and don't recall feeling sick, other than my mouth hurt like hell. The sores in my mouth took about 4 or 5 days to heal up.

Based on that experience, I'd say it isn't Hand Foot and Mouth and something else caused the break outs.
posted by wg at 1:55 PM on January 7, 2009