Eczema

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Hello my little boy (he's 2) is reacting badly to emollients, I can't seem to find one that works. His legs are the worst they go really fiery & he gets really upset& I normally need to wash it off :( iv tried diprobase,oilatum,epaderm& balneum. Does anyone reccomemd another to try??

Do you have any idea of which ingredient he is reacting to? I wonder if a dermatologist could help you narrow it down. It doesn't seem right that you're being left to find out by trial and error.

I used 50/50 cream for my DD when hers was bad. It is simply 50% liquid paraffin and 50% soft paraffin (i.e Vaseline) so it doesn't have many ingredients to react to. It's like Vaseline but much softer and it worked very well for us.

The best thing about it is it is one of the least painful creams to apply to eczema. It doesn't sting like many others so it's much easier to apply to children.

You can get it on prescription but it's very cheap to buy direct from your pharmacist.

my dd sometimes gets large sores through hers which looks like scabies, thats the only way i can explain how bad it looks! and the only way of calming it down sometimes is a steroid cream given by my gp,, as it's very strong it's only used as and when it's really bad,,
they might not give it to your ds as he's only two, my dd was covered in cream head to toe constantly untill she was at a age they could provide cream to her,

feel really sorry for your ds it's an awful thing,
have you taken him to see the gp?

there is a hydrocortisone cream you can get from the gp, but again he may not be old enough, hope it gets better for your dc

Have you tried Aveeno eczema therapy cream? it's the only thing that seems to work at all for my 6mo DS

Aveeno for us too. Just the most effective stuff we've met. There's a bath oil type thing you wash them with and then the cream. If that does the job, I would recommend putting cream on every time you change his nappy. Bit of a nuisance but the faster you can sort it out, the easier it gets. Is there a dermatology service on your local NHS. Ask health visitor or GP. You need all the help you can get. They may also know more than GP about what may be causing the reaction, which is important for everyone to know. And don't despair. DS now 5 has had since he was 3 months old and its definitely improving year on year and I am more relaxed about dealing with it

My 2yo has just been prescribed hydrocrotosone (sp?) Hers isnt that bad but this has worked a treat. I have also switched back to Fairy washing powder and softener which seems to have helped.

Hi thanks everyone :) I had him at my gp today so the dic has giving me aveeno cream&bath oil to try and I did a patch test on him and it seemed ok! Really pleased so fingers crossed we've found the one! Iv also ordered ecoballs for the washing iv heard they are meant to be good? Anyone have any suncream that is good? Thanks x

This one.

I'm sure you know already, but are you keeping him off cow's dairy products?

I'm not actually, the thing is he hasn't always had this bad skin as a small baby he had dry skin but noticing major it's only been the last 6mths that his skin has flared up and I feel at 2 trying to change him from cows
Milk/ dairy products would be extremely hard. He is small for his age and it would worry me changing his diet but if I had to I would. My dr said he would do patch tests on him if aveeno dosent work but hopefully it dose!
Thanks again

Four things for us helped
Washing all clothes bedding etc at 60 degrees with additional rinse. Dermatology nurse advised that washing needs to be done at this temp to kill spores, get rid of emollient residue.
Finding out our son was helped by applying soft white paraffin (base ingredient of any emollient) to any sore or brewing patches. Helped both protect and gently assist in soothing especially overnight, or help with rubbing areas such as a waistband or under the neck.
Finding out sons skin 'didnt like' germs- dermal 500 used for washing in the bath.
Lastly the fab dermatology nurse gave us same pots of about 10 to 15 different emollients to try. Her view - which is so different to many gps- was as a parent of a baby or an older patient themselves, will know within a few applications or less whether a emollient is right. A typical gp will give you a massive vat of cream you feel obliged to use whether you feel it is working or not.
Just as you've found, we had some horrid reactions to some emollients - worst was balneum burning his skin... Scary and horrid. Anyway..
So after having chance to try these samples, we still found aveeno was the best day to day maintenance cream with soft white paraffin used for problem areas.
Really hope the aveeno test works for your son.

Definitely don't change his diet without seeing a dietician.

Changing to non-bio fragrance-free washing powder made a big difference for us. We just use Surcare as a matter of course now. DD1 flares up if we stay in hotels so we take her own pillow case to protect her face now.

The eczema nurse at the children's hospital told me not to put any sort of soap or bubbles into DD's bath. We might as well put washing up liquid in apparently. DDs both use Dermol 500 instead of soap and frangrance-free Oilatum in the bath (although I think plain water has the same effect in the bath).

You can definately get hydracortisone for a 2yr old, my 6mo had it prescribed.

Nb Eco balls didn't work as they weren't as effective at breaking down the residue on clothes left by the emollient. We're on non bio too, surcare caused a flare up, we found peril non bio didn't irritate. No conditioner. Use tumble drier balls if you want soft fluffy laundry...

Hydrocortisone is a steroid cream rather than an emollient.

The idea is that you treat flare-ups with the hydrocortisone which calms down the inflammation and itching. It can also cause permanent skin damage if used too much over a long period.

The emollients are designed to keep the skin moisturised and prevent the flare-ups from happening in the first place.

The eczema nurse was that DD1 was prescribed just hydrocortisone without emollients by my GP. He gave us emollients and explained which to use when. It made a big difference to the severity of the eczema.

Yes, what Timandra saysis exactly what my GP said, we use the steroid cream for up to 7 days at a time, then use emollient (Oilatum). We also use Oliatum in the bathwater, and aqueous cream instead of soap. It cleared up within 3 days

HOw's it going? Just to say, its trial and error with eczema and what works for 1 is wrong for someone else. And that's really hard when dealing with your child's skin as it feels like your fault (well that's what we're programmed to believe). Trust your own judgment, be flexible and be prepared to fight a bit! Good luck.

Oh and we noticed an improvement swapping from full fat to semi skimmed milk.

Hi sorry been away on hol this week! Well we got aveeno cream&bath oil last Wednesday and after two day I could see an improvement and now after a week his skin is looking amazing! One very happy mummy :) thanks everyone x