Parents Problem with feet!

[dinkalina]

Hello!
BeeBee Loo is having major issues with her feet, specifically her toes! It started out as what looked like really deep blood blisters on the underside of her 3 toes right next to the big one on just one foot. The blood blisters would work their way up to the surface of the skin and then scab. I took her to the dr and they thought it was some kind of athlete's foot and told me to put a lotrimine equivalent on it. They also gave her antibotics since she is prone to staph. After the first week of treatment, she developed an allergic reaction to the ointment and had huge blisters raised across the top of her toes. I started using Vick's vapor rub on them instead and it seemed to keep everything in check but didn't help to get rid of it. Vicks or mentholatum has always been our pediatrician's recommendation for the contact dermatitis she gets as well. Started using tinactin spray after that for little over a week. While it hasn't gotten any worse, it hasn't gotten significantly better either. I took her to her peds yesterday and he was thinking it may not be athlete's foot entirely but an allergic reaction to something at gymnastics. Perhaps what they clean the equipment with? Has anyone had this problem before? The ped said the only way to prevent it is to enclose her feet while she's at gymnastics. Has anyone used gymnastics shoes because of something like this? Any brands/material/style you recommend? Thanks!

Lisa

 

[bogwoppit]

We used ventureli for gym and t&t. Poor kid it sounds very nasty.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

this is very unusual, so...could you take a picture and post it up so i can see it? geez, what a question eh? but it might be something i've seen before. some of us have seen a lot of this kind of thing.

 

[Esoteric]

I used to get these red raised itchy bumps along the inner sides of my feet. I had sweaty feet and used shoes for floor and vault- and we attributed it to my own bacteria combined with gym residue building up. I used to put bag balm on my hands and feet every night after a good washing to help with gym related skin stuff and it always worked like a charm. You describe something infectious, though. I can't imagine the blood blister things- yikes! Does this hurt her? I used shoes that were made by Nike- but I am pretty sure they stopped making them long ago. I remember I only got them because my dad had an "in" with Phil Knights family. My fellow gymmies in NH were jealous! I think the girls in dds gym use Pegasus brand. Good luck with your search for relief!

 

[niklum]

That sounds so bizarre and painful! I used to get cracks at the base of my toes and my daughter does, too. It really hurts to get gym dirt in those cracks and bandaids do not stay on! Her pedi told us it was a form of eczema. I used Pegasus shoes as a gymnast because I had the dreaded plantar warts. It helped to keep my toes from cracking and bleeding everywhere, too. The shoes are prone to stinking, though, so be warned.

 

[Kiwi]

My DD wears Venturelli microfibre shoes (for a different reason), they get stinky but wash up nicely.

 

[dinkalina]

I will try to get a picture posted tomorrow Dunno. She has very sensitive skin so we aren't sure this is even infectious at this point. She can't use things like paint or ink (markers) or glue without gloves because those things make the skin of her fingertips peel off. She is also limited to certain hair care products or her ears and scalp blister. We also have to be careful about what kind of fabrics her leotards are - metalic ones are no good for her.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

if you're not comfortable posting it just send it PM. i'd like to have my buddy look at it. she's a coach/dermatologist/burn specialist.

 

[veganmami]

Could it possibly be an autoimmune issue?

 

[dinkalina]

foot problems!



The first picture shows the blood blister phase once it makes it to the surface. The second picture is her other foot and it is much worse. It did look a bit better yesterday than it had. The lighting in the picture doesn't really show how purpley/red and raw the top of her toes are. It hurts her and skin on her third toe came off and bled. I don't know how much of the rawness is from her allergic reaction to the lotramin and how much is the original condition. The undersides of her toes still look bruised. She has a small starburst pattern of red on her left heel that doesn't seem to bother her. This really scares me because she ended up in the hospital for a week last spring with MRSA on her left arm, outer left arm pit, and a tiny spot on her right hip. She has an appointment to see a dermatologist but the soonest we could get in is the middle of March. The gym said they hadn't changed cleaning products and use bleach for the equipment. I always have her shower right after she gets home from gym and she cleans her hands on the way home. I did find her some soft canvas lyrical toe shoes that covers her toes past the ball of her foot. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

great pictures. i will get these to my buddy to rule out anything else.

1st picture: it is blood pooling due to pounding and gripping on the beam. the feet and toes quite literally act like hands when on a beam. and there is quite a bit of internal force coming from/thru the toes. 1 of those blood pools looks like she might be stepping on herself doing a 2 foot landing flip flop or a standing back tuck on a floor or beam. these blood blisters are common and not dangerous. and if you're wondering, if it were punch fronts the bruising would be higher on the toe and closer to the foot.

2nd picture: this foot is worse because it is probably her back foot for hurdling in front handsprings & round offs. ask the coaches to watch and see if/when she is 'dragging' her foot when she hurdles for tumbling and on the approach for vault. you can see clearly that the chaffing is only on 4 toes and not the baby toe. this is because the little toe does not come in to contact with the floor when they 'foot drag' because the foot makes a 'fist' when it points and exposes the other 4 toes to the floor surface. this too is common, but they must break the habit of foot dragging.

 

[ginnymac]

I would not wait until mid March for an MD to see this. I would call the derm and explain the situation and ask them to see her immediately. Have you taken her to her pediatrician?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I would not wait until mid March for an MD to see this. I would call the derm and explain the situation and ask them to see her immediately. Have you taken her to her pediatrician?

read my post. there may be an easy fix. the Doc's wouldn't be able to figure this one out unless they had been a gymnast. now let's hope the coach(es) have a fast/trained eye.

 

[kimskids]

That is interesting.....it does almost look like carpet burn!! Ouchy!!

 

[Jen H.]

Gah!
As often, Dunno amazes me!

 

[dinkalina]

Yep - she was at the pediatrician on Monday. He gave her 3 days of steriod pills and hydrocorizone cream to reduce the inflammation, 10 days of antibotics, no gymnastics for a week, and told us to keep using the tinacin spray until we could get into the derm. If it is carpet burn, the lotramin reaction made it completely worse and basically fried her already raw skin to ribbons. BeeBee Loo is a tiny stack of muscle and only 56 lbs. Dunno is right, she is insane when it comes to tumbling and will do stuff over and over and not feel any pain while doing it. She has a seriously high threshold for pain. She also pounds the crap out of herself on the beam. She's right handed and the worst looking foot is her left. She works hard to be equal on both feet but she may very well lead with her right for tumbling passes and vault. She must land primarily on her left on the beam/floor because the first occurence of those blood blister things was on the underside of the first 3 toes on that left foot. I will definitely ask her coach about it. Another wrinkle in this is that her complexion is extremely pale due to her albinism. She cannot seem to climb the rope without her thighs and tops of her feet becoming completely scraped raw. Thanks Dunno!

 

[ginnymac]

Dunno...I see that our posts were almost simultaneous. Yours was not there when I posted. My understanding about mrsa though is that a person may be more prone to recurrance once they have experienced it. Not entirely sure about that though!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you're right! we must have been typing at the same moment.