Mandy Moore is opening up about the anxiety a parent can feel when their child suddenly shows signs of a lesser-known condition.
On Friday, the “This is Us” star shared a series of posts on her Instagram Stories about her 2-year-old son, August “Gus” Harrison Goldsmith, who she said woke up a week ago with a severe rash that included “bright red splotches” that “spread all over his lower limbs, from his toes to his thighs.”
“This parenting thing is weird and hard,” Moore said in one post, according to screenshots captured by E! News. “And sometimes you feel so helpless.”
The “Candy” singer’s initial post about Gus included a photo of the toddler at the doctor’s office licking a lollipop.
“This sweet boy woke up with a crazy rash on Saturday am,” Moore wrote over the picture. “We thought maybe an (eczema) flare? Poison oak? Allergy. We tried to deduce what it could be and did anything to help him find relief from the itch. Went to urgent care. Pediatrician. Dermatologist. Pediatric dermatologist. All the while, he smiles and laughs and carries on with his day like the rockstar he is.”
Moore’s second post shows the severity of Gus’s rash — and why she was so alarmed by it. The photo shows pink blotches that extend from the toddler’s thigh to his toes.
“Turns out it’s a viral childhood rash that just spontaneously appears called Gianotti-Crosti syndrome,” Moore wrote in the second post. “It sometimes accompanies a cold but not in Gus’s case. It’s all over his legs and feet (ouch) and the backs of his arms but nowhere else. There’s nothing to do but a steroid cream and Benadryl at night. And it could last 6-8 weeks. Ooooof. Anyone else ever experience this??”
Although the National Institutes of Health describes Gianotti Crosti syndrome as a “a rare childhood skin condition,” Dr. Asmi Sanghvi, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City, told HuffPost via email that the condition is actually a “very common self-limiting rash that is most likely triggered by a viral infection.”
She said that it typically lasts up to three to four weeks, but that “lesions can last up to 8 weeks before resolving spontaneously.” It is most common in preschool-age children, but has been seen in kids up to age 13, Sanghvi said.
“Causes are typically linked to viruses like the hepatitis B virus, hepatitis A, or C, cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus (the same virus that causes mono) or some immunizations like against poliovirus, diphtheria, pertussis, influenza, or measles,” Sanghvi said in an email.
Moore did not share any information about how Gus may have developed the condition.
The actor and singer — who shares Gus with her husband, musician Taylor Goldsmith from the band Dawes — said in her initial series of posts that the situation was rough for her as a parent, but she’s “grateful it’s only an itchy skin condition.”
“Kids are resilient and as long as he’s smiling through it, we are a-okay,” she said.
On Monday, Moore offered an update on how Gus is doing. The Instagram Story features a photo of Gus smiling happily as he eats oatmeal for breakfast.
“Someone may have a crazy rash, but he’s still a champ!!” she wrote.