Week 111

April 13-19

This is a nice educational post on pediatric rashes. As a nurse I have seen many rashes, but for some reason my child seems to get the most rare forms that I have never experienced. Viral rashes are very common in children and often benign so if you think your child may have one this will help you to not freak out because they look much worse than they are.

This week we have had the pleasure of experiencing another freak rash. Only my child. When he was about 19 months old he had a horrible rash. Well it was only horrible looking...not itchy or anything. It was just a viral rash. Being a pediatric nurse I wasn't too worried and his symptoms were classic at the time. He had a fever, general malaise, and decreased appetite. Suddenly his body erupted in this loveliness. Oftentimes kids have a rash like this along with a virus. It looks much worse than it is. Here is Jack's first rash at 19 months old. It covered his entire body including his ears.

Well a few weeks ago he had two spots on his belly that kind of looked like dry skin. They wouldn't seem to go away. About 1-2 weeks later the rash started to spread to his whole belly and then to his back. It seemed to be getting worse. I've seen a lot of viral rashes but this one was definitely something I hadn't seen before. I really wasn't too worried about it because Jack literally had no symptoms despite the fact that he looked like a leper. No itching, fever, crankiness, pain, nothing.

Ed was a little more nervous than me. I finally made an appointment with the pediatrician to have it checked out. A few days before the appointment Ed really started getting nervous so I finally told him to just come with me to work and let the doctors in the Emergency Room take a look. I told him this wasn't an emergency so he shouldn't expect too much. ER doctors aren't really trained in dermatology especially not when it's not an emergent rash. They really weren't too sure about it and told us to try Benadryl to alleviate some of the redness and irritation. It didn't work.

Wednesday was finally the day of our appointment with Jack's pediatrician. Now when I picked her out I did my homework. She is one of the smartest doctors I have ever seen. She is like an encyclopedia to Pediatric medicine. When I worked up on the Pediatric floor at my hospital I witnessed her bedside manner and have since decided she is a genius. The moment she saw Jack's rash she knew what it was. "Oh wow, this isn't usually seen in kids," was the first thing out of her mouth.

I was intrigued. "What is it?" I asked. "Pityriasis Rosea. It is common in ages 10-30 and not typically seen in young children." Then she went on to tell me all about it. She asked if it started off with 1-2 spots that lasted around a week. She explained that this was the 'Herald Patch'. She told me about how it is considered a viral rash although researchers are unsure what virus causes it. It is not contagious. There are no symptoms. It can last up to 12 weeks. Wow. Who would get this but my kid?

So we are basically going to look at this lovely rash for the next few weeks-months. Poor guy. He doesn't seem to notice it at all...he just doesn't get too many nice looks at the beach. :)

Hope this provided a little education for all you parents out there. :) I know I have learned something new.