DD, 11yrs infected eczema

[Youvegottobekidding]

So, DD hasn't ever suffered from eczema before, then about 6 weeks ago, a dry patch of skin appeared on the inside of ther elbow. It didn't look too bad, not bad enough to warrant a visit to the Drs, not at first anyway.

Fast forward 6 weeks & my husband had to take her to the Drs about 7-10 days ago as the patch of dry skin had turned ugly, looked more like eczema, along with some extra spots here & there. The GP prescribed zero base & frucifin cream.

At the time of the dry patch first appearing, we had switched our washing powder (which we have reverted back to straight away to our normal powder) & DD was given a bunch of bath goodies which she lathered on herself. Either/both may of been I trigger I suspect. She doesn't use anything now.

She was in bath last night & her back has loads of little spots, her hand is covered in rash like spots - her back looks like chicken pox - her eczema on her arm is absolutely horrific- it's huge in size & weeping. Looks like Freddie Kruger's face.

I took her back to the Drs tonight as she's getting spots up her neck & towards her face! He took a swan from her arm, put her on penicillin, prescribed her a stronger steroid cream & told us to come back in a week.

It looks like it could be infected atopic eczema. But I'm baffled with all these spots!? GP only asked if we had any pets, to which we don't.

I have to dress dd's eczema on her arm for the night & while she's at school as it weeps all the time, otherwise I leave it uncovered so it can dry out. Looks bad, I just hope it clears soon for her.

can you post a pic?

the patches, could they be impetigo?

or ringworm.or fungal.infection.

Dd had it on.her legs it spread like no one's business over both legs in.a matter of hours. I don't use cream.from.drs besides steroid if needed as they make.it worse.

but the antibiotics takes some time to kick in.

Thanks for your reply Giles.

I don't know what it could be other than atopic eczema, as that''s what the GP was hinting at.

She's got some more spots on her face & her other hand (which is on the other arm from where the eczema patch is) looks awful, a group of viscous looking spots, almost rash like.

It's almost spontaneous- from the small dry patch of skin to all of this coming out. I'm just not sure whether I should be dressing the horrible patch of eczema at night or letting it dry out, and as soon as I put the ointments on that & zero base on the spots they all start weeping again!

Hopefully once penicillin kicks in it'll start clearing up! Just looks so sore bless her.

I'm wondering if it's 2 different things.

chicken pox plus impetigo.

hard to tell without a pic and I. guess you have to trust the drs.

if ot is an allergy though there's a good chance the same stuff is in the drs cream as I found they literally all made Dds skin worse

The horrible patch sounds like when my ds had some patches of really bad eczema that got infected and gp said it was impetigo. But it didn't spread so sounds like something different your dd has.

With the eczema/impetigo on my ds it was horrible and bleeding and weaping. I did the same as you and covered it. The creams from doctor didn't help. In the end coconut oil dried it up but it looked very sore and very dry and horrible before it got better eventually drying away to nothing. It took two weeks or longer.

It does sound like something different your dd has. It sounds awful. Your poor dd. I hope the penicillin will clear it up.

I should have said, when it got better with the coconut oil I left it uncovered. But I totally understand why you are covering it at night. I did that with my ds. I put loads of emollient on and covered it and it made it a bit better but did not heal it.

Impetigo can spread like wildflower.

I'm pretty sure steroid cream will make chicken pox worse so assume gp wouldn't have advised using it if he thought your dd had CP.

Here's a pic of the 'eczema' patch & a pic of the spots on her back. The spots on her face are more red this morning. I'm taking her back to GP this morning.

My ds has eczema and these look like two different things.

Sometimes his eczema gets infected, normally on his face because dribble and food (he's one) and it looks like that. Antibiotic cream and steroid cream clears it up. His eczema always gets 100x worse when he's ill though. Those back spots could be pox. If they are, might explain why the eczema got so bad.

That kind of looks like impetigo on the arm. the rash on arm is eczema like amd the back, well that looks like something else all together

hope you have some better luck at the drs.

The arm looks like impetigo. It's a bugger to get rid of. Sorry. She probably shouldn't be in school either until she'd had antibiotics for at least 24 hours as it's incredibly infectious.

Ok, so we've been back to GP (different one) this morning, noted that she only started taking penicillin Mon evening so not expecting to see improvement just yet, advised to stick with same penicillin/antibiotic and complete the course.

The spots aren't chicken pox, they are likely the result of the eczema - as she has probably scratched it when it first appeared, it caused a skin infection, it's not contagious so she's fine to be at school (surprised, she actually wanted to go!) GP prescribed aveeno to use on spots instead of zerobase - used aveeno before for sons eczema. GP also said not to use anything on weeping eczema until it's fully dried up, DD breaks up from school tomorrow so it'll be last day of wearing a dressing on it, after that she'll be home, when it can be left to air dry.

Bless her she's coping so well with it, if I had it I'd be whinging a whole lot & she even has to do a music show at the school this afternoon infront of a whole load of parents!

Forgot to say, thank you for all your replies 👍

It looks really painful. I hope it clears up soon.

Update: dd's spots & eczema didn't improve, so took her to Drs yet again this afternoon. Dr (a different one again) said she hadn't seen anything like it, called in another dr to have a look & they both agreed the spots were entirely different & DD needed to be seen by a dermatologist ASAP at the children's hospital.

So we're went straight away. The dermatologist dr there said it was eczema herpeticum - basically dd has eczema and a cold sore virus on her body, hands, & face. It's quite serious and without the right meds, according to a few articles I've read, can be fatal. DD has been really brave throughout it all. She has 2 penicillans, one anti viral syrup, 2 steroid creams, anti-bac shower wash to take/use each day & she doesn't complain.

Good grief that's an awful shock for you.

thank god you took her back.

I. hope this round of treatment helps this time amd your poor dd feels better soon

The cold sore virus can be extremely nasty. Thank goodness the docs this time around got you to go to the hospital. Hope you are all ok.

Thanks for your replies.

Just goes to show to trust your instinct when you really feel something isn't quite right, I nearly cancelled that last Drs appt yesterday, as hubby was saying 'oh she doesn't need to be seen again' etc etc & DD was saying 'but I feel ok'. So glad I didn't cancel!

Gosh, i was about to reply when I saw those pics and was going to say I think you should take her hospital and have now seen you did.
Glad you did though because you rarely suddenly get one patch of eczema like that age 11 having never had it before. It looks so sore, bless her. Hope the meds mean she is better quickly. .