Eczema, really need help

[eczperts]

My 1 year old has such bad eczema, I'm having such a difficult time trying to help him. It is severe, covering his face, stomach and back and then patches on arms and legs too but smaller and more manageable.

We've been prescribed hydrocortisone, wasn't helping, then eumavate which did help but after weaning off it the eczema returns. We use epaderm ointment about 6 times a day all over him. We keep his nails so short but he still manages to do so much damage to himself and now has to sleep with scratch sleeves to cover his hands. His face breaks my heart, I feel like I haven't seen my boys actual face in a while as it's just covered in eczema, with little to no relief as we can't do the steroids on his face. I did out of desperation do the hydrocortisone on his face for 7 days and saw a slight improvement but after how much they stressed not to do it I didn't want to risk it especially as the improvement was so slight. We use no fabric softener anymore, we used the comfort pure sensitive skin one before that, I haven't noticed any difference since switching to none. We were bathing him in dermol 600, now just water. We've been warned against emollients, saying they don't work (from the GP)

I burst into tears last time I was there and they did a dermatologist referral to get me out of there I think, but advised it'll be a long wait. I asked about cutting out dairy as it's the main thing I'm reading online and they said not to until I've seen the specialist.

Do I just give it a go? He's so unhappy and itchy and I want to make him better so badly. I read threads online of all these different creams and emollients and I'm happy to buy them all and try but is there a point without knowing the cause? Will it always come back if something is triggering it?

I just feel like not an hour goes by where I'm not thinking about his eczema and how to help him. It's relentless

To keep it brief, DD had horrific eczema and so did I. We solved it by:

• scratch sleeves (off Amazon or their website, expensive but the Velcro ones are amazing)
• allergy testing. Turns out we were allergic to various foods, since cutting them out we are 90% eczema free (seasonal allergies too, harder to avoid)
• weaning off steroid creams! They thin your skin and ultimately you get stuck in a cycle of needing them but skin being so delicate it's hard to heal - there are whole Facebook groups dedicated to steroid withdrawal
• better diet (mostly water, lots of veg and healthy meats, a LOT less sugar)
• sleep and antihistamines where needed - on days where I'm super itchy like season changes, I can take an antihistamine and the edge of itching goes off
• don't use any fabric conditioner or soap - we use soap nuts and essential oils - no issues at all with cleanliness

Sorry for the multiple posts I’m thinking of things after I’ve posted:

Surcare washing liquid for clothes. I’ll get a link as I’m sure you’re exhausted with the stress:

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/surcare-superconcentrated-liquid-980ml

it is recommended to double rinse all of baby’s clothes. Not wearing perfume or anything scented near him.

Keep on top of dust. Which I’m sure you do.

Humidifier/air purifier. (I’ll post a link for the one I bought. Hoping this is helpful. I’m sorry if not)

https://www.johnlewis.com/meaco-deluxe-202-air-purifier-humidifier-white/p5830220

lastly it’s important not to use anything with oil as it blocks the pores and prevents the skin from breathing / healing.

I hope this helps.

do you have pets?
sadly pet allergies are very common. plus allergies to hay in case of small furries.

This is who we saw for DS after reading about him in The Times - the cream was amazing and cured DS's awful facial eczema in a few days, nothing different in terms of medications but the combination he prescribes it in is different.

I wouldn't cut out gluten/dairy for a baby without seeing a Pediatric allergy Dr first.

We've had another consult with the GP this morning who said total opposite to one we saw last week, said to put the eumovate on his face just avoid the eye area, said to switch from ointment to cream and to start using an emollient after last one told me to stop. Fed up of the different information.

I'm looking into the Dr Aron regimen, from what I can see the UK doctor who offers it charges £180 for the first appointment, £100 per follow up and £40 per prescription. I am happy to pay to help him but this sounds like it could end up incredibly expensive incredibly fast? 😭

@eczperts we only needed one appointment and one prescription cream for DS's eczema to be cured for good with Dr Aron within a fortnight and that was eight years ago.

We hadn't discovered Dr Aron when DD had eczema, for bathing / hair Burts Bee do a sensitive detergent free baby product which we found to be way better for DD than dermol in the bath - and for the emollient we used Aveeno baby soothing relief cream (better than the prescribed one) but as hers was allergy related when we got on top of the allergies the eczema went away.

It does seem expensive but we also didn't need loads of repeat prescriptions because it worked so well. We just use the most recent mixture to keep on top of any potential recurrence which is not frequent.

You can spend so much money getting the run around with different doctors and conflicting advice, as you can see ☹️

For our family it was worth the expense.. I think it's often people at their wits' end who turn to Dr Aron, and then sing his praises because something finally worked. And I'm never someone who comes on threads and bangs on about a brand or an amazing product!

I would recommend cutting dairy and soya too for a short while to see if it makes a difference.

We also used a combination of MooGoo creams (the MSM one is great) and Balmond skin salvation from Amazon to help 'lock in the moisture. Applied at every nappy change all over. Sudocrem also helps remove the redness, but isn't a moisturizer so needs something else in addition.

We have lots of allergies/intolerance to deal with so aveeno/oats didn't work for us

My DH has had eczema all his life ( he is now 68). Our DS1 had it in childhood but outgrew it by about 8.
My DH says GPs no nothing about eczema and over the years we have paid to see a dermatology consultant when he had flare ups.
Would highly recommend you do this.

know nothing

Our GP has a special interest in dermatology (she's been a life saver), the second set of advice you got sounds more in line with what we were told.

How often are you bathing? I'd be bathing every day if you can, with dermol in the water. The creams clog the skin which does makes things worse.

Epaderm ointment is really heavy, using it six times a day on large parts of skin may be counterproductive. I'd try switching to the cream and keep the ointment for anywhere you need a barrier - we had a lot of trouble with drool rash.

The buggy - weekend therapy. Use the euomovate to clear the flare up, and then use it every weekend to keep on top of it.

@eczperts how are you getting on? Are you doing what the second gp said? That does sound more similar to the advice I was given my dermatologists.

The Dr Aron thing looks like something to consider if you can’t get a referral to a dermatologist quickly. Most GPs (all GPs in my 40 odd years!) have no idea.

OP cut out diary for a few weeks and see how it goes. GOs wont advice you to cut out allergens and trigger foods unless it is absolutely necessary and I agree!

However, reading the through your LO's diet, it may help worth giving that a go.

Some foods trigger eczema in children. This post is exactly what my little girl was at 1 yr old, DH and i broke down and just got depressed that no matter what we did, it wasn't helping her. Then we just tried cutting out diary (bless her she loves her diary and she never had flare ups since.

Not saying it will work for your little one.. but give it a go, try cutting out allergens one by one and see if they improve. Diary and soya in particular, sometimes egg, wheat, for some gluten even.

Good luck!

GPs don’t advise on diet for excema and I’ve no idea why. Dairy is not eaten in every diet around the world but it seems the uk is obsessed with it. Honestly try cutting it out for 2 weeks and it will help.

it's because it's not advisable to remove a whole food group and with it the nutrients that are important, especially for a growing child.

if you want to try to avoid dairy for a week make sure you don't just leave it out but replace it with nutricious alternatives.

You sound like me in my first year with my son. I was broken by eczema. I have cut and paste advice I sent to a friend.

Get to a good dermatologist and pay for it if you can afford it. If eczema is in infected all the steroids in the world won’t work. You have to get rid of the infection first. We went through 5 course of antibiotics when my son was 9 months. Even the world leading dermatologist had to try two courses before we sorted it. After we had cleared the infection life got better.

First of all don’t be scared of steroids especially something as mild as hydrocortisone. I was too conservative with mine and he got into such a mess in the early days. Infected and ongoing eczema is way worse for the skin long term than even quite prolonged use of steroids. Youngest has some eczema too and whenever it flare up on his face I use steroid twice a day and for a day or so after it has gone . I always use all steroids in ointment form ( if they come in it) rather than cream as they penetrate better. All good dermatologists will tell you this but GPs don’t seem to have got the message so you need to ask for it.

I moisturise with creams and ointments. Creams are more convenient and less messy. Ointments are better but a bit messy and you need to use a spoon so you don’t contaminate the tub with your fingers. I like cetraban cream and epaderm or hydramol ointment. But there are loads and it isn’t a big deal which you use. I moisturise at least twice a day. Even when no eczema.

For washing I use dermol 500 as a soap substitute. And dermol 600 in the bath. This was prescribed by a dermatologist. It is different to oilatum and all the other ones as it is also antimocrobial. Eczema gets bad when the bacteria on the skin gets out of hand. Dermol 600 makes such a massive difference . When we run out his skin immediately gets worse. Unfortunately it has been lumped in with oilatum etc and it’s really difficult to get prescribed now.

For the scratching I can’t recommend scratch sleeves enough. You can get on amazon. They have a silk mitt which is softer on the skin.

I wash with fairy non bio, put it on an extra rinse and don’t use any kind of fabric conditioner.

Drop your thermostat down a degree and don’t wrap her up too much at night. Eczema babies get hot. Put in natural fibres like cotton (at least the layer that touches the skin).

Also there is a lot of bullshit online. I got taken in by all the organic bollocks at first. Spent a fortune. Stay away! And don’t mess with diet unless you talk to a Dr. Most eczema is not diet related.

If you are in the north I can recommend someone. Just dm me.

Strongly agree that diet has to support taking something out. I think dairy as a ‘food group’ is dated though. Some countries don’t even have dairy cows. Everyone needs calcium and protein yea of course but that can be found elsewhere.

Try bathing in Aleppo soap made of laurel and olive oil as an alternative to what you currently use. Some reviews suggest it can be helpful. It stings the eyes so avoid the face

Hello
do you have the details of the person in north London please? My little one is really struggling with his ezcema it’s making him so miserable!

Hi, I am so sorry for your son's suffering. Have a look at this website and I'll try to look for the N London surgery offering it now.

www.eczema-doc.com/

Dr Boyden

www.patientbooking.co.uk/?fbclid=IwY2xjawF9GHYBHZlmCjd4YSQhGPRVwkxE7fo91ibwV7oCLFxjpudWhBgr9zS7M6VwE-ARKQ#/register/invite-code

Dr Miles Boyden
The Hill Medical Centre Northfield House, Northfield Road ,rear of 117 Stamford Hill, London, N16 5RS (020) 8800 5066

[email protected]

I hope this is still his info.

Wishing you all the best

I was going to recommend switching cows milk for goat’s milk, then saw it’s a fairly old post, how is your little one getting on? Ours was terrible, so much suffering and money spent on different products, scratch sleeves, etc. luckily outgrew in the end, most seem to eventually, all the best!

Thank you this is brilliant!

Dr Richard Aron https://www.draron.com/
there's also a big FB group Dr Aron Eczema Treatment Discussion Group

Please don't use Dr Aron without reading up on topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) first. We too thought that Dr Aron was a miracle cream and used it for a few years, telling everyone who would listen how great it was. Unfortunately though it was the reason my daughter ended up going through topical steroid withdrawal which has been hell. The Dr Aron treatment is basically moderate to strong potency steroids mixed with antibiotics and emollient which are used very regularly (initially up to 5 times a day). There are so many people who have ended up with TSW directly as a result of the Dr Aron regime. The Dr Aron facebook group deletes anyone mentioning TSW, so it is very hard to get a true picture. (I have joined a TSW Facebook support group and there are so many who have ended up there having been on Dr Aron). I feel guilty every day for have putting my daughter on Dr Aron