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Baby Has Facial Swelling, Redness And Bruise On Head. All Tests Normal. What Could Be The Cause?

Posted on Mon, 1 Apr 2013

Question: I'm desperate for some advice. My lil boy was at the time 3 months. I took him to the hospital with facial swelling and redness. By the time they had seen him it had gone down. The next morning he had 3 pale blue bruise looking marks and a small purple ish one on his head which my husband had already said my lil boy headbutted him and hit his tooth so that doesn't worry me as I know why that one was there. But I rushed him up to the hospital and they caled social services who advised me to volunterily sign my children over to my mum which me and my husband did. The problem is all tests came back fine. Nothing wrong with bloods. They checked him for shaken baby, fractures etc all clear which of course I knew it would be. So now we are stuck we can't prove we didn't do it and no-one can work out what could have caused the bruises. They presume its us which of course its not. But it doesn't matter what we say it isn't their job to believ us I understand that. But no way!!! Would I or my husband ever hurt either of our children- we have a 3yr old as well. My son was one 2 types of medication which I think caused the facial swelling as it kept happening in hospital. That's as much I can say really due to waiting for a court date. But any ideas? Advice anything please. Thank you

Answered by Dr. E Venkata Ramana (28 minutes later)

Hi,

Thank you for your query,

Frankly, I am unaware of the laws of your country regarding children's rights and acts of prevention of child abuse and I do think there are any legal experts to address your concerns from that perspective. However from a medical point of view, the following are my suggestions.

1. As you mentioned your child had facial swelling with redness a day prior to the event and which vanished during hospitalization, you may produce the first day visit details from the hospital and doctors who attended his facial swelling and redness. Since there was a preceded history of rash before the appearance of pale bruise, those documents may help in proving the innocence.

2. Another thing you told some medication caused similar facial swelling when he was in the hospital in the past. The previous prescriptions of your regular Pediatrician, medications and his past history of similar complaints documents if available can be produced as supportive documents.

Please discuss with your legal experts and your regular pediatrician. They can help you get some more documents to help you.

I will be glad to assist you further (if you need any) from a medical point of view.

Hope this helps.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. E Venkata Ramana (31 minutes later)

Thank you. Yes I have a solicister who is on the case. I've kept everything and recorded everything that has happened, inc names and dates to go bk to in court. Could you tell me from a medical side 2 medications- domperidone and ranitidine. I know a side effect is facial swelling to both but I have researched reports into bruising. What is your take on these medications.

Answered by Dr. E Venkata Ramana (1 hour later)

Hi,

Facial swelling and bruisability have been reported in a few websites as rare side effects of domperidone and ranitidine respectively. However the medications are not associated with isolated facial swelling and bruisability.

Physical examination of facial swelling and the type of bruising is important to comment on the causes. You may take the help of your child regular pediatrician to determine the nature and cause of bruising and facial swelling.

Hope I answered your query. Let me know if you need any more clarifications.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad