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 lady!

ok. if it was me (and it was) i would try cutting all dairy (cows milk) out of diet for a couple of weeks and seeing what happened.

I'd also go and see a homeopath, but quite understand if this is not up your street.

Hello sophable! How are you?

Well, homeopathy isn't my bag, I've tried it for my own psoriasis and all kinds of other pesky things and I have no faith in it working. Although I'm happy to try some alternative type of creams.

IF, we too are in London. If the waiting list is v long and you have access to £100/£200, it might be worth getting a private appointment with a dermatologist (but keeping your NHS one in case you need a follow up).

I imagine you'd be looking at a 2-3 month wait.

fox, I think I might do that. Umm ... how would I go about finding a private dermatologist? I'm so desperate to get her seen now, I feel really sorry for her, she's so shy anyhow.

Where in London are you? I didn't realise you were. I'm SE.

we're SW. You ask your GP - they write a referral letter for you (you need it for the private appointment too - most consultants won't see you without one) and may know the derm at your nearest hospital.

You can look up private consultants - here's Dr Foster - make sure once it goes through that you click on outpatients and it can give you an estimated waiting time too. It's probably better to ask the GP anyway as they may know of someone.

sorry, that link is just for consultants - but you can click on their names and it will tell you if they work privately too (beware though, I think a bit of their info is out of date - it's probably of use for browsing then you need to check the info with the relevant hospital iyswim)

I must get going now - nice to see you again and I really hope they make some progress with your neck!

Let us know how you get on with the GP.

Thank you fox, that's really helpful. I'll get dd back to the GP and see what they say and I'll ask for a referral letter too.

(SW is much nicer than SE!)

any further advice on this?

bump

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anything?

You could consult a very well-qualified aromatherapist - look for an IFA one, they have the best training. Might be worth trying a google for support groups - there is a good one for allergies that will help you get allergy testing. I wouldn't try an altrenative cream w/out getting advice - our ds' excema was triggered by a homeopathic cream that had lanolin in it.

thanks nt, I wouldn't try something at random at the moment because her face looks so raw. Can aromatherapy help eczema then?!

Hi

I've not read through all the replies so if I'm repeating suggestions I apologise. Harrass your GP! Always a good place to start.

I found the following creams very effective in short term usage: Body Shop Hemp hand cream (it's quite thick and has a pretty unpleasant smell but if it works who cares?), Aveeno moisturising cream from Boots ( was quite effective for a long time). Both these aren't too expensive but they did stop working on ds after a while.

Now thankfully his eczema is quite infrequent, I think he may be growing out of it (now 6).So when he does get a flare up I use Elemis SOS Emergency cream which is fairly pricey, I get it from QVC, but you really don't need to use a lot and it works wonders for him. I would not be without it now!

It really does seem to be trial and error. I gave up on steroid creams when he starting losing all pigmentation from the back of his hands.

Anyway keep perservering!

Imaginary, yes, aromatherapy can help. Just looked in up in Patricia Davis' book and she recommends trying chamomile in aqueous cream or similar, but very dilute - a 1% solution. I would seriously consider seeing a qualified aromatherapist although if their advice is a lot different from that I'd run. She doesn't recommend the usual carrier oils b/c of allergies.

Something you can do now though is give your dd a lavender and/or chamomile bath. This will help to relieve any stress she is feeling about her excema. I give them alot to me dds and they help them to sleep, relax during colds etc. Mix one or two drops of the oils in full-fat milk and then mix in the bath. You can also put a drop of lavender oil on a damp muslin or towel and drape it over a radiator to vapourise in your dd's room - I use this with my baby ds when he has a cold or is unsettled. Patricia Davis also recommends that parents treat their own stress about their childrens' excema the same way!!! (and it is very stressful, I know)

She also recommends allergy testing. I did once contact the allergy help group - can't remember the name of it now - try a google for allergy support groups. but they def. had lots of articles about excema and I am sure they had approved clinics for allergy testing.

HTH.

Thanks dm and nt. I'll take a note of all those suggestions. I'm going to try to get dd to the GP tomorrow actually. Tonight she's looking very very sore, we just had no time by the time I got in from work.

Have you tried Elocon? It's a very strong steroid, but IME you only need to apply it for a very short time. My ds had it on his face and now he no longer needs it.

Hope you get this sorted.

If you've 'just moved house and many other things have been happening' could it be stress that has triggered this or is making it difficult to clear up? My dd1's eczema returns when she's stressed.

Piriton helps my DD's red raw flare ups, It doesnt get rid of the excema, but it gets it to a level where i can keep moisturising to keep on top of it. sounds like your DD's is considerably worse, but I am guessing any advice may be helpful as it sounds pretty bad. Hope you get it sorted soon x

nt, I've tried elecon which usually shifts dd's eczema with no problems. This time it's not touching it.

I've got a stack of piriton as dd had chickenpox not so long ago so I'll definitely give that a go.

And as for stress, well, I guess it could be that. I've never noticed a flare up before due to stress but that's not to rule it out. It seems to have got worse though since we've been moved in, I mean since the stress levels have died down. I'll bear it in mind though, thanks for the suggestion.

I found ds has got to the point where no emollients work - in fact they all make it worse, even if they wee once okay. The hv has suggested trying pure vaseline. I haven't used it on ds but did on a nasty infected rash on dd1's top lip and it worked. Maybe you could try a tiny patch just to see?

i find it can take a week or so for stress-related pyhsical reactions to take place. could your dc be reacting to something in your new house?

also, dont know if this has already been mentioned but i saw a huge improvement in dd2's skin, it took about 5 weeks, when i stopped using detergent and changed to ecowash balls. started declorinating the bathwater at the same time with a crystal ball thingy, i think the ecoballs take most of the credit as dd2 only has a couple of baths a week at present. got both these from the allergybestbuys website. i mention it so often it looks like i own it!