My Nine Month Old Son

[ccarswell]

Hi,

I'm new to this website and I just joined. My nine month old son has just been diagnosed. It was all over his body, and now has moved to his head. Of course he has the pitted finger nails. We have his body under control with cream from the Dr. We have another appointment on Thursday. I hope that we will be able to get something for his scalp. His Dr. said it was the youngest case he has seen.

He inhereited it from me. I have it on my scalp and fingernails as well. I have suffered with my scalp for most of my life. Mine occured when I was in college during exam time. My son's started when we were packing for vacation this summer. I guess this caused him some stress.


I just wanted to know if there are other babies with it? Please reply and Thanks!

[iansmommy]

You are not alone. My son first broke out at 4 months old. He will be 19 months on the 5th. His is on his scalp, behind his knees, ankles, elbows, back and belly, for today. :) We are working on getting him not to scratch right now. Boy is that alot of work! Some things we have been told or learned from these boards... use a soap free soap-- we have been using Dove body wash Sensitive Skin, Neutragena T/Gel shampoo works well though for your son's age you may want to go with head a shoulders used just a couple of times a week something about to much zinc can be bad for baby, change his sheets regularly at least once a week, for the really bad places (especially on the arms and legs) we bandage them with gaze and bandaide tape and to keep the gaze from sticking I put a layer of vaseline on it before putting it on Ian, Atarax ( a prescription antihistamine) may work for your littl guy to help with the itch.

Hope that helps.

[ccarswell]

Hi Carrie,

Thanks for the reply - it is so nice knowing I'm not alone. Adam has his second dr's appointment today. We have to use another cream that doesn't contain cortizone. He also said that we could use the T-Gel shampoo for baths and hair....

I'm off to try something else. Hang in there, again Thanks so much!


Carla
:)

[iansmommy]

What cream are you trying now? Ian as tried a bunch. Currently we are using Fluocinonide drops for his scalp, Locoid Lipocream (cortizone) for his face and Triamcinolone (TMC) mixed with Eucerin for the rest of him. Last summer we saw the dermatologist about every 2 wks for three months trying to get his meds right. It was exhausting but has been worth it.

Good Luck and be sure to holler if you need anything.

[Shana Hansen]

Hi Carla,
Let me first say everyone will start telling you "Oh I didn't know a baby could get psoriasis", my recomendation is to find a pediatric dermatologist that has seen it in a baby and knows what treatments are best for children. My daughter will be 3yrs old this month and she came out of the delivery room with p. on her face and scalp, at 10wks it was diagnosed as p. from a biopsy. We have been on many different treatments; keep any tubes of medication that you get because if they don't work now they may at some time. And also something that worked last week might not this week but might in a another couple of months. It is very tricky to figure out. One of the areas my daughter suffers the most in is the diaper area, we need to buy stock in aquaphor. I smear globs of it on her bottom every time I change her and it is a huge help. Also keeping the skin moisterized helps, we use emu oil, mostly because my Mum sends it to me but whether it is the emu oil or just that it is keeping the skin from being dry it really helps take the itch away. Hope some of this helps.
Take care,
Shana:)

[katedan]

I just wanted to say that I am also new to this site. My son is 2 years old and hasss had these problems on his scalp and feet since approx. 10wks. old. They just yesterday diagnosed him with P. After trying every cream out there, i insisted on a Pediatric Dermatologist. That was my prayer for relief for my son finally being answered. you are not alone in this. Hopefully all together we can find ways to help eachother and eachothers children. What State are you in? My best to you, Kate, Hunter's mom

[ccarswell]

Hi,

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. Thank you all for your support. Well I guess we support each other. Adam has just been put into daycare. So now we are suffering with Colds, Stomach flus.....it seems to never end. Again Thanks to all that have written - it makes me feel so much better.

Carla
:)

[MikeK]

Hi Carla,

Now that Adam's in day care, please keep a close eye on his p. If you notice that it's getting worse, then take him in for a strep test. (Insist on a culture, sometimes the so called "quick test" doesn't give a correct indication of strep.) Strep sometimes causes psoriasis to get worse. To add insult to injurt, some people have strep without having any of the typical symptoms, i.e., a sore throat or a fever. The only sign that they have strep is a severe outbreak of p. :eek:

Good luck. Keep us posted and please don't be a stranger.

Mike

[ccarswell]

Thanks Mike - I did not know that. Geez.....Thanks so much!

[phoebz]

I just wanted to say, I was an infant with psoriasis (though was misdiagnosed until the age of ten when my mom took me to a dermatologist.) I had my first real breakout at two months of age - from head to toe basically. It did calm down alot, as a child, it was mainly on my knees, shins, ankles, elbows, upper arms, scalp and ears. Having psoriasis has never bothered me much, it's just a part of who I am. And the older I got, the better it got, so by the time I hit college, it was almost completely gone. I do get the occassional outbreak (have a pretty good post-pardum case of it right now!) I only used cremes once when I was first diagnosed, they didn't seem to make much of a difference and were more bothersome to deal with than the psoriasis itself to me.

Oh, and I was also an obnoxiously healthy child except for my flakiness.

Anyway, I may not be a fount of knowledge when it comes to treatments, but I thought you might want to hear a positive story from someone who grew up with it.

[ccarswell]

I needed to hear that. I was thinking the other day how Adam was going to be in Middle and High School, where kids can be very cruel. It is nice knowing that you grew up and have such a great outlook about Psoriasis.

Thanks so much!


Carla

[Marielle]

Hello and welcome
Sorry I did not introduce myself before. I do not have an infant with P but have a 7 year old. I like to hear things like what Phoebz said. I am doing everything in my power to have Jessie grow up with a positive attitude with P. My big thing right now is to introduce it to all of her friends and classmates. It now is no big deal because everyone knows about it. I am going to do this every year. I think if she stays with these friends for along time we will not have problems. It is cute actually what some of the kids did after I went to her class and introduced P. A few of the girls now say that they have P also and Jessie has a group called "The Psoriasis Sisters". Of course, Jessie is the only one with P but I think it is cool that they are using it as a positive thing. What Mike said about the strep is correct....Jessie has gotten strep at least 6 times since her P came out in November. Well I better get back to work. So welcome and come here anytime to vent or share with us some of your son's stories.
Talk to you soon
M

[phoebz]

Carla, keep in mind that kids will always find some way of teasing other kids. I was teased b/c I was short, b/c I had a speech impediment, etc....I learned how to just let it roll off my back or make a snappy comeback in return...like one time, some kid was making fun of my speech impediment, and I actually replied with "Wow! That's the best impression of my speech problem that I've ever heard! You're really good at it!" The kid turned red and never did that again (this was in 8th grade.) My best friend growing up was teased b/c she was "too skinny". Anyway, my mom told me once when I was 9 that the best way to "defend" myself against teasing was to ignore the person doing the teasing. They only do it to get a rise out of you and if you don't react, they will move on to a new victim. I tried it, and it did work, and life got alot easier to deal with after that.

But yes, arming your child with facts is SUCH a help. When I was correctly diagnosed at age ten, I found out all I could about psoriasis at that time....I was this short little ten year old telling adults how psoriasis was where your skin cells develop abnormally and that there weren't many treatments available, it was just something you had to live with but it wasn't contagious...lol!