Removing emollient build up

[teateaandcoffee]

Hi everyone,

My daughter is 3 and suffers from eczema, mainly on arms and legs. We are in the process of getting doctor to refer to allergy clinic (after paying for private test when they refused and finding out she has a severe egg allergy).
I’m finding Hydromol works well for her and doesn’t sting / she doesn’t mind me applying it / it seems to be the most soothing of the many we have tried. Aveeno is a no go and others don’t seem to provide enough moisture.
I’m just really looking for some tips on the best way to wash the areas where I apply the emollient. We have reduced baths to once a week and so the build up needs to be washed. I’m just worried that washing with a flannel a) aggravates the area b) doesn’t actually clear all of the build up. C) use of a soap to clear the oily build up is bad as strong detergent is a trigger for her.
Does anyone have any tips or products we can use to clean the areas between baths.

Many thanks 😊

Have you tried cleaning with aqueous cream or silcock's base (just loosen it with a little water in your hand, rub it on and wipe off with a damp cloth). These are soap substitutes as well as emolients.

@TheYearOfSmallThings no I haven’t tried anything other than plain water so far!
I will look into those, do you mean something like double base?

We use Dermol 500 as our 'soap' and use hands instead of a cloth or flannel.

@ExPatHereForAChat that dermol 500 looks good, just to check, the one I’ve found online is called dermol500 lotion. Also, would you do this daily?
I’m at a point where I’m pretty paranoid of causing flare ups, hopefully we can get into a routine that works!

I don't know if Double Base works as a soap, but aqueous cream does and certainly would be cheaper. Dermol etc will do the same job, and as a pp says, you can just apply it with hands.

Yes, it's the lotion.
We get it free on the NHS along with his Double Base Dayleve cream. Both work well for him.
My DS is almost 2 and we've been bathing him daily and it works well. We do lukewarm baths, pat dry leaving a little water, then moisturise to "trap" the moisture.
It's such a minefield figuring out what works.

My DS had extreme eczema as a toddler (it completely disappeared by the time he was about 5 with no explanation!) and we were advised by dermatologist to use Aqueous as a soap substitute in the bath every night, rub with a sponge rather than a flannel and pat dry. We would apply Child's farm sensitive lotion to any flare ups before he was dried rather than all over to avoid a build up

I have stupidly sensitive eczema and washing with an emollient every day really helps soothe it as it's a moisturiser too so you get rid of all the dry skin without drying out the skin.

Coconut oil is a Great barrier lotion for flare ups too.

Also wearing loose cotton clothes helps especially when my skin tightens during a flare up, weeps or flakes over.

Agree with pp. Up to date advice is to bathe at least daily with warm water (not hot) then straight away apply emollient to slightly damp skin.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I want to go back and request some dermol 500, do you think they would give it on request? @ExPatHereForAChat

@SherryPalmer I didn’t know that, that would be better for us as bath time was a really good part of bedtime routine for us.

@DoucheCanoe I am seriously hoping this also clears up in a few years, it’s awful to see them flared up

Yes, they definitely should as its a first line moisturiser. We've never had issues although they won't give us a repeat prescription so we need to request it every 2 weeks.

Apparently Aveeno is tougher to request as GPs should try cheaper products first. It never worked for us anyways.

By the way, we saw the best improvement when we cut out my son's allergens from the house (he has many severe food allergies) but I know that won't be the answer for all.

We used to have Dermol 500 prescribed for dd’s eczema as a soap substitute but they stopped it a couple of years ago as the practice will no longer prescribe emollients unless for very severe eczema. Same for Oilatum Bath emmolient which we were using.

@ExPatHereForAChat that is a glimmer of hope for me! Having very recently had the allergy results back we've not seen a massive improvement yet but it does explain some previous flare ups I think. I'm really hoping now we know about the food allergies and can put a diet in place that the flare ups will be less severe and hopefully we will get into a good skin care regime instead of being overwhelmed by it.

@superoz our gp is happy to prescribe us Hydromol, and steroid creams (which I try to avoid tbh). I think it's hit and miss, I've read a lot on MN about gps not prescribing Aveeno but a friend at nearby doctors has it prescribed for her son. Aveeno is a no go for us anyway, I've bought it myself (gp has never offered) but DD has always complained it stings so I'm happier with Hydromol atm, although it doesn't really help clear it at lease I can actually get it on her!!!

@ExPatHereForAChat for example, she was having a good week recently until staying with my Mum. My Mum is really careful to use same detergent as us and keep her moisturised but she came back with a flare up all the same. Since we found out she has a severe egg allergy and a vanilla allergy it makes sense as Mum had given her a boiled egg and vanilla ice cream! It's a relief for us all to know what is potentially causing it all. Now I'm just trying to nail down skin care, I am praying for it to be manageable, it has really got so much worse over the last 6 months and I'm at my wits end.

My step son has terrible eczema & we use hydromol. I'd be careful with the 500 as it made his worse. you can use hydromol as a soap substitute as well as a cream. can also dilute it with hot water & add it to bath water.

I'm a bit late but when DD was little and had a paediatric dermatologist she told me to bath her every night and within three minutes of getting her out to pat dry and apply emollients. We ended up with the entire dermal range and still use it. GPS can prescribe it still but you may need to argue. DD was wet wrapped etc too for years until she was a teenager

Something like Debrisoft Pad has recently been indicated for eczema - great for dry skin but it's really good for the hydromol build up