Chicken pox and eczema, how bad do they mix?

[Chandra]

One of the recomendations given to parents of children with eczema is to be careful not to expose them to skin viruses as even a mouth sore can be too much for the skin of an eczema baby. I guess the same applies for other skin viruses and having found this afternoon a little note saying that they have had a couple of children with chicken pox at the nursery during the week, I'm wondering how serious are the implications if my 10m baby who suffers from severe eczema catches it. Does anybody has any experience of this? Should I take any special precaution?

Chicken pox is pretty horrible - my daughter caught it at 6 months from me. It took quite a while for all the spots to come out (about 5 days). On the fifth day, when it was at its worst she cried all afternoon - nothing would soothe her, not even breast milk. I rang the doctor and he suggested dosing her up with nurofen and calpol. In the end I and she slept when we could.

She suffers from some eczema, particularly on her hands and ankles - I don't know if the chicken pox was worse as a result. She did have a lot of spots, and I covered her hands with socks (they stayed on better than scratch mittens). I also found using calamine was too cold for her. It was better to bathe her in a cool bath.

Chicken pox is contagious before any spots appear so I would avoid the nursery if you don't want your baby to get it.

Chandra - Has your child been in the Nursery over the last couple of weeks? If she has come in contact with any of the 'infected' children she may already be incubating it. I have no idea of the adverse effects of having Chicken Pox and excema. I suffered from severe excema all through my childhood and had Chicken Pox twice. My 2 Brothers still suffer from excema, although much worse than mine ever was and they have both had Chicken Pox. I can't remember there being any major implications or special treatments for them.

Chicken Pox is an illness that is best contracted whilst still children though. Sorry not much help here. Hope she is okay. If its any comfort to you my ds attended Nursery right through a Chicken Pox outbreak and didn't seem to catch it all!

Oops, meant to say that my Ds has excema too.

I have read about this because my ds has eczema. One book said to avoid it, the other said that the eczema tends to lessen (presumably because they immune system finally has something to do other than attack itself) as the chicken pox gets worse and so in terms of annoyance to the child they cancel each other out. I'm sure the book that said it was fine to catch it also said the younger the better. Sorry I can't remember what either of them was called but they were to do with vaccinations.

Have been to the pediatrician today for other reasons and ask her about this, she said eczema won't make the chicken pox more difficult, the only thing I needed to do is to stop Protopic immediatly if DS gets the illness.

I'm a bit depressed today, Ds eczema got suddenly worse today, he has red skin in his back and chest and some little flares in arms, legs and neck, the problem was the face, he has been sctratching it so much that I have taken from him 3 bibs covered in blood. Well is not that the things are soaking wet in blood but it really makes me sad that he has to go through this, specially as a little girl tried to approach him today and her mother didn't allow her (She just looked at DS has if he had got an infectious disease). I know he is not going to die of eczema but it really makes me sad that he is passing through it.

My ds caught it before Christmas from his sister, he has eczema. He was really bad with it, much worse than his sister. I found it really hard to get his temp down. Avoid it at all costs while they are babies if you can would be my advice.

DD (2) got her first spots on Christmas Eve and was almost totally covered in horrible big spots. She has eczema (not severe) that actually appeared to lessen during the 2 poxiest weeks. Now most of her scabs have come off (what a lovely job harvesting them from her sleeping bag and sheets every morning), the eczema is making a reappearance and in new places. DS (13wks) first spotted a week ago and has now scabbed over, but during this week he has scratched his forehead and cheeks to bug*ery which appears to have brought on eczema - something he hadn't developed before the pox arrived. So while it's good he's got one disease out of the way, it's a big d'oh! in other ways. The health visitor suggested we slather E45 on 4 times a day and thinks that once his immune system is back on track again, post-pox, the eczema should improve, but its still a shocking transformation.