I need some eczema advice as quickly as possible ...

[imaginaryfriend]

Dd is 4.5 now, she's asthmatic and has always tended to have eczema outbursts on her face though strangely very rarely anything to speak of on her body. In the past when it's got bad Fucidin HC cream from the GP and her usual emmollient has sorted it out within a week. But now for about a month at least she's had awful raw patches on her chin (bigger than a 50p coin), the corners of her mouth (1p coin sized), round her nose and under her eyes. It's flame red and has small raised spots under the surface which break open and weep. I've been back and forth to the GP and had Fucidin, a combination of Fucidin and a strong hydrocortisone and now a new cream which is an antibiotic, a hydrocortisone and an anti-fungal. Today it's looking worse than ever. Her teachers keep asking me about it, other kids are noticing it and I'm feeling slightly at a loss as to know what to do. I don't want to keep giving her hydrocortisone creams on her face.

Needless to say we don't use bio powders, she never uses soap, we use oats or aqueous cream in the bath and for her body.

Has anybody found anything at all that might help?

TIA.

Hi if (would love to hear how you are getting on, headache wise too if you have a minute)

if it's infected, has the doctor considered oral antibiotics? perhaps she needs a stronger hit than the creams are providing

as an aside, ds's eczema has come back around his mouth and chin - seems to be made worse by being at school. Can she have the creams put on her face mid way through the day at school?

The only thing that helps ds is Elocon, but his is only baby excema and I think it stop as he gets bigger.

Could this be psoriasis?

My GP also gives abs for excema.

Hope you get a solution soon.

I've heard pure shea butter is miraculous. Go for an organic pure one (google it for a mail order supplier), not the heavily perfumed Body Shop one.

you may not want to go down this route, but when dd1 was basically a walking weeping mess of scabs and sores with her eczema, we used anti biotics steroid cream, emoillants, oral antibiotics and oral steroids. the GP has exhuatsed all options before we got to that point.

You need to ask your GP to refer you to a dermatologist if simple treatments are not working, especially with it being on her face.

Oh, I'll look out for Shea butter. Do you think a good health store might sell it?

I'm sure it's not psoriasis because I have that and it doesn't look anything like it. Would the GPs have missed it if it were?

We've got Elocon too, that's not helping. I've always been told not to use that on her face but in desperation I did try it for a couple of days and it did nothing. Previously it's been miraculous.

Hello fox! I haven't been around so much in the last few months as we moved house and so many other things have been happening. Thanks for asking, the headaches still lurk but I've been having lots of scans at the neurologist and it seems it may be stemming from a neck problem. How are you doing?

she needs to be referred to a dermatologist.

ooh well that sounds like progress (your neck thing) - I hope it's something that's fixable. You must be relieved to be finally seeing someone at last!

I am fine at the moment, thanks for asking!

Yes, I agree, a referral to a dermatologist if the GP isn't coping. That's the most sensible way forward really. Also, Enid mentioned Filetti washing powder to me - you can get it in Sainsburys, it's very gentle and has provoked no itching in my two (but I know every child is different).

yes dd1 was being referred to the dermo at that point when the GP basically threw everything at her to get her skin under cotnrol and infection free.

Fio, we only use the mildest of washing powders etc. And aqueous cream is the only 'soap' she uses ever.

misdee, should I ask the GP for oral antibiotics? Did your dd's eczema clear up with all those things?

sunrays I keep asking the GP to send us to a dermatologist but he says it will take months to get an appointment so just try something else first. It's frustrating, we'd be a month closer to an appointment if he'd sent one off when I first asked.

The other thing I didn't mention is that she has exactly the same kind of spots / rawness on her genitals which is also not responding to treatments.

Has she had her urine checked for glucose,spots aroung genitals can be caused by this.

misdee, did your dd have it on her body or just her face / genitals? Does it sound like the description I gave of dd's? I keep wondering if it isn't eczema and all these creams are just useless.

Does anyone know a good website for looking at different skin conditions?

It sounds more like impetigo so oral ABs may be the way to go

dd has it on her genitals and I'm sorry to say, it took MONTHS to sort out grrr

I've got a good dermo site on my favourites somewhere - I'll have a look for you

insist the GP refers you straight away, as an emergency if needed.

dd1 was covered, head to toe. the treatment did stop the infections but it was never under control until she saw the dermo, as the GP was next to useless.

ggirl, she had a urine infection a few weeks ago so I guess they'd have picked up on that then?

skin atlas

derm atlas

Thanks fox. I'd appreciate that. Actually I remember being on a thread with you around a year ago about 'sore genitals'. My dd's had that problem with the same kind of spots for so long now it's become part of life.

Ok, so a dermatologist is the only real way forward then. How long do you think it would take to get seen roughly?

Cor, fox, that was quick! I'll nip over there now, thanks. Is your dd's problem better now then?

fox, those sites are going to take a lot of negotiating. Wow, I never knew there were so many skin complaints. Thanks, I'll get on with searching them now. And I'm going to insist more than ever for a trip to the dermatologist.

If anybody has advice on how long I might expect to wait for a referral or any other things I can try myself I'd really appreciate it.

The Blond, I'm not sure it's impetigo. Plus she had broad spectrum antibiotics for the urine infection while this was very sore, they would have shifted it, no? I'll look for some pictures of impetigo in any case though. Thanks.

I think referral will depend on where you are - unfortunately, I think dermatology is one of those areas where there is a large demand and not a huge pool of consultants.

TOUCH WOOD, dd has not been scratching for a month or so now - in fact (poor thing) she came down yesterday and said 'mum, have you noticed, I've not been scratching for a while now - it's good isn't it' and I felt for her I really did because at one stage, I did actually start getting cross with her (I know it wasn't her fault) because she literally had her hands down her pants the whole time and I had to go in and talk to the school etc. (I know she couldn't help it, it was more out of frustration on my part).

What helped was really slathering her in diprobase, I mean, to the extent that you would think, wow that is far too much cream, and then adding more ALL the time. That seemed to crack it.

Fox, I'm in London so not much hope of a swift referral I guess.

Dd's never got on with diprobase, she uses double base which suits her better than anything so far. When you say you slathered your dd in it, do you mean genitally too?

yes, just in that region - at first, I was quite uncomfortable about how much cream I was having to put on but the GP just kept sending us away with stronger steroid creams and I figured the thick application of diprobase/doublebase couldn't do too much harm!

I put it on the first few times (like right in the folds, everywhere) - then, once dd had got the idea, I gave her the cream and let her do it