Dark circles under his eyes

[TinyTreasures]

My nearly 4-year-old has had dark red circles under his eyes that past two days...I distinctly remember this a over year ago when this PANS nightmare began and a few times since when he's been in a flare. He is in the middle of a pretty bad flare for about a week+ (worse the past few days) but I don't know why - he hasn't been sick with anything in over a month. Any idea what causes the dark circles? Vitamin deficiency, allergies, or any specific infections? Thank you!

[cobygurl]

My DS5 also has that problem. Worse during a flare. Our doctors have told us that those dark circles are signs of allergies. Something we have been giving him/exposed to that his body can't handle.

[rowingmom]

DD had them as well, darkening with exacerbations. Nothing specific we did to get rid of them, they just gradually resolved as she healed.

[airial95]

They are actually called "allergic shiners" like cobygurl noted. However, my PANDAS son is not allergic to anything - but he gets these very pronounced when he has strep or is in a bad flare. Lots of other folks have reported these too - PANDA eyes!

[NancyD]

Dark circles under eyes and red ears can also be a sign of GI issues.

[tu4four]

I have also noticed that sometimes my kids are not clinically sick. But they look sick around the eyes....sometimes with darker circles. For what it's worth, my son sometimes starts having issues --less ability to concentrate, more agitated, etc, and we give him lysine--after a few days he seems better. Less agitated. I'm thinking this points to viruses which can big them down, but not sure of that

[JoyBop]

Dark circles under the eyes can be indicative of an allergy of any other over reaction of the immune system. I think emotional stress can contribute as well. Perhaps you are lucky that you have discovered a physical sign when your child immune system is out of whack. Dark circles don't actually hurt in most cases( unless from an injury or severe allergy) so its not necessarily a bad thing. But keep track of when those dark circles come and go and you have a great visual sign of when your child is in a flare.

[TinyTreasures]

Thank you all!

Maybe a reaction to the Molybdenum we started a couple days before the dark circles appeared (although he was already in a flare before that, just not nearly as bad). Hard to tell since we started Augmentin and stopped the Molybdenum at the same time and by the next day he was markedly better.

Edited September 6, 2013 by TinyTreasures

[JoyBop]

Its a good idea to start one thing at a time, if you can, so you know which thing caused what. I know sometimes its not possible, but a good thought.