3 year old bad eczema! HELP PLEASE

[Esmaemum]

Our daughter has always had sensitive skin which we have always been wary of and always kept it under control but recently things have gotten out of hand and we cant seem to get it any better! Were using oiltum to bath and doublebase mouisturiser 3 times a day, but her skin is awful and its been a nightmare, especially night times, poor girl is waking up every night upset non stop itching! We have also tried other products but its just gotten out of hand we dont even know what to try next... her tummy and back is so rough its upsetting.. any help appreciated, thanks

Are you anywhere near London? Can you afford a private consultation? If so I can recommend an amazing doctor who sorted out our DS severe eczema when we had been completely dismissed by the GP. He was red raw, his sheets would be covered in blood every morning, one of us would lie next to him every night to try and stop him scratching. We were at our wits end and so was our poor DS.
We had to use a very strict routine of various creams and emollients but it did get better. Happy to provide more info if you would like.
Also we used to only put him in cotton clothing, wash his clothes in Surcare washing powder, Dermol 600 as a soap substitute, slather on the emollient as thick as possibly several times a day.

My DS has always suffered from eczema. It’s dreadful in winter but almost goes away in summer. Can’t help thinking that exposure to the sun helps so maybe vitamin D in winter.

apart from that chlorinated pools caused a massive flare up so thorough washing after a swim, most sun creams cause him to erupt so trail and error there. And a lot of shower gels and clothes washes.

he is also now my body skin cream which is bioderma atoderm which is helping a lot better than the many creams that the GP has prescribed alongside a mild skin scrub so that the cream isn’t having to fight through lots of scabby Skin. No idea if this would be recommended by a dermatologist but right now it’s working.

and keep on top of it. You have my sympathy

I meant to say the best steroid( strong one) is elocon ( think that might be mometozone). Again make sure it is in ointment form. Our derm used to recommend an elocon weekender. Just put out the fire as others have said. Also make sure you aren't dealing with any infection as steroid alone wont be able to deal with that. A lots of prolonged eczema suffering in babies/young kids is because the gps aren't clearing the infection. You often need a prolonged course of antibiotics.
dermol 600 has really helped us prevent infections flaring up. Cannot stress this enough!!!

I'm sorry to hear your daughter is suffering. My daughter had eczema since she was a baby. We saw GPS and dermatologists who prescribed steroid creams, starting with 1% hydrocortisone. These worked brilliantly because that's what steroids do, they constrict the blood vessels and therefore reduce the inflammation and itching. Until you stop using them and then the skin goes back to being red and inflamed. Over the years, my daughter "went up the steroid ladder", being prescribed stronger and stronger steroids, they were on repeat prescription and she was using them almost daily over large parts of her body. Until she started noticing that she was getting burning rashes on different parts of her body to the parts where she had previously had eczema. And these rashes weren't just itchy and dry, but were bright red and very painful. It took seeing 4 dermatologists to receive the correct diagnosis: This was topical steroid addiction/withdrawal. It's basically where your body becomes allergic to the steroids and the only solution is to stop using them. Please google it or go on to the website ITSAN.org
It was only officially recognised in the uk in 2019 so old school dermatologists are slow to diagnose it.

It's terrifying and awful BUT knowledge is power.

Interestingly, in previous generations, childhood eczema was very common (as it is now) but most children grew out of it by the time they reached senior school. Unfortunately this over-use of steroids means that children now don't grow out of eczema because their skin becomes reliant on steroids and doesn't learn to produce their own oils. So doctors are seeing more and more cases of severe eczema in older children and adults.
My daughter is now 18 and stopped using all steroids 5 months ago. After 2-3 months of an almost full body rash she is now recovering and on parts of her body, her skin is better than it ever was on steroids. Her skin is slowly learning how to cope without steroids.
I'm not saying that steroids should never be used but I would suggest doing your own research. I have felt terrible guilt for putting my daughter in this position but I was only following the doctors' advice. I see now that prescribing steroid creams is an easy sticking plaster remedy. But longer term, it can be a slippery slope to the skin needing stronger and stronger steroids and then they eventually stop working.

If I was starting over again, I would not use steroid creams. I would use a lighter cream like Cetraben not the thicker ointments. I would cut down on baths to once a week if possible and use sudocrem/zinc oxide if the skin was broken.
I found that diet changes made no difference, though it's definitely worth checking for allergies in case there's a direct cause.
Good luck but please please read up on topical steroid withdrawal. It's preventable and I wish I had known about it when my daughter was younger which is why I'm passionate about raising awareness.