Wondering About Possible Latex/adhesive Allergy in Two-year Old

Hi S.!

My daughter has the same problem... and we found out that she in fact has a latex allergy....
One year later we found out that she also has food allergies to "latex-related foods" such as bananas, avacado, mango's etc. Just be careful becuase all of this stuff come on gradually. She used to be able to eat all of this but now she can't. She also can't wear anything but latex free first aid.... the doctors have to use latex free gloves.... esp in the dentist office. Please email me if you have any questions. - M.

My sons have the same reaction. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a reaction to latex. We have used latex free with the same results. We found out it is the adhesive which is why this doesn't happen with bandages that peel off quickly. Try using different brands until you find one that works for you. We like Target brand. They stick but don't cause that puffy red rash.

Yes ,my daughter has the same reaction to adhesive and latex bandages. It can spread and sap with clear drainage that will spread more. My daughter had a reaction when she was 5 and can't use adhesive or latex items. The best thing to dry it up and get rid of it is steroids.Like Predisone. My daughter was born with Spina bifida and has a lot of reactions. I guaranteed that Predisone will take care of it. You should keep it clean but it's like what I said it can still sap and cause it to spread so you need something to dry the rash up quick before it spreads.I've been dealing with this for ten years now and my daughter now has to go through an allergist to try to get use to the adhesive because she has a lot of surgeries and that can't use tape on her so now they use cling which it's not sterile to use for pick lines.Give the steroids a try it will work.

with my latex allergy, within hours of putting on a bandaid i get itchy around the edges and if latex gloves or other products come in contact with my skin, i get a raised itchy area of skin. the itchiness lasts for days after contact with the latex, even if the bandaid has been removed after only a couple hours. the itchiness sometimes moves to where the bandaid pad was as well, but is always where the adhesive part was. maybe it is a latex allergy and he was complaining about the itchiness but you thought he meant in general that all the bites were itchy? you could try an experiment of putting a bandaid on a spot that is free of bug bites and ask him in a few hours how it feels.

As unusual as it sounds, children can be born with an allergy to latex. I was. Most allergies come on after an extended exposure, but I had severe reactions to latex when I played with balloons or used a band aid. I was only about 3 when this occurred. If the rash is only where the pad was, though, then I think it must be something else. Perhaps leaving it on so long let something he is allergic to incubate in it. It may not happen again if band aids are changed more often.

S.,

I have the same allergy and I know mine is to the adhesive since it doesn't matter if the "band-aid" has laytex or if the tape is paper. I try to avoid direct contact with adhesive (although that is not always possible). When I do get the rash, I use Neosporin and try to leave the area exposed to the air to help it "dry up". (It's funny, I also am alergic to mosquito bites!) I hope this is helpful -- good luck!

E.

I think I may have this confused but the way I read your request is that the Band-Aid remained on his arm for a week???? If that is the case, then I am going to say the redness/perceived reaction is from the long contact time of the Band-Aid from moisture and bacteria. Please clarify if this is not the case.

Hi S.,

I agree with everyone that it is possible that the wound got infected. I suffer from latex allergy and so do two of my children. If you suspect it then you just need to be a bit careful about latex exposure. Quick hint, that does include dandelions. That white stuff in the stem is latex, I did not know that until my son got sick while picking them.

Latex allergy does show up in a variety of ways. Once I nearly lost all of the skin on a finger because of a slight cut and exposure to latex. For my children it appears as small red bumps followed by problems breathing (they also have asthma and other bad allergies so the latex exposure is setting them off).

There are a millions rules for someone with this allergy, but one thing I know for sure is that you need to get it verified. Continued exposure only makes the reactions worse. Right now I cannot use balloons, walk into stores that have them or (get this) have n injection without having them remove the tiny latex based top from the medication bottle that is being injected into my body, because that tiny little flap of plastic is made of latex. My latex allergy happened because of exposure in the hospital. So, find out, you son needs you to know that information. If there is an emergency and he needs any type of medical attention, the hospital needs that information because they will have to prep the hospital room differently.

There are also websites out there that tell you about latex free products.

This one has pictures:

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/allergies/late...#

This one is here as well that has latex free product information:

http://the-callahans.com/susete/nonlatex.htm

S., the latex is not on the bandage part, it's the adhesive part. You should never leave a bandage on a wound more than 24 hours or an infection could result. Too much moisture will make a dandy breeding ground. Any wound needs air to heal properly, so no matter how wonderfully the band-aid sticks, remove it, clean the wound and then put a new one on. Try some comfrey ointment on the bite to heal it quickly (as with all open wounds. It's awesome!). An old remedy my mom taught her 7 kids was to put some toothpaste on the bite-the white kind, not gel. It stopped the itch almost immediately. We had no screens on our upstairs windows, and were attacked nightly. We didn't care, we preferred bites to baking during our sleep! Also, if it was weeping, it could have been a spider bite. They tend to weep after a day and some good scratching. Give his bedding a good shaking, and put some sticky traps around the corners of his bedroom. They are non-poisonous, and catch those eight-legged suckers wonderfully! Good luck with your little one!

The latex is in the part that sticks I believe. There is no reason before it clears up not to take him and see with the Dr. so they can see the rash themselves, over the phone would be hard. I would also put another bandaid on him, that sounds bad but you can then find out for sure if it was a one time thing or there is a true reaction.
Also make sure those were mosquito bites too, if it was something else that could have caused it to spread.
There are some type of latex that I am allergic too, some not. I cannot use latex gloves or I get a rash, weird too as the chemicals they put on paper grocery bags causes me to break out too, just for a bit.

My kids had the same problem.

I switched to latex free bandaids and they have never had the rash since, so it is a latex allergy.

You have to change a band-aid if it gets wet, or that might happen.
My son had a band-aid on his finger for two days (didn't get wet, I don't think) and when I took it off, his skin peeled off with it. It looked AWFUL! I swore no more band-aids for him, ever. So I used liquid bandages instead. But then I forgot about it when the doctor put band-aids on his legs after shots, and he didn't react. He hasn't reacted again.
So even if you did keep it dry, it could be a freak thing.

It's most likely a skin irritation caused by the increased moisture. The bandaid trapped in all the moisture, sweat, etc from the skin, as well as anything that may have seeped from the bit itself. When the skin can't breath, it gets irritated (think of a diaper rash). What you describe doesn't really sound like an allergic reaction. Keep it clean and dry (no bandaids) and keep an eye on it to make sure there is no fungal or staph infection (not likely but we do cary the bacteria on our skin and it can get in through broken skin occaisionally, which would be from him scratching, not from the bandaid). If it doesn't get better in a few days, call the doctor again and ask for him to see it.
If you are worried about latex allergy, watch him very closely the next time you put a bandaid on him. Symptoms are hives, swelling, and in more extreme cases, breathing difficulty. Allergies usually tend to get worse with each exposure, so watch him for a few times after you give him a bandaid; also watch out for ballons, rubber gloves, and anything else with latex. Also keep benedryl on hand for a while in case he DOES develop an allergy.

Everything out in our world is a possible allergine in some person. Sounds strange but I am allergic to benydrl (SP) So he is possibly allergic to latex and adhesives.
C. B

S.,
My daughter has the same thing the only thing is hers showed up after ONE day of having the bandaid on. I don't believe it is the latex I think it is the adhesive used to hold it on. I have not had to use bandaids with her very often and when I do it is only for a few hours until it stops bleeding, it hasn't been back since I have kept it to such a short period of time. Honestly that is my only suggestion...but my daughter has several allergies, milk, soy and seasonal. My son doesn't have this issue.

Good luck,
N.

One thing I wonder about is if you put any ointment on his skin before putting on the band-aid? The other thing that comes to mind is that he probably got a bacterial infection due to the fact that the band-aid was on so long. If it got wet underneath, this would prove to be a breeding ground for microbes, which would cause the weepy rash. One thing that I have been putting on my son's mosquito bites are lavender essential oil (lavendula angustifolia) without a bandaid. the oil's chemical constituent (linalool) has a healing effect as well as an ability to stop the 'itchys'. You could also put tea tree oil (melaleuca augustifolia) on it (again with no band-aid). good luck with this. I'd be curious to see how he does with what you are doing for him. blessings
S.

Sounds like the bite got infected, probably from lack of air and the close contact of the bandage. If he didn't react where the adhesive part of the band-aid was, I'd doubt it's a latex allergy. Had he scratched the bite prior to you putting on the band-aid? I've found that benadryl cream or gel works well to stop itching, as long as there isn't an open scratch.

I am allergic to laytex, and while that reaction does sound like it, if it's only where the pad is, I'll be it's something else. Try changing bandaid brands. I really like the generic fabric ones.

The above responder was correct to question keeping a Bandaid on for a whole week. Waterproof from the outside means waterproof from the inside as well. His body is busy trying to heal the wound, sending out stuff that makes scabs and protects the site from further infection (even a tiny wound like a mosquito bite). Keeping it covered for so long keeps the body from being effective at it's job. The stuff doesn't dry to create a natural barrier. Also, any liquid that may accidentally seep in (because we all know that waterproof is usually not totally waterproof) just gets held there against the skin and grows bacteria and irritates the area. Next time, don't allow the same Bandaid to stay on so long. Just change it out daily. ALso, those waterproof ones are more harm than good, in my opinion. Maybe just useful if you know a child is going to be playing in mud or something, and you use a waterproof Bandaid for that short time. But it does not sound like an allergy, and I think you don't need to worry. Best of luck!

Hi S.,

My daughter and I both have an allergy to the adhesive. It's a pain! I have to use just a gauze pad with a thing similar to an ace bandage to hold it in place, my daughter seems to do o.k. with gauze pads and silk tape (less adhesive). It didn't sound like you had any ointment on your son, but if you did, it may be he's allergic to that (I am allergic to neosporin and everything OTC, I have a prescription ointment). If it's just the adhesive, just find ways to avoid it. His doctor should have some ideas for different ways to bandage. And even though my daughter is not officially allergic to latex, her doctor said it's common to be prone to other allergies, so we still avoid latex gloves at the dentist, etc.

it may not be an allergy. If the bandaid was well sealed, then it provided a warm, moist, dark environment for any bacteria to grow. It could have just been a rash/skin irritation from that. try a new bandaid every few days and see if it still happens, letting it air out for a few minutes in between and making sure that it's dry. if it still rashes up, then you have a pretty good idea that it's from the pad. If not, then it was probably just bacterial growth.

hi, my niece has an alergy to latex. she cant use any normal bandaids and no latex baloons. the doctors cant use latex gloves when they examine her. what we do is make sure we read the box and get the bandaids that say they are latex free.

Did you put Neosporin on the Band-Aid? I'm allergic to that and get a rash with puffy hives every time I use it.