Often, parents turn to children's doctors with the question of why dark circles, resembling bruises, appear under the eyes of a child. If there was no injury or blow, the child did not bang his head, then impressionable mothers immediately regard the appearance of such bruises as an unambiguous sign of some very serious illness. In fact, bruises under the eyes do not always indicate any pathology. However, they can and in fact "signal" violations, says the well-known children's doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky.
On harmless and easily removable reasons
From time to time, parents of every second baby complain about the appearance of strange circles under the eyes. A bruise to a bruise is a difference, and it is very important to understand which bruises should cause concern and be the basis for an examination, and which ones are just an individual feature of the baby's appearance.
"So ugly"
If a child's eyes are set deep, then circles under the eyes are just a common feature. As a rule, some of the parents have exactly the same. Often bruises accompany fair-skinned babies who have very thin skin from birth, blond hair, and blue eyes. Their small vessels come so close to the thin translucent skin under the eyes that it really creates the illusion of bruising.
Both of these cases should not cause any concern in the parents. Such "cosmetic" bruises can, by the way, disappear altogether over time, since the facial bones of the skull are actively growing and changing facial features.
Fatigue
The most harmless reasons for the appearance of circles under the eyes, according to Komarovsky, are banal overwork and lack of sleep. If parents raise a child without a specific regimen, do not insist on compulsory daytime sleep, and also do not regulate the time that the baby spends in front of the TV or computer monitor, then the appearance of dark circles is an understandable consequence of severe fatigue.
Such bruises also do not require examination by doctors.... It is enough to adjust the daily routine, to make sure that the child sleeps in a quiet hour, goes to bed on time in the evening and fully rests at night. Cartoons and computer games - limit.
Worms and other parasites
Quite often, bruises under the eyes appear in children, in whose intestines parasites have settled. This happens because helminths secrete products of their vital activity, which are toxic to the baby. At the same time, the child's hemoglobin level in the blood decreases.
You need to carefully observe the child. If other symptoms join the dark circles (decreased or increased appetite, weight loss, headaches, itching in the perineal region), the child must be shown to an infectious disease doctor, blood and feces tests must be taken. After treatment aimed at getting rid of parasites, the circles under the eyes will disappear without a trace.
Improper nutrition
With an unbalanced diet, irregular meals, as well as if the child's diet contains foods of low and dubious quality, the body reacts to this gastronomic chaos with general systemic metabolic disorders. At the same time, circles appear under the eyes. They can be evidence of a lack of certain vitamins, most often of the B group, vitamins E, A and D, and calcium. Blood tests and consultation with a pediatrician will help identify these disorders.
Weakened immunity
If a child has recently had a disease, especially a viral one, the appearance of circles under the eyes should not surprise parents at all, Komarovsky said. Imperfect childhood immunity is "tired", hemoglobin has dropped. It is enough to give the child a rest after an illness, not to take him directly to kindergarten or school, walk more often in the fresh air and eat more fruits and vegetables so that such circles under the eyes disappear within a maximum of one week.
This is where the relatively "easy" reasons end. More serious ones begin.
About "painful" reasons
Sometimes the circles under the eyes indicate pathological processes associated with impaired blood circulation, failures in the lymphatic system. The first thing that Komarovsky advises to examine is the kidneys. Usually, an ultrasound of the kidneys is quite enough to show the true state of the excretory system, together with blood and urine tests. Usually in children with kidney disease, circles under the eyes are combined with the formation of bags, general swelling of the face (especially in the morning, after a night's sleep)
Deep blue bruises can indicate heart problems. Their appearance is associated with oxygen starvation of the whole organism, which develops against the background of cardiovascular ailments.
Red bruises and reddish circles can be the outward manifestation of an allergy. An inadequate reaction can be caused by absolutely any type of allergy - food, seasonal, medicinal, allergy to animal hair, house dust.
Dark circles under the eyes often accompany in children inflammation and growth of the palatine tonsil, which is popularly called simply - "adenoids". In this case, nasal breathing is disturbed, sometimes it is completely absent. If a child has been in this state for a long time, not only dark circles under the eyes appear on his face, but also special mimic changes, which in medicine are called "adenoid mask" (the mouth is half-open, the chin is down).
Brown circles - bruises can be a sign of hepatitis, liver disease, thyroid gland. Saturated yellows are sometimes a sign of problems with hematopoiesis.
And very rarely (but this also happens) circles under the eyes appear with diseases in the oral cavity - for example, with caries. In this case, you need to trust the pediatric dentist. After successful treatment, the circles will disappear the very next day.
Circles in babies
In toddlers in the first year of life, dark circles under the eyes can appear due to fatigue, disturbances in sleep and wakefulness, as well as due to a deficiency of iron and essential vitamins (if for some reason they are not enough in breast milk). Children under 12 months old with such a problem must be shown to the pediatrician in order to get comprehensive answers to all questions.
About "urgent" conditions
An "ambulance" for dark circles under the eyes should be called without unnecessary hesitation in two cases: if the child's features sharply sharpened (eyes are sunken) and severe bruises appear, at the same time there are breathing problems, severe weakness. This may indicate acute heart problems that require prompt hospitalization and qualified medical care.
The second case is the appearance of deep bruises under the eyes against the background of vomiting or prolonged diarrhea. In this case, the circles indicate the onset of acute dehydration. Dehydration is deadly for children, especially small children.
How to treat?
Evgeny Komarovsky advises not to panic. If the child has bruises - not at all a feature of appearance, then you should contact the pediatrician. The doctor will prescribe laboratory tests of blood, urine, feces. If necessary, an ultrasound of the kidneys and urinary tract will be done. If the cause is in the kidneys, a nephrologist and urologist will treat the child.
If your kidneys are okay, your pediatrician will refer you to a cardiologist to have your heart checked. The doctor will find out if the child has vegetative-vascular dystonia, measure blood pressure, and, if necessary, make an electrocardiogram and ultrasound of the heart and blood vessels.
If the reason remains secret, then the pediatrician is obliged to send the child to an allergist who will conduct allergy tests and find out if the child has an allergy to something. Treatment can be prescribed very different (depending on the true cause). If there are worms, then antihelminthics and vitamins, if allergies are antihistamines, if kidney damage is diuretic and antibiotics. Since the circles themselves are not a disease, there is no need to treat them directly. The pathology that caused such a "cosmetic effect" should be treated.
Usually there are no problems with diagnosing the causes, says Evgeny Komarovsky. In 70% of cases (and even more), parents' anxieties turn out to be false - no pathologies are detected. If, for their own peace of mind, mom and grandmother desperately need to take the child to the offices of specialists and pass a bunch of tests, then let them do it. From an unnecessary examination, according to Evgeny Komarovsky, no one has become worse.
The child himself will be much better if mom and dad reconsider his daily routine, provide a full night's rest (in a room that is well ventilated, where it is not hot and not stuffy) and finally "tear off" the child from the computer and send him for a walk on Fresh air.
As a rule, all circles and bruises under the eyes disappear in a few days if the child begins to lead an active lifestyle and eat right. Households must definitely add foods high in iron to the baby's diet - chicken yolk, buckwheat porridge, seaweed, liver.
There should be no hint of any allergens in the house. - Mom should do the cleaning without detergents, especially those containing chlorine. Baby linen and bedding should only be washed with hypoallergenic baby powders.
Komarovsky advises not to forget about the correct drinking regime... If the baby consumes little fluid, his metabolism is disturbed, as evidenced by circles under the eyes. The water rate is calculated according to the formula "child's weight x 30".
You should not drink soda, but clean drinking water, fruit drinks, homemade compote, tea. All drink, recalls Evgeny Komarovsky, should be at room temperature, so it will be absorbed faster in the small intestine.
For the reasons for the appearance of bruises under the eyes of a child, see the short video below.
