Many parents of children with abdominal pain ask the question, “Doctor, my baby has worm spots on his face, should I get worming? The prevalence of parasitic worms in the city has been controlled at a very low level due to the sanitary conditions nowadays, where parents pay attention to their children’s diet and water hygiene since childhood. So what exactly are the worm spots that parents are talking about?
In fact, the worm spot in their mouth is white furuncle, also known as simple furuncle, Chinese medicine called “peach fever” “worm spot”, related to parasitic infection. Chinese medicine believes that this disease is caused by wind-heat, worm accumulation, spleen loss of health, can develop all year round, especially in the winter, most often in children and teenagers. The wind-heat type is characterized by light red skin lesions covered with scales and mild itching; light red tongue, thin yellow fur, and smooth pulse. The spleen disease is characterized by pale white spots on the face, white flakes when scratched, loss of appetite and stomach discomfort; light red tongue, thin white moss and moist pulse.
In Western medicine, the cause of this disease is unknown, and it is a common chronic dermatitis in children and adolescents. Clinically, malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, and strong sunlight exposure can induce this disease. Intestinal parasites and local fungal infections may be associated with this disease. The onset of the disease is seasonally relevant, mostly starting in spring and subsiding after summer and autumn. The skin damage is mainly hypopigmented circular or oval patches, usually about 0.5-2 cm, but also up to 4 cm in size, often 4-5 or more, with slightly clear edges, erythematous or pale red patches in the early stage, and pale white patches after a few weeks, covered with a small amount of fine gray-white scales. Mostly seen on the face, especially on the cheeks and forehead. It also occurs on the neck, shoulders, upper arms and even the trunk and buttocks. Generally, there are no conscious symptoms, but a few children may have mild itching. The course of the disease is slow, several months or even a year. The white spots may persist for more than 1 year after the scaling subsides. The disease needs to be clinically differentiated from vitiligo and lichen planus.
The cause is unknown, no special treatment, external use of 5% sulfur cream or ointment has some effect, erythema phase can be used for a short time weak glucocorticoid preparations. For children with elevated eosinophil ratio, malnutrition and recurrent abdominal pain, routine stool examination and microscopic examination of worm eggs can be performed. Avoiding sunlight will help the disease to subside.