Eczema on 4yo that won't shift, anyone know a super-cure, any suggestions welcome

[gigglewitch]

allergic type of child, dairy and various other things cause her problems, and she's got asthma as well - all pretty typical. Anything you know would be a big help, the patches that won't move are each about the size of a 50p, apart from one on her arm which is much larger. Have already used E45 for a fortnight which usually works, and even 2 days of hydrocortisone cream which has always been known to knock a troublesome outbreak on the head.

you need to use the hydrocortisone for longer. are you using it until the skin goes totally smooth, not just less red? you need to keep going for a bit even after it's totally gone and smooth then wean off to maybe every other day for a further few days.

ahhh. I was a tad concerned about using it for long - we're now on day 3 and no visible improvement, and no idea what to do next. Thank you thankyou, will carry on... I've just been putting it on her once a day after bath / wash, as per instruction, but again it seems a bit like pissing in the wind imho

It sometimes takes 7+ days of hydrocortisone for DS2's exzema to go down. I found putting quite a lot on in one go helps cut down the amount of days you need to use it. My GP said it is better to use more for less days than less for more days.

yes. after baths i would lather on a good emollient, something without sls in, we use cetreban. then you have to leave that to soak in for a good hour at least. THEN put on the steroid. steroid doesn't work on skin that has emollient on it.

use the steroid twice a day for a week. the skin should be back to normal by then. then do it once a day only, for another 2 days, then skip a day, then do it once, then skip again, then once. should be sorted by then.

i found bathing was best kept to no more than once, maybe twice a week. and water quite cool, with oats in a sock squeezed into the water and even used to wash dd's skin. the oats make the water very smooth and milky. very soothing. some people swear by aveeno cream, it contains oats.

then you need to maintain the skin by using emollient twice a day.

also look at soap powders. we ditched everything for dd's washing. we just use soapnuts now.

hth

I would agree with keeping baths to a minimum. We were given Hydromol to use to moisturise the skin and we use this in the bath too as a soap and to give extra moisture to the skin.

For lots of people, house dust mites are a big trigger for ezcema. We changed the carpets for laminate and put dust covers on the duvet etc. It has made a huge difference. We have gone from using steroid cream practically ever day to hardly at all.

DD was diagnosed with Excema, but it turned out not to be that at all,...... so if you've not already looked into it, chemical food additives, especially colourants can cause an excema like rash, look out for bubble baths & the likes too..... sadly at the time, it was me craving cheap jelly sweets whilst breast feeding that caused it, but thankfully it meant I learned early what her problem really was, & she now very rarely has flare ups.

if thats not the case, you might want to look into a herbal cream, "Sausage Tree Cream" , or botanicus ??? something or other I forget right now ......... I found that worked better on DD, & also on friends kids with true excema, than the GPs stuff did

yep, she has two baths a week, no soap or bubbles, and we use the occasional bit of halos n horns for hairwashing, soapnuts or fairy non bio for her laundry (done on its own or with ds1's who is equally or more allergic.... pah, kids!!) Cotton clothing and not-quite-uniform blouses for school to get proper cotton. Usually she's fairly straightforward to sort, and we haven't had a stubborn flare up with her before. head to toe in allergy-induced nettle rash, yes, but stubborn eczema's a worse bummer from her pov cos it just won't bleepin shift.

You lot are superstars!! Ta for all the sound advice ladies, will use a good amount of the hydrocortisone (that's a gem of a hint, I'm inclined to be a tad sparing with it) and do it twice a day for the rest of the week.Have just put some on her now after her bedtime handwash. Crossing fingers

rockin, I'll look into that one too, thank you