Eczema - at the end of my emollient-covered rope

[EssentialHummus]

DD is six months old and otherwise a happy little thing, but she's had eczema since she was two months ish and it's not improving despite my trying everything. Her body is now clear, more or less, after a course of hydrocortisone and plenty of daily Child's Farm, but her face is still very badly marked and (bewilderingly) will go from nearly clear/healthy looking to red and weepy - and back - in the course of hours.

If you have been through this, can you advise, please?

I've tried:
Diprobase
Doublebase
Oilatum + variations in the bath
Aveeno
Sudocrem
ZeroAQS
Hope's Relief
Dermol
Various non-bio washing powders
Fewer baths
Cutting out (my) dairy (BF)

...and probably more besides.

We've been to a dermatologist twice who feels we just need to do our best to manage things while she grows out of it, with Child's Farm and weekly/less hydrocortisone.

I have a vague sense of some things that I eat making it worse (like soy) but I can cut them out fully and the flare-ups carry on.

Help, please.

I’ve had it for nearly 23 years and it is fucking shit.
All I can suggest is maybe protopic ( it’s an immunosuppressant though) and pawpaw balm.

Also Ecover washing liquid and cleaning supplies, antihistamines and vacuuming every day.

Weirdly olive oil sometimes helps mine

Oh and I never grew out of it, they only stopped saying that when I turned 20 and then started saying ‘what do you want us to do it’s chronic atopic eczema’

I have eczema and so does ds.

A really key thing for me has been to moisturise right after bath/shower. Moisturising into completely dry skin makes me itch like crazy. I also use antihistamines if I start feeling itchy which helps a lot.

My son (3) takes cetirizine hydrochloride (antihistimine) and piriton before that. This has been the biggest thing that helped as it stops the itch.
-Scratch sleeves for night time or whenever you need

• oats in a sock in the bath if skin is bad or Oilatum normally
• Aveeno cream (not the lotion) for summer
• hydromol in winter or after swimming etc

-P20 for sunscreen

It may be worth allergy testing if you have access to it as my eczema is triggered by certain allergens and foods.

Good luck it's not a nice thing to suffer with and what works is so individual

Also I have read that probiotics can be helpful. I have my son taking the Optibac children's probiotic powder

Hi OP have you tried Kokoso coconut oil? It's quite effective and natural. Do a skin patch test first then use it daily on your little one for a few days or until you notice any improvement. It's organic so shouldn't have any negative side effects.

Try eliminating dustmites, so proper encasements on the mattress and remove all fuzzy friends etc.

Put a couple of drops of bleach in the bath water (literally a couple of drops) you are trying to make the bathwater chlorinated enough to kill staph on the skin

Eliminate all wool and moisturisers with lanolin

Chlorine free nappies

Mosturise when still damp from the bath

Clothes without waist bands and constrictions to rub, babygrows are your friend

Socks pulled up to the elbow over each hand at night to stop scratching while they sleep.

Dont let her on the sofa and conside getting rid of any carpets because of dust mites

Hypoallergenic soap powder for washing sheets and a double rinse

Excema is the result of an allergic reaction to something. Go to the GP and insist on being referred for scratch tests to find out what the allergen she is reacting to. That is the only way you are truely going to get on top of it.

If you have a salt cave near you try that.

Thanks all. sea because of our circumstances - we only just moved house before DD was born, and it's all hardwood floors and new sofas etc - dustmites should be less likely, no?

The fact that it only remains at this severity on her face makes me think it's scratching that's doing it; the rest of her is nearly fine.

Thank you for your other suggestions.

One thing that made a huge difference to us was not being afraid of the steroid creams - we spent ages just using tiny amounts and stopping as soon as the skin looked better. Eventually we realised that usong sensible quantities and keeping using ut until after a flare-up subsided actually ended up with us using less steroids because he had fewer flare-ups.

Hi. A poster above mentioned she was part of a trial for a water filter. If it's the trial I was involved in through a previous job, it was actually a water softener. Although the study didn't manage to prove the link, rather tellingly most of the participant families chose to keep the softener (they had to buy it) at the end of the trial. Might be worth thinking about. They're not cheap, but the study was based on anecdotal evidence that people had found softened water helped with eczema in children.

Not read all replies so may of already been suggested but I've had eczema since birth, I'm now mid twenties and still get bouts of it. Struggled for years to find anything that worked until finally got prescribed Betnovate Cream. Works an absolute dream clears up most bouts of eczema overnight and has for me the last 10+ years. They accidentally prescribed me Betnovate ointment once and it didn't work at all so the cream is definitely what I've had more success with. Hope you find something

I haven't actually used Dr Aron as mentioned above (can't afford it) but have set up a modified DIY version of his method. Officially not recommended, obviously, but very effective. Our DD has gone from having full-body staph infections needing oral antibiotics c.monthly along with high-dose steroids to just small dabs of fucidin twice daily in one or two problem areas (plus moisturiser all over). I never understand why GPs go on about not prescribing long-term antibiotic cream in small amounts (even though it works) because of resistance, but then are perfectly happy to prescribe oral antibiotics in high doses at near-monthly intervals for years on end. Luckily our GP has always wordlessly re-prescribed the fucidin! We also use a cream called atopiclair once daily (non-steroid, non-antibiotic) which is supposed to help prevent staph infections. It's expensive but GP is willing to prescribe one a fortnight. As ever with eczema, YMMV, but we've gone from eczema making all our lives a misery (and affecting our then-toddler DDs development as she was spending all her time itching) to a minor inconvenience.

Previous poster mentioned almond oil, sorry if I offend but having a dd with life threatening peanut allergy eg nut allergies I just wanted to highlight link to nut allergies www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/knowledgebase/peanut-allergy-research-into-skin-contact/

Protopic 0.03 was the answer for my DS. This was a few years ago so the situation may have changed - but at that time it was extremely expensive and GPs either wouldn't or couldn't prescribe it. We got it prescribed directly by the dermatologist.

Until he started using it, multiple patches on his face were raw and weeping all the time and I lost count of the number of times other parents pulled their children away from him and asked how long he'd had chicken pox for! He didn't have bloody chicken pox (though I could totally see why they assumed he did!). We'd had 12 separate visits to the GP about his skin and tried 16 different products, non of which worked (some prescribed, some off the shelf at the pharmacy). After a week of Protopic his skin was completely clear - for him it was a miracle cure. According to our dermatologist it isn't a steroid but acts like one, and is safer to use than a steroid.

• Disclaimer: I am a bog standard member of the public and don't work in PR for whoever makes Protopic!

Many years ago I remember a dermatologist trying to improve dd's flaring eczema by recommending the family members who cream her ect to have nose swabs to check for carrying staph aureus. Some of the family did, aswell as dd and so were treated with nose drops.

Thanks everyone.

frog I had a friend with eczema in the family also suggest Dr Aron. He seems to not be taking new patients for the moment but I've signed up to something or other to be alerted when he does.

The point about not being afraid of steroids is also interesting, DH as a baby was prescribed something very strong in the USSR and it caused liver/kidney problems, so he's very anxious about using them on her, though we have (current recommended doses much smaller).

Chloesmum that's very interesting. I have suspected that my dds eczema worsens when my DH is doing the majority of the cream applications, and better when it's me doing it. I've always thought I must be imagining it - he's just as competent and diligent as I am at applying cream! - but that might point to an explanation. He has eczema as well, not sure how that would impact anything but who knows!

It might be her face is the worst because she is rubbing it against her cot sheet at night to itch it. Another possibility is if she is sensitive to wool and / or lanolin and you wear wool sweaters, she will touch her face on your sweater more thatn any other part of her. The face is also more exposed to wind and cold etc which doesnt help.

Regarding the dust mites, its great you have hardwood floors, if you put a proper encasement on her cot mattress and there is no change, you can pretty much rule out that possibility. If she sleeps in your bed, you would have to encase your mattress and duvet as well. When I tried it on DS3, his excema was miles better in 1 week.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying overuse steroid creams, just that being too careful can mean using more in the long run!

It might be her face is the worst because she is rubbing it against her cot sheet at night to itch it. Another possibility is if she is sensitive to wool and / or lanolin and you wear wool sweaters, she will touch her face on your sweater more thatn any other part of her. The face is also more exposed to wind and cold etc which doesnt help.

That's my theory too. She's in a sling sometimes, and we make sure we're not wearing wool jumpers. She sleeps in a Sleepyhead at night, which she may rub against (I don't know, we don't have a video monitor). I tend to use the rain cover on the buggy all the time so she's not too exposed, but it isn't foolproof clearly.

That looks a bit like what DS had when tiny - we were prescribed antibiotics twice I think, as various doctors thought it might be infected. It didn't help clear it, but that's just something else to bear in mind.

After about 18 months of dealing with cracked, bleeding, thickened awful eczema all over, but particularly on his neck/chin (so we couldn't easily cover it), we finally got to see Dermatology - consultants and nurse practitioners were both horrified at the list of creams we'd tried, some recommended by GPs - e.g. the dreaded E45, Doublebase, Diprobase... apparently these were making things worse. GPs were just working through the list so I don't blame them but it was a horrible thought that we might have extended things

We had a very intensive treatment regime for a few months - painted weeping areas with a red ointment, applied various steriods and emollients, and it did clear up - very suddenly after a few weeks. It was awful, no change, thought it wasn't working... and then almost overnight it drastically reduced and is now mostly gone. One of the creams we were prescribed was something called 'Ichthammol 1% and Zinc Oxide 15% in yellow soft paraffin', a thick grey paste. It was a bit whiffy and a pain to apply (and stained) but was the best emollient we'd used, partly because it was so thick it stayed on and sort of protected the skin, which might be good for stopping it rubbing off the face so quickly.

The rest of the products were Eosin 2% (red liquid for body), Benzalkonium Chloride (face), 1% hydrocortisone, Synalar 1:4, Fucidin/Fucidin H if infected, and the Ichthammol. For washing: Hydromol bath, Hydromol ointment, Dermax shampoo. Plus stockinette and bandages. We had three A4 pages of instructions for what to use when... it was hard work but worth it. Hopefully some of that will help!

chloesmumtoo If someone is allergic to nuts then you would have to be an idiot to put any sort of nut oil on them, obviously.

Luckily I’m not allergic and sweet almond oil cured by life long eczema

Thank you clara, that’s really great detail. It’s been better today, but it’s marginal.

I had frequent eczema as a child which slowly went away as i got older. I had a major flare up as an adult for over a year whereby my legs were a weeping, itchy mess. It turned out that my mild nut allergy was coming out as a severe topical reaction to the flapjack my partner ate every day. Banned all nuts and nut potential products and the eczema went away in a week.
What I'm saying is there could be a food allergy, can you get your baby tested?