Fingernails and toenails falling off on DS (Ped. has no answers)

[caribbeanmama]

Hi all,

This is a bizarre situation. My five year old son's fingernails started to peel around the cuticle and falling off around July 4th. He has pretty much lost his thumbs and middle fingers and his toenails are beginning to peel as well. Allergy tests are negative and there are no signs of fungus, although he does have mild eczema. DS is very healthy and has a pretty balanced diet so there are no vitamin/mineral deficiencies. Someone suggested there may be a calcium deficiency, but I don't think so. Also, someone else suggested he may have been exposed to mold (?). Yet another mom suggested a reaction to vaccines as he was indeed vaccinated on June 11 for Kindergarten. I just don't know what to think. All that said, we are still heading off to the dermatologist tomorrow. Has this ever happened to your DC? TIA!

[ThreeofUs]

Gee, my first guess would be a fungal infection, especially with the ecxema. Sounds like he's having a reaction to something on his skin and nails.

Three weeks would be a long time for the vaccinations to be having this effect, but I guess anything is possible.

I'd get an appointment with an allergist as well as the dermatologist. An allergist might know the cause better than a skin doctor.

[C99]

Something similar happened to DS1. I took him to the peds derm, but by the time our appointment rolled around, it was mostly grown out. She suggested that sometimes viruses can cause that reaction.

[Thatchermom]

Any fevers recently? DS had a recurrent undiagnosed fever issue when he was younger, and after one particularly bad bout he had what looked like a gap in his fingernails - they literally stopped and then started again. I remember our ped said it had to do with the fever, but I can't remember why it was.