Eczema

[amgxx]

Hello, my daughter is 7 and suffering really bad eczema all over her body, its impacting on her daily life now. any advice please, also any recommendation in regards to clinics (area, Leicestershire/and surrounding areas? and is going private beneifical? NHS has a years waiting list.

My daughter is 10 and also has had severe eczema pretty much since she was born. We've been referred to dermatologists three times on the NHS and have seen two privately and, in my experience, they both give pretty much the same advice and are only able to prescribe stronger steroid creams and emollients.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's just one thing that causes the eczema, or at least that's what I've found, and it's just a matter of trial and error. After years on a waiting list we managed to get an allergy patch test which has helped a bit but I think stress/tiredness, change of season, humidity and eating too much sugary/processed food aggravates it too.

My daughter tends to overheat when I apply thick creams so we've found that lighter creams work better for her than ointments, and I don't apply them just before she goes to bed as she overheats which makes her scratch so I make sure she puts the last application on at least an hour before bedtime.

She also wears her hair in a high ponytail in bed as she said that's cooler for her and doesn't tickle her back making her scratch. Most nights she goes to bed with an ice block covered in a towel to cool her hands and feet down - they're the most itchiest parts of her body.

I give her a bath in dead sea salt once or twice a week. I'm not sure if that helps much but it is soothing.

We also don't use any other products apart from Dove as that doesn't seem to cause her any problems.

I also make sure that her bedding and, as much as possible, her clothes, are 100% cotton.

We did try giving up dairy and gluten for a couple of weeks but that didn't seem to do anything so reintroduced it again, however I did keep a food diary and, by process of elimination, found her eczema gets worse after eating citrus fruit and grapes.

I also bought her a "fidget spinner" as it helps to distract her so she didn't scratch.

When we were put on the waiting list for the NHS I kept phoning up every so often to see if there was a cancellation and managed to get one so might be worth doing that just in case your daughter can get seen sooner.

I hope your daughter's eczema gets better soon and you manage to get to see a consultant sooner rather than later.

Has she been referred to the Allergy Clinic at the local hospital? If not, I'd ask the GP for a referral as eczema can often be allergy related, I know it was in my case.

The National Eczema Society can be very helpful as well.

Soap powder was a big one for me, I'd used Ariel for 20+ years and then all of a sudden I had full body excema as in everything was bad not just the usual folds like knees and elbows.

Hydration is key, stress is a trigger, so is sugar. Going dairy free I feel my skin is healing faster.

National Eczema Society.
Get referred to a dermatologist and possibly allergy testing.
A lot of it is trial and error - every case is different.
GPs tend to prescribe aqueous cream which didn't do much for us. Some skins are better with more ointment-like creams like epaderm. Aveeno is quite good too. Whatever is working you can usually get prescribed even though it's not on their go-to list.
Don't be too scared of topical steroids. A short course can work wonders. Usually GPs prescribe 1% but 2.5% can be more effective. Fucidin H was our lifesaver at times. (Eczema skin is often heavily colonised by bacteria like staph and this fights both).
Sea salt baths. Oatmeal baths.
Wet wrapping.
A company called Eczema Clothing Cotton Comfort make fantastic clothing - especially the pj tops with mitten hands to stop scratching. They're not cheap but they're very high quality and last and last.

Hoovering the mattress floor and curtains abs washing all of her bedding & pyjamas at 60 degrees might help as well, although it depends on her allergies.

You can also freeze her soft toys to kill the dust mites.

Like pp has said a lot is trial and error unfortunately. Some great advice here. I just wanted to add...
don't bathe too frequently. The water can wash away any healing skin / crusts and prolong healing. Once/twice a week at most.

Calamine lotion can help with itching too
Have you tried any antihistamines? Not ideal long term but if she's very bad it might be worth a try
Definitely don't be frightened of steroid creams
I've always found creams rather than emollients more nourishing for my skin personally
A cool bedroom may help, could you turn the heating down or even open the window a little?
Dairy and eggs were a huge trigger for me but you need to get an allergy test really
I hope you find some relief for her soon

Oh yes, antihistamines can give a better night's sleep.

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 🙏.

@YorksDad82 I can tell you I've pretty much grown out of mine.
I had awful flare ups as a child. It settled until puberty and came back even worse- I was on prednisolone for a long time.
But by 18/19 it had cleared. Idk if it was coincidence and it's not something I can recommend to a dc - but I started taking sea salt baths and using the sun bed at around 18. Not heavy use but maybe 20 mins a week. Could well have been coincidence

Now I'm on my 30's and I only get a patch that flares up if I'm very stressed, I have to moisturise daily but I can use over the counter creams now. I don't have salt baths or use the sun bed now and haven't since my early 20's

Eczema is such a pain in the sense there is no 1 answer, very much a try one thing at a time to see if that works. I hope you find some relief for your dc soon

What have you tried so far OP?

Are you coming back @amgxx?