my son complained of a mosquito bite on his upper arm last night- he said it itched. When I looked at it, it was red and swollen to almost golf ball size! He has never had a bad reaction to mosquito bites before. He said he didn't feel the bite and there are not any marks to indicate a spider bite(usually the 2 punctures). We put some anti itch cream on it and it didn't seem to bother him any more. Today I looked at it again, and the swelling has gone down a little(I think it's because he stopped scratching it) but it is still red and swollen- about the size of a nickel- and hot! He says it doesn't hurt or itch. I had him put some ice on it. What could this be? and what do I need to do for it?
Thanks!
~C.
*edit* there is one small dot in the middle- no stinger though
When my son gets bitten by a fire ant he gets that kind of a reaction. I give him a dose or two of benedryl and it usually goes away in a day or two. Cortizone cream or calamine lotion for the itching.
Keep an eye on it. My oldest went from a quarter size hot bug bite last year to a painful 5 inch wide bite overnight last summer, high fever. He ended up with cellulitis. My ped has seen a more than normal amount of cellulitis from bug bites this summer.
Once he was on antibiotics what was believed to have been an angry infected mosquito bite was actually a tick bite. It revealed a foot wide bullseye and he was antibiotics for a month for Lyme disease.
My daughter and I both react this way to mosquito bites... red, hard, hot and swollen - sometimes sore. However, if you are concerned it can't hurt to have a Dr look at it. Better safe than sorry.
Make sure it's not a tick--I had a bite that I *thought* was a mosquito bite for months until my husband looked at it & saw the tick!
It could be anything, but based on the size, more than likely a spider bite... unless he was STUNG. Is it hot and red and hard? Keep an eye on it, you might even want to put some bactracin (antibiotic ointment) on it, in case it's a little infected. The heat/sun/sweating can quickly aggravate the smallest of insect bites. If he gets a fever, dizzy, or nauseous, take him to the doctor immediately.
Just went through the same thing with my son. It was a mosquito bite. It looked like a golf ball sticking out of his arm. I put some benadryl no-itch gel on it. The next morning, it was about half the size. I continued to rub the benadryl gel into it several times & he just sat there like it didn't hurt or bother him. By day 3, it looked like a normal mosquito bite. It doesn't happen very often to my son, but occasionally a mosquito bite will react like that on him. Good luck!
Give him some bendryl it it doesn't get better maybe you should consider having it checked out by the Dr. He is probably just allergic to something now. They also have a benedryl lotion that might help.
Did it happen during the night?
I had something wake me up out of a dead sleep one night.... something bit/stung me on my upper arm. Being in Texas, we figured it could have been a scorpion, although we never saw what it was. It wasn't swollen out, but I had a big red area (2" in diameter) that was very tender and hot for a couple of days.
sometimes bug bites can lead to staph infections. this happened to me with a spider bite. better safe than sorry, go to the doctor just to be sure.
Just to be safe I would take him to the doctor to have the bite looked at. I have been bitten several times by mosquitos but the last time i was bet I showed the same symptoms. My doctor said that I was allergic to mosquito bites.
Does it look like a bullseye? I would have the dr look at it asap.
It could be a spider bite. But I have seen plenty of misquito bites swell up. I think it could be that when he scratched he got some bacteria into the open wound.
what color is the dot? Is it a darker red with a red/pink circle or red circle with a whitehead looking dot? If it's still bad tomorrow, I'd take him to the Ped.
There are several different types of misquitos. Not all of them cause the same reaction. There is one I don't get bit by often but it leaves what looks like a welt! Not fun. He probably just ran into something new.
My daughter did the same thing when they got mosquito bites but only once in a while. I gave them benydryl at the time and it went away. As long as it does not change it should be fine after a couple days.
My daughter got bit a couple of weeks ago--just before her doctor appt actually. It was swollen for 3 days. the doc took a look at it ( 2nd day after the bite) and said it looked like a mosquito bite but since the skin was not an angry red and the skin around it did not appear really white or red, it was just the reaction. Now she has a little raised skin where the little dot was, kind of like a freckle.
Are you sure it's a bug bite? Is the area hard and firm or soft? A large red area that is firm and swollen could also be a staph/MRSA boil; now that being said, those usually are painful so if it doesn't hurt when you push on it, then may not be this infection. I would give it a day or 2 and see if it gets better, if not then I would take him in to the doctor.
