Teen with bad eczema

[SpottyHamster]

Posted in allergies but no luck, so trying here!
DS1 is 14 & just hit puberty. He has had eczema since a baby to varying degrees, but the last few months it has gone ballistic, v dry skin on face & neck incliding around the eyes. Most teens go greasy! Also bad on hands anms & legs. OK, well everywhere really. His face has always been clear in the past so it's a great shame for him as it does affect his appearence. He has dematology appt coming up, but I wondered if nyone else on here has a DC whose excema has persisted into teenagerhood, and indeed got worse at tht time. Could it be affected by hormones? The poor lad has to undergo a complex regime of creams & sometimes bandages every day, he's pretty good about it but understandably not as thorough as he could be. After all he recently admitted that he 'doesn't always bother' to clean his teeth. He also has a severe allergic eye contition which has improved recently. Anyone with similar experiences?

[Emprexia]

my only question.. are they sure it is eczema and not psoriasis?

[SpottyHamster]

Yes pretty sure Kaishay, has seen several GPs and been to allergy clinic. Will post here if dermatologist gives a different diagnosis!

[msmanx]

Hi, I had terrible eczema which got worse as I got older. The consultant told me to put soft white paraffin all over my face before I went to sleep. Ten years later I am still doing this and I have not had eczema since shortly after starting this. It felt like a miracle! If I miss a night, then my face will start to get sore overnight. I still feel like a greasy chip when I put it on, but my skin is in really good condition.
(The consultant told me to apply it every morning too, but I didnt want a shiny face in public, so I never did!)

[PaulaYatesbiggestfan]

poor ds!!!
he sounds like me s a teen
dp does not believe me but i used to get styes! I had terrible eczema - mostly stress relatd - i was put on sleeping tablets and used to have to we wrap in caol tar and bandages whilst at university
now you would not know i had ever had it. what cured me was very high dose evening primrose tablets i used to take 6 capsules 3 times a daY -n it was called epogam dont know if it is still made
feel free to ask anything else - teen years are so difficult with eczema

[Pimmpom]

I too was hoping for greasier skin in the teenage years. DS (11) has had eczema since birth but his face is normally clear. Thought it may improve once he started to get greasy skin

Let us know if you find anything that works.

[missingtheaction]

my 17 yr old ds has had intermittent eczema throughout his life but got worse when a teen. Waiting to see dermatologist now. Hydracortizone does clear it up gradually, but he is paranoid about putting it around his eyes (doc told him to be careful) so can be very dry and scaley there. Will try msmanx' soft white paraffin ointment on him.

Keeping his hair shorter and very clean definitely helps and the GP suspects he may have seborrhoeic eczema but as he doesn't have dandruff it's all a bit up in the air at the moment. Might be worth trying an anti-dandrff shampoo though.

[SpottyHamster]

Thanks all it helps a lot to read the advice of others with a similar prob.
Missingthe action , doc is right you should be careful with hydro around the eyes as it can cause damage to the eye if any gets in. Unfortunatley DS loves his long hair, tho I feel it nay help if it were shorter. We have had betnovate scalp treatment for the dandruff, which cleared it up.
Might try the parafin if he will do it, its really hard to get teens to do the treatments properly!
Paulayatesbiggestfan, did your skin never get greasy at all in adolescence? I was hoping DSs would but its got drier. He tried evening primrose caps as a 5 yo, spread on toast!! It was yukky & no improvement sadly.

[paulayatesbiggestfan]

my skin did not really get greasy no...i always used hydrocortisone on face when a bad outbreak and tbh hated that parafin and aqueous stuff they used to sting

i liked vaseline intensive care of all things for use when skin not too bad

[msmanx]

I found the aqueous cream stung and didnt help me, but the soft white paraffin has never hurt when I have put it on. Maybe you could persuade your son to put it on just before he goes to sleep for , I dont know, maybe a two or three week trial? It would take a little while of using it before the skin begins to heal itself. It worked so well for me, I really hope that it can help your son too. I know how awful it is as a teenager to have this.
Good luck. x x x

[geminikate]

Hi there
I have cronic seveer eczema and had it since the day I was born.
now I have not just got to apply the creams and bandages but also steriods by mouth just to keep it under some kind of control.

but my doctor did sudjest BODYMIST as it comes in a spray can that resembles deoderant & when you are out and about all you need to do is just give yourself a slight spray a couple of times during the day and it gets absorb into the skin pretty quickly without giving you that shinny appearence or does not stain or make your clothes yucky. & you are not drawing so much attension when you do apply it.

the only thing you do have to remeber is that you still have to but on the white parrifin .... as the Bodymist just tops up the moisture that the oils put in there in the 1st place.

as for the hormones yes could be a factor I know that my eczema reacts to my hormones as well as direct sunlight, dust and animal hair.. maybe when he goes to his appointment you could ask for him to be tested, its not a very nice precedure as they have to test patch him but at least you would know..

also it might be wise to ask about AVB light therepy it didnt do much for me but it did wonders on my daughter.

[SpottyHamster]

Sorry to hear about your v bad excema Geminikate. Saw the dermatologist today, who thort the main prob was v dry skin. He is giving him a new moisturiser (doublebase or something) and told him to apply it more often. Hard when yr at school tho. He also mentioned patch testing and light therapy. I was hoping he might get prescribed a free hol to somewhere sunny! Havn't seen the sun here for ages, really dark all day 2 days in a row.

[kiskidee]

i don't have eczema myself but my dd's eczema has been linked to food allergies. has your son been tested for these? Apparently milk and eggs are common food allergens, which it turns out my dd is allergic to both. I have this daft idea that if you were to slather someone's say hand in Aveeno and let them sleep nightly with a fairly impermeable glove on that hand for a week, the eczema would improve. Is this something daft enough for your son to try.

[geminikate]

Hi SpootyHamster.

LOL@ holiday(lightherepy), I could have gone all around the world by now..LOL.

I hope that the new medication helps, I remeber when I was in school I hated having to put the creams / oils on. even if it ment technicaly it made me more comfortable.

always made me very self concsiouse.
so my heart does go out to your Ds & hope his skin becomes better over time.

[JustPossum]

I was blathering about these products on another thread, with regard to my baby son. I think it would be highly effective for any age. www.elenasnaturecollection.co.uk is a series of creams to treat eczema without resorting to steroids. I suspect it would be very effective on teenage skin as the first step of the evening routine is to massage in liquid 'soap' to the affected areas, thereby killing bacteria (helpful if teenage skin is hormonally spotty as well as eczema ridden). Both the day and night creams are non oily and soak right in so you don't beam like a Belisha beacon and hence you don't look as if you have any cream on - also important to a teen I'm guessing.
You can get the range via your GP's prescription. Worth investigating? They are superlative creams - my son had one of the worst cases of eczema the dermatologist had ever seen and now he has completely normal skin, bar the odd teething episode.

[dubhsge]

have you ever tried nettle soap? I know it sounds ironic, but it worked for me!
here's an article on nettles thats quite interesting and has some links to nettle soap and shampoo
www.squidoo.com/nettles-much-more-than-a-sting-in-the-tail-
I used some nettle soap from etsy and it worked a treat! i had flare ups all round my ears and my hairline but these have calmed right down after using the soap... couldn't believe it! truly ironic how nature works!

[Wolfiefan]

Lots of this in the family. My mum uses double base, I use diprobase and DC use dermol. I found double base too much like a gel. Dermol is emollient but also anti itch. Is he just using hydrocortisone or anything stronger eg eumovate?

[AppleAndBlackberry]

My DD is only 2 but hers was pretty bad 6 months ago. We got a stronger steroid than hydrocortisone and we got Epaderm as an emollient. If you don't feel like it's under control keep going back to the doctor, don't just put up with it.

I would also just consider how is his diet and sleep? An omega 3 fish oil supplement helped my DD too.

[hellonaruto56]

I have had eczema all my life and i am 14 y old it was only on my arms and legs but now it has gone every where on my body and my mother has looked at different web said for on my back is from using shampoo and it drips down my back so i should was my on a sink and
1 do not scratch
2 to wash clothes use laundry detergent from a health store
3 avoid alcohol
4 avoid sugar
5 take short showers
these can help and to me that makes me itchy is stress and hard material i really like silk or cotton don't use fur.
and find something that will distract you from the itchiness like for me is ice-skating or being crazy at school with my friends www.mumsnet.com/te/1.gif

[sugarice]

Hi SpottyHamster, sorry to read about your ds's skin. Have you tried fish oil capsules. I am a firm believer in them, I take them in large doses and also give my Son 4000mg a day and his skin has cleared up extremely well, the fish oil helps with the inflammation associated with skin conditions apparently. They need to be taken for a few months before the benefit is seen but well worth it from our experience.

[eatyourveg]

ds3 had bad eczema as a small child but it cleared when I put him on goats milk. He can take cows milk just not loads of it.

Now 14 it has flared up again but I have put it down to having cereal every morning (just discovered choc chip weetabix) so I've just bought him goats milk and hopefully it will go down like it did before.

We use diprobase here (he has taken fish oil every day for about 10yrs+ - don't think that has made any difference to his skin though)

Unfortunately what works for one doesn't always work for another. Its a matter of trying as many different things as you can- one at a time and see which has the most effect.

Hope things improve

[sugarice]

Have you heard of Heal Gel? It's available at Victoria Health and has received very good reviews and it may help with the eczema on your Son's face.

[Brightspark1]

Poor sod, being a teen is bad enough but eczema too. My eczema has flared up for the first time since I was a kid, and the only thing that helps is not using soap and cleansers but using oats. Put normal porridge oats in a pop sock or pair of tights and put them in the bath. It's the only thing that stops the itching.