Diagnosis

For the past two years, Sarah has suffered from a severe rash on the backs of her legs.  It's itchy and she scratches it so much that it bleeds.  I took her to an allergist and he assured me that it was atopic dermatitis and that it wasn't caused by anything.  It was just the way her skin was and I accepted it. He prescribed an ointment and told me to have her soak for 30 minutes everyday in a tub and once a week put 1/4 cup of bleach in the water.  Nothing seemed to alleviate the rash.  We took certain things out of her diet, used dye and perfume free detergent, and some other obvious things that might have been causing it.

During our six weeks in California her skin totally cleared up.  It was very encouraging to know that it wasn't a permanent thing.  We could always move to California or a drier climate.  We used the same detergent while we were there, her diet was the same, and everything else seemed to be pretty much the same as when we live at our house. The only things I could think of that she might be allergic to were our couch, the Southern humidity, or the fact that the people who lived in the house before us had cats (because we do know that Sarah is allergic to cats), or something in the water or regional milk.  I was hoping that when we returned home that her skin would remain clear, but it didn't.  She broke out again on the backs of her thighs, close to her buttocks region.  I finally determined that it must be the toilet seats because she's only broken out on the skin that touches the toilet seat when she sits.

I looked it up online, and sure enough there is such thing as Toilet-Seat Contact Dermatitis.  Most practitioners fail to even consider this as a diagnosis.  We have wooden toilet seats with Microban on them. Sarah started breaking out when she was about 4 years old, around the time that she quit using the child potty seat on top of the toilet. So tonight my husband bought some plastic ones and we will see if it works.  My dad has wood toilet seats at his house too, but they must have a different paint or varnish or didn't have the Microban on them.  I'm so excited to find out if this will solve her issues.

On the last day of our trip, we asked all of the kids what their favorite part of vacation was.  Some said, "Disneyland."  Bradley said, :"Hollywood."  Sarah said, "My skin."  The poor thing has suffered miserable itchiness and discomfort for 1/3 of her life.

My mom always thought it was the toilet seats, but I never agreed with her.  My dad said he would take the old toilet seat and set it by her grave with a sign that says, "You were right."  Let's hope she is.