Published on September 18, 2007 at 5:37 AM
It seems that some socks made for tiny tots have elastic which is too tight.
While this is hardly life-threatening, the doctors say sock-line bands in some cases developed at just one week leaving raised, reddish markings around the ankle or leg.
The marks in some cases appeared after wearing a tight pair of socks on just one occasion and though they faded, raised lines remained.
However while they may be unattractive, the lesions appear to be harmless but as the condition has only recently been recognised, whether scarring will be permanent remains unclear.
The team from Washington University advise parents to choose their babies' socks carefully, and ensure there is plenty of space between leg and sock.
The findings by a team at Washington University distinguished sock-line bands from other infant leg markings which can be associated with more sinister conditions like limb defects.
The team examined more than a dozen cases of such lesions reported in Europe and the U.S. and came to the conclusion that socks were the culprit in the majority of the cases.
One of the cases involved an 11-month-girl who developed the marks at just one week of age after wearing a pair of tight socks and another child in the U.S. still has scars after two years.
One of the report's authors, Dr David Berk says it is important that the disorder is recorded so that data can be collected to better characterise how lesions develop.
Dr. Colin Holden, president of the British Association of Dermatologists, says the research is a good example of how research is discovering new patterns of symptoms all the time; the "sock scars" often indicate inflammation in the subcutaneous fat or dermis.
The research is published in the British Journal of Dermatology.