Oilatum making eczema more red

[Blossom789]

DS was prescribed oilatum bath and the cream, only used the cream once but it's made his dry skin that wasn't red red.

Health visitor said this is normal and give it a couple more days- just wanted some opinions as heard not great things about oilatum, is she right?

I got Cetreben and Oilatum for the bath for dd about a month ago. I feel like her skin was getting worse and worse. Like we needed to use more every time.

I was told to persevere and last weeks it was actually infected on her legs. She is now on antibiotics.

Doctor said to use the cream after a bath.

Before they got infected my SIL advised me that the best thing she used for her son was a aloe vera and shea butter. So the last few days Ive been using that only. It's almost gone.

I feel like it's trial and error and every baby is different. The whole thing is a work in progress for me! I just find the stuff the doctors stuff really quite harsh?

I reckon you can generally tell quickly if it is making things worse. Harder to know when it just isn't making (much of) a difference though. I wouldn't go on with something that seemed to make things worse. Epaderm made DD get eczema all over - after that experience I started testing new creams on just place before rubbing them all over everywhere.

Interested you were prescribed the bath stuff tho - it's now banned in our health authority as most of it just goes down the plug (cost/benefit too weak).

Get some dream cream from lush
The only thing that gets my skin under control
Have a google for reviews when used on eczema

If it's making it worse then stop using it. She's wrong. Back to GP.

I just wondered if it would look more red before it calms down? HV said it's like making a red t shirt wet it gets darker..?!!

Have left a message for gp.

I suspect your health visitor may be on glue. Plus she clearly has no idea how sore inflamed excema is. My skin loves oilatum (applied with a damp flannel after a shower on to wet skin), but the cream really stings for some reason.

Ha ha! Great response!!

My son is prescribed bath oil for his eczema. Skin looks awfully red everytime he gets in the bath with it. I always think how much worse it looks once he's bathed in it. It doesn't make it any more irritating or painful for him tho and by the next morning it's no longer red

Is it oilatum cream he's been prescribed? I'd buy a tube of aveeno moisturising cream and give that a try. If it seems to make an improvement, lobby your gp for it on prescription. Different emollients suit different skin but aveeno seems to suit a lot more people than oilatum.

I bought Aveeno yesterday. Am seeing if it will help keep the skin hydrated. Rather than calm a flare up.

It's a minefield this eczema lark! I was utterly obsessed with the whole thing last week. Ive calmed down now i seem to have got it under control.

The antibiotics should make a big difference. I find that when a bit of my eczema is infected it makes all my skin worse. If infection is a reoccurring problem you could ask gp for an antibacterial wash (dermol?) or even if he'd suggest bleach baths (this was suggested by my consultant dermatologist and has made a massive difference to my skin as counterintuitive as it sounds for dry skin).

Yes, prescribed oilatum. I'll try the aveeno I think. What would you use in the bath? Nothing or something like olive oil?

I find using aveno on a morning and coconut oil before bed clears DDs excema.

We can use oilatum junior occasionally but only when DH baths DD as i cant use parafin on my skin.

I'd have nothing in the bath at all.

All of the petroleum based products made my son's eczema worse. We used Aveeno and Dream Cream from lush. We also used a blender to grind porridge oats to a find powder and used a handful in his bath, sounds weird but it helped loads.

Aveeno all the way. Oilatum makes my skin worse as do most of the other prescribed creams to be honest. Aveeno has been miraculous for me. There's a bath oil, but I use just the cream after a shower and my skin, even non eczema skin (although still very very dry), is so much better for it. If it itches, a quick layer of Aveeno stops it almost immediately.

If it makes it red I would stop.
Have you tried using no oats in the bath? Put some (maybe 3/4 cup?) in an old sick or tights that you don't need anymore and run the bath water through the oats. (You can leave in the bath as well).

Oilatum/ e45 products don't work for my son. He has had success W3 Aveeno Cream (not the lotion) and Hydromol cream along with an antihistamine to control the itching. As pp said it's very much trial and error for each person so you will probably end up trying everything under the sun first.

Hope you have success!

*sock

Our gp said oilatum was rubbish and prescribed cetreben which made it worse. Went back and got aveeno and within 3 days it hard started to clear up so id push for that!

We've had the most success with Diprobase as a lotion. You can get it in a massive plastic bottle and definitely on prescription.

And in the bath we find Infacare is mild enough. You also don't have to rinse it, so it's handy on the occasions when you can only do sponge washes.

Hydromol is messy but brilliant.

We went back to gp who prescribed cetraban but I'm not sure about it so started with aveeno last night. Put dome steroid cream in the worst bits and it's loads better today already.

I spoke with the excema charity who suggested using coconut oil in the bath but not olive oil (can't remember the reason something to do with the way skin is shed I think).

Anyone used coconut oil?? DS eczema is only mild so trying to keep things as natural as we can.

With eczema, natural isn't always better, it's about avoiding things which trigger it (and these can be natural or artificial). The eczema creams tend to have long lists of "chemical" sounding names but they avoid things which are common contact allergy triggers.

Try porridge oats in the bath - run water through them in a seive or put them in an old sock and throw it in. They've really changed things for us, DD hardly needs cream any more but if she does it's Aveeno that always helps. But everyone's skin is different so you never know and you just have to try all the options. Oats in the bath ate defintely worth a try though.

*are