Excema and aqueous cream

[happymummy1]

I suspected that my ds had excema,he has patches on the backs of his legs,elbows and the back of his head.After going to see the hv she agreed that it was excema and to use aqueous cream,which i started to use yesterday,however when i got him dressed this morning it seemed to be worse,thepatches had grown!
I just wondered if it is supposed to get worse before it gets better or should i stop using the cream and see my gp?

I find it amazing how much different GP's and hv's deal with eczema - dd has had it for 3 months and gone through cream after cream, and finally found ones that more or less keept it under control, and my hv said the other day that she would get the GP to refer dd to a dermatologist - I didn't even think it was that bad!

your dd will be better off under a good dermo, i found my gp's useless tbh. they always want to perscribe the cheapest option. got told off once by the gp by how much we were costing in treatments

I use Aveeno for my DS and it has been fantastic so far. I picked up the advice from other mumsnetters and it has been a godsend. I found aqueous cream very thick and my DS' skin didn't seem to absorb it. Good luck.

Can't fault surgery about prescriptions - I literlaly (sp?) just ring the practice nurse and tell her what I want (all suggestions from Mumsnet) and she does me a prescription - however, they were crap when it came to knowing anything about eczema - GP told me to just keep using hc, hv didn't have a clue and wanted to change dd's milk (she actually had a row with the GP about it because he didn't think it was neccessary) - if it wasn't for Mumsnet I think dd would probably still be covered in eczema.

Can anyone advise as to what the 'step down' use of hc is?

jaxh, my DS1 had eczema at the same age. Are you prepared to consider Traditional Chinese Medicine? There was some controversy about it a few years back, with scare stories in the Evening Standard. However, before that we had used it very successfully to clear DS1's eczema. It really was brilliant, and I would definitely use it again should baby DS3 develop eczema. We went to a place called Greenmedic, which used to be near Arsenal but has now moved to (I think) somewehre in Bloomsbury.

Hi

I wouldn't bother with Aqueous cream for eczema. I tried it with my DS with no effect whatsoever. As a HV I never bother prescribing it but have had good reports from parents with Diprobase cream (which we've just been told to stop prescribing in favour of something cheaper - yeah right) and Diprobath or Oilatum. My DS hardly gets any problems these days but when he does we use Oilatum and Diprobase and it clears. I get mine from my GP as it's just so expensive bought off the shelf. Oilatum seems to be about £8 a bottle.

Mandy

I use Doublebase to wash DS with and Diprobase to moisturise afterwards. Both are available in a pump dispencer and more moisturising than aqueous cream.

Message withdrawn

Podmog, someone else mentioned this on another thread - apparently when using hc, you shouldn't just stop when the patch is clear, you gradually reduce how much you use, as if you stop completely there's more chance of it coming back?? I've probably got that wrong, which is why I need someone to tell me about it! I also agree with you on the steroid point - I think there's a lot of bad press about them, but 3 GP's have told me that hc (especially 0.5 and 1%) are such weak doses it would take years of continual use to produce the side effects we are warned about ie. skin thinning (that doesn't mean I use them continually!)