Excema - - any tips please?

[rubyslippers]

DS has all the stuff - oilatum, cream and steroid cream but he still has 4 stubborn patches of excema

the worst is on his left wrist and he scratches it alot - last night in his sleep he had scratched it red raw and it was bleeding

this is stopping it from healing and it is upsetting him

i was thinking of getting some very fine gauze or something to wrap on it to stop the scratching - what do you think?

been to the GP three times with him already

any tips would be gratefully received

TIA

[rubyslippers]

bump

[audreyraines]

hi nothing that the gp gave me worked, so on the advice of a homeopath i put the oilatum and steriod cream in the bin and from memory did the following:

• added dead sea salts to his bath
• used homeopathic remedy (you might need to consult someone if you can ..)
• made a lotion comprising of neals yard baseline moisturiser and added jojoba oil to it. jojoba is quite expensive but is the most deeply moisturising. you could also use avocado oil or organic olive oil as cheaper options, but i went through a bottle of jojoba in the early days and then switched to olive oil as the condition improved. you put it on as many times a day as you can manage.

that's all i can remember at the moment. would definitely try and stop him from scratching it if possible.

i hope it improves for you.

[audreyraines]

Earthbound Organics

oops, sorry just remembered that on the worst areas i used this chickweed and calendula cream from earthbound organics which was also recommended by the homeopath. it is brilliant stuff. for milder areas or general maintenance then i used the neals yard/oil combo.

[pointydog]

you can wet wrap eczema. I'm not sure if a gp would be able to go through this with you or if it would need to be a dermatology nurse.

You put on emolllient and a clay-type paste called icthamol, if I remember right. Then you put a tuby bandage over the top. It had the benefits of not making it possible to scratch and it was the most cooling soothing paste.

My memory of wet wrapping is very hazy now but ask your gp about this

[audreyraines]

oh, another suggestion is to bathe less frequently. bathing and using shampoos/soaps strips the body of natural oils making the eczema worse, so if bathing eveyr day, mabye consider going to every second day with just a top and tail type wash in between?

[pointydog]

many children with eczema benefit enormously from being bathed every day as long as there is an emollient in the water. This also helps the skin to absorb moisturisers better when just out of the bath.

[audreyraines]

okay, thanks pointydog! for us, less bathing was definitely better.

[neversaydie]

Sea salt in the bath water worked for ds when emollients didn't.
www.chemistdirect.co.uk/bath-sea-salt-tidmans-large_1_3676.html

[Meglet]

DS is 2.5 and has had excema since he was born. He's not had it so bad that he bleeds, but every day was a battle to put creams on him and we tried so many lotions and potions and bath oils that I've lost count.

We have really hard water in my area (North Hampshire) and I decided to stop bathing him 2 weeks ago and shower him instead, his skin has got 100% better. He hates the shower and I feel bad that he can't play with his toys so much but his skin is normal now so he'll have to get used to them.

I beleive there is a water trial in the Portsmouth area that is trying to find out if hard water is a major cause of excema which inspired me to try showers and it seems to have done the trick for DS .

[GreenMonkies]

oat meal works in the bath too (you make a muslin "tea-bag" not pour it directly in the water!) and get him allergy tested by a NAET practitioner. Dairy is the most common trigger, as are eggs, citrus, wheat/gluten and even tomatoes!! I used olive oil on DD2's dry skin when she was a baby, but her excema went when she went dairy free.

[Meglet]

link www.bbc.co.uk/southtoday/content/articles/2009/01/09/eczema_water_feature.shtml

[rubyslippers]

thank you all - what great advice!

i live in a very hard water area as well and wondered if it made a difference

DS is not a fan of showers though ... hmm
thanks again and will look at the links etc in more detail