Eczema help for DN please - worried

[QueenOfCats]

I hope someone is able to offer some words or wisdom here as I'm quite worried about my little nephew

He is 9 months old and has been diagnosed with eczema. It's pretty severe (gp's words) at the moment.

His face is covered with infected eczema, he has been prescribed with Flucloxacillin to take 4x daily. It's made him projectile vomit. If dsil takes him back, is there another antibiotic that could be prescribed?

Dsil is using steroid cream and emollients as directed by the Gp and also an antibiotic cream. Is there any particular type of cream that may be better than aqueous cream?

None of us have any experience of eczema and the poor little mite is covered.

Piriton doesn't seem to be helping the itching either.

Would it be worth seeing a dermatologist privately? The Gp has referred but has said that there will be a long wait. If so, can anyone recommend a dermatologist in London - we are in Ealing.

Thanks for reading

I don;t know about the antibiotics but there are much better moisturisers than aqueous cream out there.

In fact aqueous cream shouldn't be used as a moisturiser, only in the bath as a soap substitute - see here.

What emollients has the GP prescribed? In general, ointments (thick gloopy, like vaseline) are more moisturising than creams so it's worth asking for that if they don't have it already. Hydromol or Epaderm are commonly used ones.

Ask the GP about wet wrapping - where you moisturise thoroughly then put a sort of tubigrip on top. It's useful is limbs are bad, not much help for the face though.

Have a look here for further help.

So sorry he's going through this, it's miserable.

My daughter had (still has) bad eczema when she was tiny too. She was prescribed Oilatum and a Vaseline type moisturiser (cant remember the name now), which she was bathed in then patted dry and applied again.

She saw a consultant who prescribed steroid cream for her face and other bad places, but I literally had to throw it away after a week, even if the eczema was still there.

He needs to see a dermatologist but sorry I can't recommend any in London, Bath yes!

Bit of advice, he needs cotton mittens on especially at night. They will probably have to be made (although if they still fit him scratch mittens would be perfect), I made my daughters from an old cotton sheet and threaded cotton around the top to tie them on. An adult once told me that it doesn't stop itching until you make it bleed, my daughter confirms this, she can even scratch beyond the bleeding. That helped me as a mum as I also had no experience at the time.

I really do sympathise and wish him good luck.

Can't help with the Dermatologist in London I am afraid but would really stress the importance of seeing a Dermatologist as in my experience GP's can often prescribe inappropriate treatments for eczema even making the problem worse. You could try to push the referral forward, I did this successfully. Also would really recommend epaderm ointment (rather than cream) but again a Dermatologist would recommend the most appropriate treatment.

Good luck, eczema is so horrible for little ones.

Prof Harper at the Portland hospital. Totally recommend him.

Re the antibiotic, my DS was prescribed one that made him vomit badly, called up GP and had a new prescription for one that didn't within a couple of hours.

I get eczema and second the wet wrapping suggestion. Its particularly good for joints like elbows and knees which are in constant use in the day. I find if i get too hot its worse and if I over wrap myself I overheat so i tend to just do one foot not both and cut the toes off old cotton socks. I use the same old baggy socks for my elbows etc.

Oilatum is good for in baths. Not over bathing and patting dry/ air drying for me is better when the skin is inflamed as rubbing with a towel, especially if rough, can cause bleeding.

Cotton gloves and short nails are a must. I scratch till i bleed, and it does relieve, without even realising it in that state between sleep and awake.

I've never got on well with E45 / aqueous creams but i do moisturise a lot, 4/5 times a day at present as I'm a bit dry. Currently i'm using the lidl beeswax hand cream. Its thick and actually moisturises. I find cheap face creams better than body lotions as the thicker creams seam to moisturise more.

Finding the right combination of creams is a bit hit and miss and the dermatoligist referral will really help with this. I have some allergies to certain ingredients and some creams make things worse. So I patch test new creams on just one small area.

My eczema has come and gone throughout my life. Its certainly not in the really bad category.

Good luck.

Just a quick one but couldn't read and run..

Sounds very similar to my dd's excema. I must have tried 10 creams either prescribed or from the doctor and they all made it worse. They all have paraffin in them unfortunately which my dd reacts to, I discovered.

Anyway amazingly the body shop's hemp body butter has got it under control - can really recommend it. (Only the hemp body butter, not the hemp hand cream). It has honestly been a miracle cream for us although initially I applied it every three hours. Now it's just twice a day.

Also I worked out dd was allergic to all soap powders (even non bio ecover) and fabric conditioner. I have now switched the whole family to some coconut based stuff from our health shop. Her excema is nearly gone :) GP was useless - said it was unlikely to be an allergy and just gave us antiobiotics and steroid cream!

I have also switched to goats formula and cheese.

I hope this helps you. My dd looked like a little lizard and I was so upset for her, especially when it was infected. I wish GPS had more training on excema.

We are still learning, but Scratchsleeves are fantastic.

Oh thank you so much for all of your replies and advice, it's really appreciated.

Will pass on to dsil to read through.

Dn has quite a large patch of weeping eczema on his forearm, this doesn't seem to be bothering him too much, but his face is bless him - will definitely mention the mitts for him.

The eczema on his body is spotty but seems to be under control thankfully.

Is steroid cream suitable for use on the face? I didn't think it was.

He is washed with aqueous cream but has doublebase all over at least twice a day - this is what the dr recommended but I guess you can't moisturise too much.

Oh, thanks to whoever linked the eczema society - they are giving away samples of cetaphil worth £35 if anyone is interested.

Will look into the recommendation for a dermatologist that someone have too, thank you.

It's awful to see him in the state he's in at the moment.

Oh the Gp also said to take him off his actimel formula, but we are doubtful that's the culprit as he has been on it since day one - could he suddenly have developed a sensitivity to it?

Dsil has given him cheese lately - could that be linked?

2x a day is not enough emollient. Smother frequently. Perhaps switch emollient. (Different ones work for different kids!) Have you been advised to wet wrap?

Definitely avoid aqueous cream - it was never designed for excema and often makes things worse.

Certainly in my dd's case, her allergies can flare up out of the blue I.e, she was absolutely fine with her triggers for months and then suddenly reacted strongly to them. I am definitely not anti-vaccination but dd's excema always flares up after each booster....

So yes IMHO cheese could be the culprit or it could be something else he has had a while. The face bit is interesting - could it be something his face is coming into contact with? Eg lanolin in a woolen cardi? Or on his cot bed? Or even his mums perfume when he cuddles in? (All these affect my dd but it took me weeks to figure out each time and even then only when her system was otherwise stressed)

I promise I am not employed by the body shop :) but their body butter was the only thing that cleared her face up. I also use weleda baby calendula weather protection cream (you can get it off amazon) as a preventative barrier on windy cold days. Napiers do a fantastic cream too - also off amazon.

What a lovely auntie your DN has to care so much : )

Hi my ds1 had similar I think, it was awful. Definitely call the dr and switch anti biotics. And I second avoiding emollient cream. All that worked for my son was a goats milk cream trialled in burn units. Two weeks and it cleared was like magic. I have half a pot left if you'd like I'd be happy to send it to you?
You sound like a wonderful auntie

We paid for a private appointment (our GP refused to treat our DS's eczema). It really was the best decision we made although i hated that we had to do it. DS's skin is beautiful now. Prof Harper wrote the books on childhood eczema so I don't think you could see someone better, in my opinion anyway. He sorted DS out so I'm grateful.

Also worth exploring allergies with a specialist, or else you'll only be treating the symptoms with a dermatologist.

Severe eczema can be a sign of allergies and intolerances. Milk especially can make it worse. Forget the creams from the drs they don't work they make it worse.

Www.mypure.co.uk

This website had hundreds of gentle natural hypoallergenic products free of animal products and the usual allergens such as parabens and sulphates. Worth a try but you will need the steroid cream and antibiotics to clear the skin up.

As a severe eczema suferer - be careful - lots of prescribed treatments can make it worse. If the eczema feels 'hot' it means the cream is causing more of a reaction. To help calm the itching dab camomile lotion on - cheap and it works!

Avoid dairy. Also get tested for allergy's.

Good luck!

I found the prescribed stuff did work in the end, once we had got the allergies diagnosed.

I would be careful with 'natural'products if they contain potenial allergens. e.g camomile is a flower,so its not good if you have severe tree pollen allergy. which btw is now in full force.

antihistaine works best taken over a period of time to have greater impact on histamie levels. so keep on taking it during this time of infection and flare up.

get a refferal for an pead allergy clinic if you can or dermatologist.

good luck.

Wow - you lot are great! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply

Mama - would love to try the cream, so kind if you to offer will pm you and of course pay postage.

I have found a private allergy specialist (good point someone made above about dermatologists treating the symptoms but not adressing the cause) and am contacting the dermatologists mentioned above. Hopefully we can get some appointments sorted fairly soon.

Thank you all once again, hugely appreciated

We have had to bring dn to hospital

A patch on his arm has broken open and is weeping, its completely raw and you can see it pulsating.

Hope they can help

I'm so sorry queen - I hope he is ok? Is it infected?

At least you can hopefully now get the referral you need?

Btw my friends baby was admitted to hospital with the same thing - was allergic to aqueous cream..... Just a thought.

Oh, no, poor sore thing!

I would HIGHLY recommend seeing a consultant dermatologist asap. GP's are not experienced enough to deal with severe eczema. I can recommend Professor Hawk in Windsor. He cleared my SEVERE eczema after endless GP's tried and failed. He is private but v nice and will reduce his fees if you are struggling to pay.

Ds has eczema - most steroids didn't work for him, until we were put on mometasone furorate - it's stronger than the normal one they give out. We tried a wide range of emollients - no right Answer, just depends on the kid I think - we tried aveeno, epaderm (the Vaseline type one - now we just use that in the bath) double base, and h ave currently settled on diprobase - took us about 18 months to get the eczema under control - for u s, it was finding the steroid that worked, to get it settled enough that we could then find an emollient that worked. The trigger for ds was my move to a 'normal' softener - but once the eczema had flared, even though we swapped back, it stayed flared.

You can get tubifast garments prescribed. They are better than the others as don't unravel and get tangled around little fingers etc. put them on top of the emollient after a bath.

Oh gosh ow ow ow :( I hope they can sort it out for him