Help with severe eczema flare-up in hot and humid weather

[Jones3A]

Hoping someone can help, feeling pretty desperate here

My 10 year old daughter gets eczema in the heat, in autumn and winter it disappears completely and her skin is totally "normal".

We are in a very hot and humid tropical country, half way through a 2 week holiday and her eczema is out of control. It's all over her body and now starting on her face.

Aside from the obvious extreme discomfort she is devastated and becoming very self conscious.

This is a holiday of a lifetime and she says it's ruined it so far. It's never been this bad. I'm heartbroken for her.

Because this has not previously been such a thing, we've not got bags of eczema experience and I just don't know what to do.

We have her Epaderm with us, which is usually helpful but is barely touching it now.

So far she's been in very little chlorinated water. Salt water pools and fresh water lake so far. She's barely worn sunscreen as it's been cloudy and we've not been exposed to much sunshine until today. So I think it's just the heat itself that's causing it to be so bad.

She showers after swims and we reapply the cream. Is there anything else at all anyone can suggest please?

Thanks for reading. 🙏🏼

Oh that is bad but I don’t know what you can do overseas. You need a dermatologist in the UK to prescribe strong steroids, and epaderm is an emollient only.

As a ezcema sufferer with one child having the same problem, I can only say that you need elocon for her body and protopic 0.03% for the face. Both DC and I were prescribed the same by different dermatologists.

Can you get referred to a doctor wherever you are?

You DD isn’t making it up. It’s incredibly itchy. I have a flare up now behind my knees and it takes all my strength to not scratch.

Oh and eperderm might not be ok to use around the eyes. Check the packaging.

Also taking oral antihistamine like ceterizine helps.

Thank you yes, I gave her one this morning in the hope it might!

I will see if I can find a medical centre and use Google translate. Thank you for the advice on products.

She doesn’t necessarily need steroids. My DD had terrible eczema on her face that didn’t respond to hydrocortisone or eumovate. We saw a dermatologist and he prescribed pimecrolimus. It wasn’t nice to start with but it cleared the eczema within 2 days. DD now much more confident and comfortable…

My daughter has eczema and it's exactly as you describe, a lot worse in the heat and humidity. She loves winter 😅

The main bit of advice I can give it to try and keep her cool - in the air conditioning, hat when outside etc.

It's really difficult though, especially when the holiday is about spending time outside.

Not sure how she reacted in a salt water pool, but I'd say avoid that, especially if she has open sores broken skin

I feel your pain op, eczema is horrendous for kids

Totally. DD was prescribed protopic for her face. It’s tacrolimus which isn’t a steroid. I think it depends on the trigger.

But definitely about keeping cool. Heat makes it so much worse.

Protopic is a brand name for tacrolimus. It's an alternative to a steroid so good for face or sensitive areas. Hydrocortisone would be fine for everywhere else. Warm baths or showers not hot or cold. Don't worry about slathering on thickly to get it under control and then easing off. My son's had eczema since 9 months and he's 13 now. Its much better than it was but I had hoped he'd have grown out of it by now!

My son got the tacrolimus from GP, he has been referred to dermatology for light therapy but when you get back to the UK I'd ask GP for tacrolimus. In theory sum is good for eczema but often sun cream isn't!

Thanks for all the advice 🙏🏼
So I'm a little confused about when we use hydrocortisone and when the emollient? I'm assuming in that order, since the emollient would create a barrier to the hydrocortisone otherwise?

Yes, this or pimecrolimus as a pp mentioned - just make sure that you are given the paediatric dose. It’s really important.

I just alternate them, @Jones3A.

Eczema can be awful.... Depending on where you are you could try a pharmacy.

Depending on wait times for dermatology appt where you live I would consider going private. Although the wait wasn't to long where we live for DD and they also did allergy testing.

Edit as posted twice!

I don't have your experience, as my little boy is only 21 months, but we have been through lots of bad eczema already.

The general rule is that you just have a gap between appplying cream and steroid. E.g. after a wash, we do cream first and then steroid after about half an hour or so, so it is absorbed and won't dilute the steroid potency.

Our dermatologist at GOSH is quite anti-sunscreen for very sensitive skin - she recommends loose cotton clothing and hats