What is on my son's back?

[korber]

My son was at daycare today, so I am not sure what went on. However, I was putting on his pajamas and I noticed a horrible mark on his back. It is a red circle about the size of a dime, then there is a red ring around it the size of a quarter (actually, a little bigger). Nothing is raised. The skin feels perfectly smooth. He hasn't acted like anything bothered him today and the daycare teachers didn't mention it. Could it be a bug bite? Should I be concerned?

[camberne]

Could be lyme disease. The tell-tale ring around the red circle makes me think that. Easily treated, just get him to the doctor for antibiotics.

[korber]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will ask our daycare tomorrow if they think it is lyme disease. I looked at lyme disease pictures on a website and am not sure that is what it is. Any other suggestions?

[dreamgirly]

Two things come to mind. Ringworm:
http://www.skinatlas.com/ringworm.jpg

and Rosacea, can't find a pic but it's usually on the face, sometimes there is a form of it that can be found on arms/legs, due to lack of Vitamin D (??) I've read about it...

Good luck! :)

[lorbo]

DD gets mosquito bites and has a horrible reaction to them. that said, you can actually see where the bite is-it looks white, then there's the red ring-her ped knows about it, because she's had quite a few that made her look like she had a popeye forearm.

[albuquerque]

I'd still double check with a doctor about Lyme disease. It's very easily treated (if it's done early), but it can be *extremely* serious left untreated. Better safe than sorry. The "bullseye" is supposed to be the only early symptom.

[Mrs. M.]

My mom had Lyme disease, and the bullseye was the first symptom. Easily treated early on, but bad stuff if untreated. I recommend seeing a doctor.

Other than that, my DH was paintballing :rolleyes: recently and has such marks. But I doubt your DS did that, eh?

[camberne]

Ringworm is another good hypothesis!! Either would need to be treated by a doctor.

I'm very much a proponent of testing for Lyme Disease if the early symptoms are there, because the doctors are pretty sure that my rheumatoid arthritis is a result of untreated Lyme back in the 70's before it was a known entity. We spent the summers on Long Island (where it was first discovered) and we were always traipsing through the woods. We checked for ticks and washed for poison ivy, but who knew about deer ticks back then? I was dx with RA when I was 10 years old and had two surgeries. For something that is SO easily treated (my dad has had it three times in the last 15 years, poor soul), it's not something that I would wait around for the rash to go away.