Eczema

[duzzlightyearsmum]

DD8 has suffered with eczema her whole life. From around the age of 1 we have largely been able to stay on top of it using a variety of different creams and products. She has always had some flare ups however over the last month it has been constantly inflamed and her skin is broken and bleeding.

We’ve been to the gp who has said they will refer us back to the eczema clinic at the hospital and suggest an allergy patch test is carried out, however this could take several months for an appointment to be available. I asked the gp what they could suggest in the meantime and they had no new ideas so I have come to the mumsnet hive mind in the hopes someone will have some new ideas we haven’t tried!!

This is what we have done/been doing so far:

• applying extra moisturiser
• applying a steroid cream
• oat baths
• frequent baths
• applying creams while still damp
• using no bathing products
• using eczema friendly/previously tolerated bathing products
• giving anti-histamine daily

My eldest son suffered with bad eczema from a baby up to about 12. He's 14 now and has the odd flare up but it is massively improved to what it was. At one point he had to go to hospital every couple of days for 2 weeks to have bandages changed and cream applied. I think if you're doing all that, there's not much else you can do and it's one of those things she will struggle with until she hopefully grows out of it. My sons always eased in the warmer weather when he could wear shorts and t shirt and get the sun on his skin. People say not to use steroid cream but honestly I found it was the only thing that would get it under control when it was as bad as his.

My little girl was referred to dermatologists, had multiple allergy tests, was given every single steroid cream under the sun, given emollients etc. Nothing worked and she continued to get skin infection after skin infection. We eventually got referred to an epidemiologist to see if it was allergy related and for more tests. He felt it was simply really bad eczema. I wish someone had told me at the very start of our journey the advice he eventually gave me. 1 cap of Milton sterilising solution in the bath, 1 cap of emollient (if we so wished but he didn’t rate it and simply said it made the bath slippy), then just apply her normal emollient cream on. Her skin is now almost completely clear! A few small patches sometimes re appear and we apply a very small amount of steroid but we are so happy with her skin. She has been like this for almost a year now and we just wish we had known sooner.