I could just cry at the state of dd1's legs.

[suiledonne]

She is 4 and has had eczema since she was 2 months old. She has suddenly had a massive flare up - a few patches on her upper body but her poor legs! They are red from her bottom down. It is such a step back for us after finally getting to the stage where we rarely had to do anything other than use Epaderm in and sfter her bath.

Why? Why? Why?

So much for her growing out of it.

She is starting pre-school in September and has never been in childcare so it is a big step for her. Maybe it is stress related?

She has hayfever and asthma too. Could be something in the air?

Sorry - just a rant really.

My mum (who has been waiting to grow out of her hayfever and eczema, both of which are severe, for 67 years bless her)has a theory that when pollen levels are high you produce lots of histamine which makes your skin ultrasensitive and goes off into a flare. She also theorises that if you have bare legs/arms when the pollen is high you get coated in the stuff and get a skin reaction

No idea if this is correct, but it does seem to have a correlation for her

Big sympathy for your DD though

big big symopathy for you and dd.

dd1 is battling the eczema on her legs constantly.she hates it, and covers her legs all the time. she is 10yrs old.

its been awful this year.

Get an appointment to see a a doctor specialising in eczema urgent so that you feel you are going to beat this horrible skin problem. DS had it from 4 months. He is now 12 and has the softest skin due to all the creams and oils I put on him! We took him to Great Ormond Street and said we would take any appointment. We got a cancellation by me just calling every few days and saw the great Dr Atherton who I believe has since retired.

Wet wraps worked for us. Yes, and we have the hayfever as well.. Keep going. Would recommend Hydromol bath oil in EVERY bath, no exceptions and 5-6 times a day with something like Dipobase cream. Really really focus on it and it WILL get better.

Also, if you can get hold of a book that Dr Atherton wrote a number of years ago 'Eczema in Childhood' sorry dont know the exact title. It is the bible for parents with children suffering from eczema. He even lists out the creams he would try and in what order. Lots of pictures which sounds a bit gross and isnt, brilliant book.

DS1's legs have been v bad recently (he's 3.6), it gets worse in warm (or cold ) weather. Thankfully he hasn't shown signs of hay fever or asthma yet but given that DH and I have all three between us, I wouldn't be surprised if they crop up at some point!

Thanks everyone.

We had a referral for a dermatologist last winter but cancelled it as she was almost totally clear and she was really fed up with hospitals, doctors etc because her asthma had been awful.

It was a foolish thing to do though as we will be waiting ages to get called again.

CMOT You are probably right about the pollen. We spent the last few days mainly outdoors and dd1 is always bare legged as she has an aversion to trousers, leggings etc probably due to the eczema.

rocky I'll get the Hydromol tomorrow. My friend also recommended it to me.

misdee So for your dd. So far dd1 doesn't seem to aware that her legs are 'different' but I guess school will change all that.

Any chance I can wrap her in some more cotton wool and keep her home with me forever?

Poor dd. Am having a rare flare up on my hands and elder dc is wheezy. Hf, asthma, eczema all inter-related so feel really sorry for anyone with a triple whammy, one on its own is bad enough.

Obviously different things work for different people. In the summer months trying to get the balance right between not getting too humid (= sweaty = itchy) and dry (=cracked skin) was so tricky. Good emollient a must, if really bad then only steroid creams (Eumovate and Calmurid are my magic creams) would knock it on the head but have been reading very good things about humidifiers helping eczema.

I use Doublebase gel (looks like a white cream, but called gel) on my DS. It's really helped his eczema. As others have said, apply, apply, apply, and always use something in the bath as well.
Is it worth looking at your sun lotion? We use stuff for sensitive babies and ds's skin still flares up. It's a toss-up between sun burn and eczema :(