Eczema cures! So incredibly desperate!!!!

[Kissmenever]

Hi all,

My lovely dd (5) has suffered from eczema from the age of 3 months, but recently has an awful flare up to the point it’s causing her so much distress, she will cry and say “I don’t want this skin anymore mummy, I want skin like yours” this is breaking my heart so much.

We have tried:
Hydrocortisone creams / steroid creams
So many ointments and creams
Several different non bio washing detergents
Cutting out dairy

Her school teacher has even called me up saying DD is struggling to concentrate in class!
Drs just fob us off with creams and washing lotions, I have asked drs for a referral to a dermatologist, but they say it isn’t “bad enough” yet.
I have attached a photo of the eczema on her neck currently.
I’ve also heard good things about “happy skin” eczema clothes, can anyone vouch?

Thank you so much.

Just jumping on the end here, so sorry if this has already been written.
No wool, no artificial fabrics anywhere near the eczema sites. So no woolly scarf, find a cotton scarf if she needs one. Like the ones sold in summer for ladies. Cotton bedding. Cotton as much as possible.
No washing powders and conditioners on her clothes/bedding/towels other than Ecover.
No bubble bath, perfumes etc. Simple basic bar soap only. Like the white Dove.
Then Elena’s Nature collection. Find what works in that for her. For us it was the oil that made all the difference, and one of the creams - but I can’t remember which. You have to keep doing it religiously and it will work. But it’s natural so don’t expect immediate results.

Don't go dairy free - it's unwise to do this without consulting a HCP

As long as the child has a balanced diet it's fine, there are preferred alternative milks that are more nutritionally complete than others, but it's not unwise.

OP agree with others that she needs to see a dermatologist, sounds like you have tried most of the treatments GPs routinely give and it does seem really sore. It's sad that often it's a case of pushing and pushing to get somewhere, I'd list all that you've tried so far, take photos over the period of a few days or something to show any flare ups or that it's consistently bad; and complain to the practice manager if they won't engage.

Hey, poor thing..
My little dude has had really bad eczema for nearly 3 years and he is 3,5 :'(

We are about to limit the sugar in his diet.
We use fairy
Epimax 5 times a day
A greasy ointment at night
A mild steroid cream on the wknds
I use oats to wash him once a week and no body wash at all
He has piriton in the evening

The skin is the largest organ in the body. Her skin is unwell- she needs proper medical attention, not anecdotal tips and remedies from mumsnetters. If she was having recurrent kidney problems, you wouldn't go online for advice, you would go back to doctors.

If her skin is not already infected, she is at risk from infection.

My 13yo DD was like yours, recurrent eczema, kept flaring, steroids kept it down for a while but then flared up again. Like you, I though I just needed to do something differently, treated it like a skincare issue, thought about her diet. In the end, she ended up in hospital. Since getting proper treatment, she is so much better. Her skin is transformed and she has so much more energy and is happy. Push hard for a dermatology referral. Keep an eye out for infection. In the end, 111 sent us to A&E which fast tracked us through the system. I was so embarrassed to be at A&E with eczema but they kept DD in she is so much better now she has had proper treatment.

The dermatologist told me not to give up dairy as there is only a casual link between that and eczema. I appreciate it can make it worse though.

That's odd, its well known that CMPA can cause eczema, was the cause of my DD's eczema, and went away completely once she outgrew the allergy.

My son had and still does have eczema. You can ask for a second opinion if your gp is not helpful. We used piriton to help with sleep. An exclusion diet. Oil and wraps at night. One pp mentioned going to the "sea" - that possibly helped cos of the warm weather/sun not actually going into the water. Could the sore area currently under her neck be infected?

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. We are in the same position with our 2 year old DS.

We have an excellent paediatric dermatologist (private for the first appointment and then transferee is to the NHS - absolutely worth the money)

You NEED a referral - the odd bit of hydrocortisone will not help eczema like that. You need a stronger steroid regime to taper down, emolient, zinc bandages, scratch mits (we get ours called scratchsleeves online) etc. Also, central heating aggravates eczema so try wrap up warm and minimise it. Xxx

Apologies if this has been said before but have you tried allergy testing. We did and found it was our cat triggering our sons eczema. Might be worth a try to see if it's the guinea pigs.

@Kissmenever you will have many people offering you minor and well meaning miracle cures. But with eczema this severe - and I know - my DS1 was like this from a few months old, you need serious intervention. Please please just research and pay for a private appointment for an excellent dermatologist specialising in childhood eczema to get to the nub of this now. My SIL at this time was a GP and she said that gps just can't deal with eczema at this level. Minor steroids don't deal with it. My DS (now a young adult) had it managed from 5 through a combination of immunosuppressants and then, once under control, decent steroid creams and a range of other creams. He has led an excellent life, though still needs to manage his eczema carefully. I spent years with him not sleeping because of it, scratching his way through every school play and running round in circles with appointments. Both excellent dermatologists that he had are now retired unfortunately otherwise I would pm you with those details / the second one took us a while to find - the first was at GOS and immediately referred him to his nhs lists once he saw him. In the meantime only use Persil non bio to wash clothes - no softener. But I really wouldn't start messing with diet at this stage - she has enough going on. I would say don't be worried about using steroid creams - when it is this serious you have to 'blast' it to get it under control. But you can't put them in on open raw wounds like some of this. Some of this looks infected so having creams that also have something to stop the infection will be important possibly also bath emollient with antibacterial in. Cotton gloves to stop scratching with nails will help - try cotton comfort shop online. She shd wear cotton clothes always. I hope this helps. I feel for you all. PM me if you would like. I'm not a doctor - but lived through this intensely and do know a lot about the meds as a result.

This cream worked wonders for my child salcuraskincare.com/products/bioskin-junior-outbreak-rescue-cream.

Can be applied as many times as you want. We used aveeno as regular moisturiser.

DD had horrific eczema coupled with numerous food allergies that took time to discover. Very similar to my skin as I have the same issues and allergies. The things that helped us clear is up 90% are:

Oat bath (plain porridge oats in an old pair of tights) and absolutely no products. Not even sensitive stuff and most certainly not the lardy 'soap substitute' they give you at the GPS. Full of rubbish chemicals and it actually made DD much worse.

Scratch sleeves pyjamas and also scratch sleeves daytime cardigan/shawl thing. Expensive but worth it, can sometimes get factory seconds off eBay from the official shop for much cheaper if they have them.

MooGoo - this was a recommendation from Mumsnet actually and we've not looked back once. We both use it now and it's the absolute best and most gentle cream. It doesn't even sting when I'm in a really bad flare up. Soothing and creamy.

Washing clothes with soap nuts only and using a few drops of lavender essential oil for the smell. It's not for everyone but we love it and no flare ups from either of us.

Also came to recommend Salcura products - they are amazing. Even if not suitable with how bad the eczema is right now, they may help once the current severity has received appropriately intensive treatment. For me, Salcura bioskin is often the only thing that will soften the urge to scratch.

Also it depends on your goals. I used steroids my whole life and it led to worse skin, took me 2 years to wean off them in which my skin was red raw for 2 years. On Facebook search TSW Warriors. Topical steroid withdrawal

So our aim was to not use really steroids often if we could help it. We've only had to use them once at the start of the worst of it and then maybe twice in a year

Also avoid the rubbish cheap creams the GPS prescribe. Awful.
Moisturising with MooGoo twice a day helped us immensely as it's so nourishing

Bless her 😔 my suggestions are...
Only bath her when you really have to, once a week is plenty.
Use the steroid cream every day twice a day for as long as it takes to look healed then for a few weeks after.

Avoid very greasy creams like double base.

Start a food diary, hopefully you will be able to start pinpointing triggers.

Put cream (we found aveeno baby the best) on as much as possible layer it and allow to sink in.

The thing with eczema is, I have found, is the trigger and therefore any "cure" is 100% personal to the suffer.

As you can see from the response on here every body has found different things that work and it's a case of trial and error to find what works with your DD, which will take time.

Can you afford to see a dermatologist privately?
And possible have allergy testing done?

Our DD had bad eczema from about 8 months old. As soon she turned one we put her on soya toddler milk and cut out all dairy. Her skin cleared up and it never came back.
She's now nearly 6 and can tolerate dairy now.

My brother is 40 and has had atopic eczema since he was about 2. Covered from head to toe. His elbow and knee joints the worst and heavily scared. But has has poor diet and drinks heavily.
He is currently in prison with no access to alcohol but better meals and his skins is unbelievably clear.

Point is, as someone up thread said. It all starts from the inside so take a look at what she's eating and drinking and work from there x

@Kissmenever here's another one for you to try: Dolly & Friends Calming Cream. It has had some very good reviews for soothing eczema in children.

and absulutely yes to finding the trigger.
it's sooo individual.
it can be
cold air
warm air
cold water
warm water
sea water
allergies (pollen, mould, pets, pet bedding, food)
natural fabrics
manmade fabrics
dust
manmade bedding
natural fibre bedding

Both have already been mentioned - Moo goo and fairy non-bio

Moo Goo really helped [IGNORE THE PRICEon the first product linked - the wash - because it's for 5 litres you can get it in independent chemists etc in smaller quantities so it's less eye watering! - I'm just linking to show the products

moogooskincare.co.uk/

The Milk Wash as a cleanser

moogooskincare.co.uk/cleansers/milk-wash

and this as a moisturiser
moogooskincare.co.uk/full-cream-moisturiser

but they have lots of different products so maybe trial and error.

DS is severely allergic to a number of things which can make his eczema bad but I would recommend a referral to allergy clinic and a food diary before considering excluding major food groups.

Strong steroid ointments, antihistamines, bath emollients and creams and not too much central heating helps my DS but I’m sure you’ve tried that lot.

Child's Farm - they do a baby moisturising lotion and a fragrance free one. Absolutely amazing stuff. Worth the money. Works wonders for my DC's eczema.

Poor little kid… my Twins had this as badly when they were little too. It is very much associated with childhood asthma, so I would get rid of the Guineas for that alone. I know that everybody’s different and every BODY’S different. What worked for some made my kids worse. Turned out my twins had different triggers. DD was very much allergic to cow’s milk and her nappy area was where her eczema was worse. When she was teething (even after cow’s milk was removed from her diet) it was like all the ingested saliva somehow concentrated her stomach acid and came out the other end. Poor kid had skin off all over her bits and bum and it was a horrible painful mess. Every change was a cool bath for her. DS has food allergies (anaphylaxis) to nuts & kiwi. We later discovered he’s also got anaphylaxis to horses, but we haven’t had much to do with them, so not a childhood trigger. Like your DD, he had the worst eczema around skin folds and where clothes rubbed. I used non-scented everything, kept his skin lubricated and applied industrial-strength cortisone cream. I did the oat baths and greased him up like a little body builder with Vaseline. Just anything within reason to alleviate the itch. He has virtually grown out of it now, but gets little spots on the backs of his legs or creases of his arms if he’s hot and sweaty or wears jumpers and no moisturiser.

As well as dream cream I have used Childs Farm baby bath and body lotion, oats in a sock in the bath and Aveeno. Hemp body moisturiser from body shop is also good.

@JustBkind

Okay…look up Child Farm products and buy the lot! They work great. Carry on using the hydrocortisone cream until it settles down and reduce the amount of time spent in water. At this age a child can go in the bath once a week and be clean (I was told this by a midwife and completely agree with it). The key is to keep the area as dry as possible while the steroid cream does the work (a little at a time) and then the long haul is to not provoke it…hence the Child Farm products. Worked for my children and they have now out grown it. Good luck!!!

My son had mild eczema and Childs Farm worked for him.

www.rooibosproducts.co.uk/rooibos-resque-range/annique-resque-cream-eczema-other-skin-prolems-1pc.html

This worked for DD when we had tried everything else. It was actually mil who got it and I was a bit eye rolly to be honest but it did work. I have recommended it to other people who have said they found it really good as well.