Eczema

[JackieWeaverHasAuthoritee]

Does this just look like eczema? It goes, comes back, goes again....comes back again. Oilatum, Eucerin etc doesn’t seem to get rid of it. My daughter is 5 and it’s causing her a lot of discomfort the last couple of days. Thanks.

Yep I get it when the weather gets really cold. My brother had quite severe eczema when he was tiny and always used to have patches like this on the backs of his knees and the insides of his elbows.

Back then it used to be diprobase, now I think cetraben is prescribed most often for eczema. (DS has cetraben on prescription but his eczema isn't too bad). Keep it moisturised to stop it from cracking and it'll just go away on its own when the weather warms up

Thanks teddy, will keep moisturising her legs then. Just looks so raw and uncomfortable!

There are risks with using steroid creams long term, but a short blast of hydrocortisone would help clear the initial patch and then manage it with dipribase ongoing

If it's recurring - time for a GP appt?

Thanks @Chocolateteabag, yes it is reoccurring. It goes briefly for a few days, perhaps a week and then comes back. I can’t work out what triggers it either. I have an telephone appointment for her on Friday, I have emailed photos to the gp so they can see beforehand. I will buy some diprobase.

2 of my children have eczema and it looks exactly like this. They have been prescribed hydrocortisone which I use for flare ups and a daily moisturiser which we are told to use 3 times a day.

I have switched to non bio and sensitive fabric softener, and use the sensitive cycle on my machine (extra rinse to get the detergent out). I also use a sensitive body wash for them in the bath and don't add any other products. It may be coincidental but we haven't had a flare up in ages.

My son has awful eczema. We find the bath product that we use makes a big difference, emulsiderm is the absolute best one for him, by a country mile! I would say that it is trial and error to find the one that works for you, the ones you mentioned just don't help him at all.
We use steroid creams, the dermatologist told us not the just stop using them, so we do it daily, then every other, then twice a week.
Washing powder is a big one. We used Persil once and his skin was roar. So for him we use Ecover and no fabric softener. Again, everyone is different and it is finding the one for you.
We also use diprobase like mentioned my others.
Don't change everything at once, you won't know what it working at what makes no difference! I over whelmed myself trying all different things but had no clue! Everyone is so different and reacts to their own medicines / triggers and so sadly there isn't a one size fits all answer.
Hopefully you find something that works really well for her!
Sorry that is a ramble!

I found that DS's eczema really improved when the doctor prescribed ointments instead of cream, both a steroid and moisturiser. They're much oilier so sit on the skin for longer, with cream it was just getting worse and worse but after 2-3 days of the ointments you could really see a difference.

Name change didn’t work!

@Pinkywoo

I found that DS's eczema really improved when the doctor prescribed ointments instead of cream, both a steroid and moisturiser. They're much oilier so sit on the skin for longer, with cream it was just getting worse and worse but after 2-3 days of the ointments you could really see a difference.

Same here. So, hydromol as the emollient and hydrocortisone ointment instead of cream. An allergy to preservatives in creams is fairly common and ointments don’t need them.

Hi, it does look raw and sore, bless her. My son has awful eczema and has had flare ups on and off since birth. Recently seen a consultant privately and he suggested 50/50 ointment which you can buy in big tubs otc. It’s like gloopy vaseline but no nasties. It’s very moisturising emollient and really helped my son aside from his steroid creams and other things. Also advised to used epaderm only to wash with apart from natural things like oats in a sock in the bath and we give him a full body massage with cold pressed organic coconut oil before bath/shower. Nothing else to wash with. All these things aside from non bio washing poster and no softener really help.

Hi, my 3 year old has had very bad eczema since he was a few months old. We lather him up with thick Zeroderm twice a day, use a steroid on flare ups and pro topic ointment. It’s really bad, we have an open referral for 6 months to see a dermatologist. It’s especially bad when he has a bit of a cold and his immune system is dealing with a virus. Has anyone had a child like this who eventually grew out of it? Or saw an improvement at all? Thanks 🙏.

Hi , my son’s eczema was bad on and off since he was 4weeks old. He had some
readlly bad flare ups when he was younger but we found that cutting out dairy when he had a big one in preschool helped.( If you choose to go down this route, please talk to your gp first as they can advise you better)

We have found it difficult over the years but as he has grown older,both he and we have become better at managing his skin and he does seem to be better for longer periods but we still don’t know what his triggers are.

It’s a difficult long term condition which very much has to be continually managed but we have certainly found it getting easier over the years.

If you have open referral to a dermatologist, make full use of this and ask them whatever you are not sure about as at that age, you need to effectively manage their creaming, steroids, bathing etc

Good luck

@YorksDad82

Hi, my 3 year old has had very bad eczema since he was a few months old. We lather him up with thick Zeroderm twice a day, use a steroid on flare ups and pro topic ointment. It’s really bad, we have an open referral for 6 months to see a dermatologist. It’s especially bad when he has a bit of a cold and his immune system is dealing with a virus. Has anyone had a child like this who eventually grew out of it? Or saw an improvement at all? Thanks 🙏.

My response to your post above

It can be very tricky to keep on top of. What we found is the washing machine builds up detergents too, so even though you might swap to another type you’ll still be getting little blasts of the old stuff. I’d recommend giving your machine a deep clean! We also use method washing liquid now and no softener. Drying is done inside as we found tree pollen would irritate too. No fleecey materials (polyester!), try for cotton as much as possible. You may need a bit of hydrocortisone to break this cycle but then keep on with moisturisers. E45 is awful despite its advertising! Nails as short as they can be and filed to reduce damage from scratching.

Scratchsleeves are also something we find very useful and my son has slept with these every night on his hands ever since a small baby(6 now) , we have also used their bottoms but the sleeves for hands / arms are the best. You can buy direct from their website or through Amazon. Other things that help.

• wash with non bio and no softener

-dry inside or in tumble dryer -wash with dermol 500 or epaderm( no other soap) -use the same to wash hair or when scalp was itchy, found that Nizoral helps too

• cut out all dairy from his diet
• only cotton Pajamas and underclothes
• liberally moisturise within the first few minutes after washing/ bathing
• always have a small spare pot of cream in backpack/ school setting and let staff know about condition
• sent a pot of Dermol 500 to school for hand washing aswell as small hand towel for drying as normal soap ,hand dryer, antibacterial gel aggravate eczema
• told son to ensure he creams hands after every hand wash as he had very stubborn hand eczema( this routine has really helped to alleviate and reduce flare ups )

Hope this helps

Also ensure we use a spoon to take out cream from
Pot and then apply to skin so that no germs: bacteria go into the cream.

This is very important unless you are using cream from a tube/ pump container

Thanks for all the advice. We haven’t tried cutting out dairy so we will give that a go.

No problem, as I said, do speak to your gp if you choose to go down that route, we did and he advised us not to initially, but when we explained that our son’s flare ups had reduced since cutting it out, he told us that doctors don’t usually recommend cutting out whole food groups for growing kids, so we have given him the off bit of dairy here and there in very small amounts/ cooked forms .

Also, advised us to give him vitamin D and calcium supplements