Finally got an appointment with Dr.Atherton !!

[MrsDoubtfire2018]

So excited that we have finally managed to get an appointment for my poor DS (5yrs)who has had atopic dermatitis since birth. He was begrudgingly referred to paedderm at hospital last year but we have only seen her once and she barely checked him over. Very blasé about it all, and pretty much spoke down to us saying parents were always worried about steroids , etc and that it’s incurable but we have to manage it. 🙁
Asked about wet wrapping and she sort of sniggered with the eczema nurse and similar when we asked about allergy testing.🤨

She just whacked a few more steroids on prescription and wrote a letter to gp saying what happened and sent us on our way. In the letter it said to contact them if we needed anything meanwhile.

After about 3 months of aggressive ezcema flares 2 does of antibiotics and no sleep we finally decided go go private and managed to get a remote consultation with this dr. It cost and arm and a leg even though some of it will be paid for thru DH a work health insurance .

Please tell me things will get better , feel like this is out last resort now to help poor little DS have some sort of life back😔

Just to add, when I checked the consultant’s letter, there was no direct number to ring her and it turns out the only way to contact her was to email her secretary. We did manage to contact her this way, but her responses were usually a week or 2 later by which time he had either got an infection or we had had to urgently see a gp

Good luck OP. Adult DS2 is 21 and has seen every doctor, hospital and specialist since he was a few months old. He's finally been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.

Sorry to hear your DS has had such a touch time for so long. Hope is able to get some specialist care now that he’s been properly diagnosed

Dd had terrible eczema from 3 months old. Prescribed so many creams, steroids etc but I noticed it flared up when I ate dairy. Allergy specialist said it wasn’t an allergy but when I cut dairy and egg out of my diet and weaned her off the steroids her skin healed beautifully and she has had perfect skin every since (apart from when she accidentally eats one of her allergens). Have you tried eliminating dairy to see if it makes any difference? You have to persevere for several weeks and remove all dairy (cheese, yog, chocolate etc) and not just milk.
Good luck!

Hi Down,
Yes we cut out all dairy from about 3.5 yrs which did show some
Improvement and he’s still off it, but I’m pretty sure there must be other environmental factors he’s reacting to, we have spoken a bit about allergy testing but the dr is keen to try and clear up his skin further first.

@MrsDoubtfire2018 what approach is the private doctor taking out of interest?

@OldTinHat what was the condition diagnosed.

Have a DC who has problematic eczema, and interested to hear from others who have faced similar challenges.

Hi,
The doctor asked me to email him with lots of close ups of the eczema on my son. I also accompanied that with a very detailed email listing how his skin has been, what gps have prescribed in the past and what the nhs derm has prescribed too. What’s worked, what hasn’t and in detail about the flare ups, whatever meds we have even using till date.

We then made a virtual zoom appointment with him via his secretary and he talked through what he thought about my child’s eczema and the current treatments and suggested some other creams to try which he prescribed privately. We used them and his suggestions for about 4 weeks and saw an immediate improvement in his facial ezcema and sleep disturbance became
Much less.

My son still has eczema and itching but it definitely feels more
Manageable, however we understand it is something he may/ not grow out of, so realise this is a long term condition we have to manage and keep under control as far as possible.

[quote Reflections2021]@MrsDoubtfire2018 what approach is the private doctor taking out of interest?

@OldTinHat what was the condition diagnosed.

Have a DC who has problematic eczema, and interested to hear from others who have faced similar challenges.[/quote]
Hope you saw my response

@MrsDoubtfire2018 sorry just seen your response now. Thank you! and glad to hear that the treatment is helping.

My DS is still quite problematic but hoping in the next year or two the worse of his will ease. Literally have to look back using the years as a time frame, each year he gets marginally better and better, but day to day it still feels quite severe and takes quite a bit of management to keep it under control.

[quote Reflections2021]@MrsDoubtfire2018 sorry just seen your response now. Thank you! and glad to hear that the treatment is helping.

My DS is still quite problematic but hoping in the next year or two the worse of his will ease. Literally have to look back using the years as a time frame, each year he gets marginally better and better, but day to day it still feels quite severe and takes quite a bit of management to keep it under control.[/quote]
Reflections , I totally understand. Even though my DS’s eczema has improved a lot, it is still a case on vibrant management and I also hope that it will lessen or get easier to manage as he gets older . I never in a million years thought eczema could make life so difficult until one of my children was so severely affected by it.

*case of constant