14 month old with red spotty area around mouth and chin - eczema?

[Witchycat]

Since she turned one, about 10 weeks ago, my dd has had a problem with spots and redness in an area around her mouth, over her chin and sometimes under her eyes and up to her forehead.

The GP said it looks like an "eczema type" problem but thought it was "in the wrong place" to be typical eczema. She prescribed hrydro-cortisone 2 x day for a week then 1 x day for a week. We followed this & it got a bit better but didn't go. A few days after stopping the HC cream & her the chin/mouth area looks really red again.

The thing is it doesn't itch & doesn't seem sore. Sometimes it looks really red -almost like nappy rash, other times it looks pale but dry. Sometimes it's like normal skin with alot of red spots. It's not weeping at all.

Any ideas if it's really eczema? If not then what?
And what about treatments. I don't want to use steroid creams.

Thanks for any help.

[popsycalindisguise]

that is wher ds2's eczema is - he is 12 months.
It has falred up again today on his cheeks and in a 'gotee-beard' style on his mouth and chin

buy a bg tub of aqueous cream from the chemist and apply regulary to keep it at bay.

if it is really bad you may need some 0.5% hydrocortisone

[popsycalindisguise]

does it look like htis?
\link{http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.dermatology.co.uk/media/images/BABY_ECZEMA_ON_ABDO.jpg&imgrefurl=www.dermatology.co.uk/eczema/diagnosisandcauses/article/article.asp%3FArticleID%3D1435&h=278&w=360&sz=13&tbnid=Sql1WmuSLL973M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=117&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbaby%2Beczema%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN\second pic own}

that is what ds2's looks like if really bad and not cayght in time

[Witchycat]

That's it - it's just like a goatee beard!

Will try the aqueous cream - have just been using E45 or Bach's Rescue Remedy cream - they help but not much.

The hydro-cortisone we had is 0.5% but even so I wasn't sure about using it for long - what counts as 'long term use' anyway?

[popsycalindisguise]

we were told to apply it very very lightly and follow the directions onthe leaflet.....only 5 days on the face area and 7 days on other body areas

but it started improving after 2 days so we cut it right down

[Witchycat]

Oh - just seen pic. I saw that when I checked on 'Search current messages' - really useful because I'd been looking for a picture.

I'm not sure if it really does looks like that though. When it's read like today, it's not patchy like in the picture. Other times it's just loads of spots.

[Witchycat]

That should have been 'red' not 'read'!

[popsycalindisguise]

you can also use aqueous cream instead of soap too

we have oilatum prescribed for his bath but since it is mainly on his face right now it doesnt really help!

I am in the process of trying to work out whether it is diet related...

[popsycalindisguise]

that pic is like ds2's at its absolute worst if that is any help

[getbakainyourjimjams]

ds3 has it at the moment- his is from teething (extra dribbling). I coat him in vaseline at night and its normally much improved in the morning, only to start again.

DS1 had very severe eczema (eczema herpeticum) for a while- I found that (providing there was no infection) vaseline (well actually 50:50 but the same sort of thing) worked well on his very dry stubborn patches of eczema.

[Pixel]

My ds has never had excema but he does get a red pimply rash on his face if I wipe him with 'cheap' baby wipes. He is ok with Johnsons though and I can use the cheap ones anywhere else on his body without any effect (not that I bother buying them now of course). He was unaffected until he was about 1 year old as well, when he seemed to suddenly develop this 'allergy'. Could it be something like this with your dd?

[Witchycat]

I wondered about diet too but can't think of anything that we introduced at 12 months. At first I thought it was cow's milk - she's had it on cereals since before 12 months but maybe we did try her on cow's milk to drink at that point. Since she doesn't seem to like it though, we've goen back to formula.

For the record, all her clothes & bedding are cotton, washed in non-bio so I don't think it's that.

It's definately worse when she's full of cold as she has been almost permantly since New Year, but I'm not sure if that explains it or if we need to do anything to help her get rid of it.

[Witchycat]

It's definately not wipes or soap - we don't even use anything in her bath. It was worse when nursery were not being careful enough about cleaning her after meals or using cloths washed in cheap powder but they promise they've stopped now and anyway it's no better when she's at home.

[getbakainyourjimjams]

If eczema is bad you should use hydrocortisone rather than leave it to get manky.

The dermatologist we saw for ds1 was quite insistent-HC is a very mild steroid anyway (ds1 had a much stronger one on his face for a while- and even that they were keen for us to apply.

I'd try vasline first though tbh - found it the best for remoisturising- been using oilatum cream and diprobase etc over the weekend as I lost the vaseline and its not as effective. I also wouldn't keep using a steroid if it wasn;t working. One thing you have to watch if you've been using it for a while is that you have to taper stopping it otherwise it all just flares up again. Weh ds1 had the string one we had to taper from that to 1% HC for a while, to 0.5% HC then 0.5% every other day, then every third day etc- any faster and it all just flared back up. GPs often forget to tell you that.

[getbakainyourjimjams]

If eczema is bad you should use hydrocortisone rather than leave it to get manky.

The dermatologist we saw for ds1 was quite insistent-HC is a very mild steroid anyway (ds1 had a much stronger one on his face for a while- and even that they were keen for us to apply.

I'd try vasline first though tbh - found it the best for remoisturising- been using oilatum cream and diprobase etc over the weekend as I lost the vaseline and its not as effective. I also wouldn't keep using a steroid if it wasn;t working. One thing you have to watch if you've been using it for a while is that you have to taper stopping it otherwise it all just flares up again. When ds1 had the strong one we had to taper from that to 1% HC for a while, to 0.5% HC then 0.5% every other day, then every third day etc- any faster and it all just flared back up. GPs often forget to tell you that.

[getbakainyourjimjams]

Prob is cold related- goes with extra mucus etc- ds3 is the same at the moment, full of snot, teething extra groo and saliva and a red raw face.

[popsycalindisguise]

Jimjams 0 I spent about 2 months thinking ds2's was dribble rash - it got really really angry. When I look back at photos, I realise he has had it on and off fro about 6 months but only got disgnosed at around 9-10 months.

Poor babies

[getbakainyourjimjams]

I don't mean its not eczema- just that it may well be dribble related and made worse by dribble. Ds1 is a bit eczemay at this time of year (always is when the central heating goes on) but he's recently had a bad patch around his mouth as well because he keeps doing something weird with his tongue. For anything red and angry I've found that vaseline can work really well (providing there's no infection of course), far better than diprobase or any of the other specialist lotions and potions. After ds1's eczema herpeticum he had really bad hands for ages after a lot of it had cleared up. In the end I got it to shift by wet wrapping after coating in 50:50 (like a very gloopy vaseline), that worked really well.

[popsycalindisguise]

might try vaseline out if this fare up doesnt shift

I am hoping that he grows out of it in the next few months

[getbakainyourjimjams]

Defiitely worth a try- ds1 had eczema herpeticum like \link{http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=emcritcare.org/images/case071103b_small.jpg&imgrefurl=emcritcare.org/160-189/169a-peds.derm.htm&h=89&w=72&sz=2&tbnid=bw7tSqe1efZfJM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=59&hl=en&start=4&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2Bsite:emcritcare.org%2Beczema%2Bherpeticum%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den\like this} all over his body (except feet). Have been trying to find a digital photo but it was just before it was common to have one.

After it had been treated with the heavy duty stuff, the vaseline really cleared up the remaining stubborn patches. I use it all the time now (and switch to HC if it doesn't work).

[getbakainyourjimjams]

oh you need to click on see full size image

[getbakainyourjimjams]

nope that doesn't work- scroll down to the first set of pics and click on the third one on the right. We thought he had severe chickenpox- luckily my GP insisted on an emergency dermatology appointment. It came up in hours literally. Had smooth skin in the morning, by afternoon- covered all over in that!

[Witchycat]

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I might try taking a pic & putting it on to see what you think. It doesn't look as bad as the examples in the pics you've posted.

I agree it's made worse by teeething/dribbling/bad cold. It's not infected as far as I can tell (not weepy or sore)but it just doesn't seem to want to go away. Maybe we just should have tried the HC cream a little longer or reduced it more slowly like oyu suggest.

[getbakainyourjimjams]

HC should work quickly- I wouldn;t keep using it if its not working, the problem with it flaring up tends to come when you come off too quickly after the rash has gone. Try the vaseline. Sometimes stubborn rashes can be fungal, but its not really in the right are for that- often they're circular, with clear margins. Canesten or Daktarin work on them.

[Acull93]

Sorry to jump on this so many years later but what your describing i literally could have written myself. My wee man had perfect skin never an issue and as soon as be turned one this red pimple rash around his mouth started and we are 10 weeks with it now 😭 did u ever find anything which worked?