The kid and red mouth

[jschwab]

So, none of my kids have food allergies but the oldest has always gotten red around her mouth when eating certain things. It has not been bothersome and it was hard to pinpoint what was bugging her. It suddenly got worse, though, and we paid more attention. It's clearly tomato and citrus. If she eats citrus (like the lemon juice in mayonnaise), the whole area around her mouth gets bright red and dry and, newly, a little swollen. What causes that? Is it anything we need to worry about? The only thing I can say it looks like is Ronald McDonald - it's in exactly the shape of his makeup and it's uniformly red, not splotchy or hivey. She'll avoid those two foods. http://healthyeatingandexercising.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/santa-claus-vs-ronald-mcdonald/

[rebekahc]

That happens to a lot of kids.  For my DD, it was tomato, ranch dressing and cinnamon.  Now that she's older, I don't see it happening any more.  I've always chalked it up to sensitive skin.

[Mookie86]

As Rebekah said, it's common.  My kids always got that way whenever eating an acidic food.

[CMdeux]

Yup-- ketchup, anything tomatoey did it to DD.

She'd actually hive up anywhere it was in contact with her for a long time (until she was 7 or 8, probably).

I'll add, this was WAY different than what we saw with a reemergent milk allergy at 5-6yo, which resulted in lip swelling so extreme that they would split open on her, and eczema on her nose and face, nasal stuffiness, etc.  all would last for days, but the onset was always very rapid after exceeding her tolerance for milk.  For a while, that was even "run on shared lines" which really, really, REALLY sucked, coming from a place where she had tolerated milk almost normally.

[jschwab]

OK, I think it actually doesn't bother her that much but it's very ugly now that it's gotten so big and red. I know she wants to avoid them now, so I'll let her decide how she sees fit. Thanks for the info!

[eragon]

same here for our son with tomato. due to its high histamine level he is unable to eat raw /fresh tomato.

tinned ok but sometimes give stomach ache..(.need to heat to high temp to help )


other high histamine foods are a problem and will cause redness and swelling, we avoid yeast extract due to the severity of past reaction, and advised by allergy doc.

most kids outgrow  this, but son hasnt been lucky in that area.

[jschwab]

She's ten and just growing into it. It's always been slight, but this is clown face! I think half of why I want her to avoid is because it's painful to look at her. It's not painful to her, but it's hard to see.

[CMdeux]

Could it be that licking thing that kids do when their lips are dry?  Maybe the irritation is enough to get it going?

For some of them, it is almost like a tic-- once they start, they have a LOT of trouble stopping-- and you're right, it results in CLOWN mouth.

[jschwab]

Could it be that licking thing that kids do when their lips are dry?  Maybe the irritation is enough to get it going?

For some of them, it is almost like a tic-- once they start, they have a LOT of trouble stopping-- and you're right, it results in CLOWN mouth.

No, it's very clearly connected to these foods and the rash is too big to be from her causing it. It's literally the same size and shape as the Ronald McDonald makeup - too wide an area to be licking lips or even skin contact when she eats. She doesn't have that habit anyway of licking.

[CMdeux]

Oh.... I know that some kids are SO quick about the "lick" that they're really hard to catch in the act, but I know of at least one other member here whose DS (about 8-9) does that.  It's the exact extent of where their tongue can REACH, actually-- well beyond the lips once they get it started.

It's really nasty looking.

I'm not saying that it isn't related to particular foods/types of food, either-- just that SOME kind of irritation sets it off, and they do that quick "lick" thing to soothe (or something like that, I don't know-- like licking them results in cooling or something?)  which just makes it worse, of course, leading to more licking, leading to more licking...

DD was able to get her lips to look EXACTLY like clown lips within a couple of hours of eating tomato-based stuff when she was 2~6yo, unless we actually washed her lips clean within a few minutes of eating.  I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen her do it a few times-- and even then, she wasn't actually AWARE of licking her lips (and when I say lips, it may have started at the lips, but it quite soon encompassed the clown -make-up range-- where her tongue would reach)-- it was really surreal.  She would deny that she was LICKING where the rash was, and she was so quick that we seldom saw her doing it.  Only the evidence.  LOL.

Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about--

http://www.consultant360.com/content/factitious-dermatitis-lip-licker%E2%80%99s-dermatitis

http://www.dermatalk.com/blogs/skin-disorders/lip-lickers-dermatitis/

http://www.globalskinatlas.com/imagedetail.cfm?TopLevelid=1892&ImageID=4393&did=458

http://www.eczemacenter.org/Images/primer_ch2_perioral%20derm_lip_lickers.jpg

http://www.pediatricsconsultant360.com/article/perioral-rash-related-girls-atopic-dermatitis <---- that (and the one just above this one)  is EXACTLY what my DD's used to look like.

http://www.crutchfielddermatology.com/caseofthemonth/studies/l_2008_012.asp

Some tips for dealing with it:

http://www.kidsdr.com/daily-dose/got-lip-licker  (A barrier/moisturizer is REALLY important to protect from the initial irritation that sets it off.)


The Ronald-McDonald rash is the give-away.

[jschwab]

Hmm, I need to take a picture of it if it happens again. It's not chronic at all - not sure if these rashes in the pictures are persistent or not. The shape is similar but the redness is much more uniform on her like a baby yeast diaper rash (not mottled or blistered in any way) and much redder looking and, more recently, spread over a bigger area. It appears if she eats these foods and goes away completely pretty quickly, within an hour or so, quicker if she washes her face. It doesn't stick around and never needs treatment. 99% of the time she has no rash at all. Does that sound right to you as a variation of this licking rash? I guess if she only got it when she licked AND had the offending food, right?

[CMdeux]

Yeah-- that's what my DD's was like-- IF we intervened pretty promptly, that is.

If we didn't, then she'd wind up further irritating the area until it was crusty/raw like the pictures. 

It was bright red (almost like a hivey area) initially, though-- like what you're describing.  Tomatoes.  Every time.  {sigh}

[YouKnowWho]

We have a long standing history of that on my side of the family.  My grandmother, youngest uncle, myself, my brother, one niece and my kids.

For DS1, niece and myself it would aggravate our eczema as well.  Mom was shocked when she washed my attempts at self feeding tomato sauce and the "stain" would remain. My grandmother and I were also sensitive to citrus.  Frustrated my mother, the nice Irish/Scotch girl whose meals consisted mainly of Italian gravy 

Fwiw, my boys and I are the only ones in the family with food allergies.  Niece has been on various elimination diets for her severe eczema but she seems to have inherited twitchy skin and asthma but not the food allergic portion of this crappy genetics we have in our family.

[jschwab]

We have a long standing history of that on my side of the family.  My grandmother, youngest uncle, myself, my brother, one niece and my kids.

For DS1, niece and myself it would aggravate our eczema as well.  Mom was shocked when she washed my attempts at self feeding tomato sauce and the "stain" would remain. My grandmother and I were also sensitive to citrus.  Frustrated my mother, the nice Irish/Scotch girl whose meals consisted mainly of Italian gravy 

Fwiw, my boys and I are the only ones in the family with food allergies.  Niece has been on various elimination diets for her severe eczema but she seems to have inherited twitchy skin and asthma but not the food allergic portion of this crappy genetics we have in our family.

That is good to hear and thanks to everyone who pointed out it's not necessarily tied in with food allergies. I really stress about my kids suddenly developing allergies, too, because I inherited the shellfish allergy from my mom.

[twinturbo]

The skin is our most obvious organ with the largest surface area, so it's natural for diseases involving it to be more constantly at attention. Atopy is comorbid with allergies.