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A member asked:
My 3yr old has an irritation on her right thumb. she sucks her thumb all the time. it looks like little red squiggly lines.what can it be?
5 doctors weighed in across 3 answers
Chronic irritation: Those squiggly lines are actually changes in the skin due to chronic irritation from the sucking. The skin cells actually thicken with the chronic and repetitive irritation and you get the impression of "lines" - these are just thickened areas of skin. Encourage substitution of some other "lovey" for her thumb, but at age 3 it may be very hard to break the habit as you can't just cut her thumb off.
Answered 7/5/2013
5k views
Red line: See your pediatrician . That redline may represent an infection and your daughter mayneed antibiotics.
Answered 9/9/2013
5k views
Thumb: Well, if she sucks it all the time, it will be irritated due to her skin being constantly exposed to saliva. She needs to be weaned from thumb sucking. If you have troubles doing so, seek a professional psychologist's help.
Answered 9/9/2013
4.9k views
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