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,
Dont have kids with this but my brother has suffered all this life with eczema and i would have to agree with sophable on the dairy free for a while.Also biscuits and cakes.He cut them all out of his diet and the eczema cleared up.He only has to have one biscuit now and it can cause an outburst.
Might be worth a try if the tablets and creams are not working.

Thanks for the replies.

We saw the GP today who acknowledged it's very bad on her face and genitals but is also flummoxed as to why she has it nowhere else at all. He was pretty sure it's not any kind of contact dermatitis / allergy because she would be more likely to have it where her clothes etc. touch her skin rather than on her face.

Anyhow he's told me to just use barrier creams on her genitals and 1% hydrocortisone on her face and has referred me to the paediatric dermatologist which could take a month he reckons. Probably more though if my experiences of hospitals are anything to go by.

She had an awful night last night, she woke up 5 times with sore itching genitals and I put barrier cream on every time. But she's a mess 'down below'.

I'm very reluctant to go down the dairy free route because dd is very anti-protein in her diet. As it is she never eats cheese or yoghurt or, in fact, chocolate! But she does drink milk. She doesn't eat meat or fish so the only protein she has is in the form of beans and pulses which I'm not happy with by themselves. I'll have to revisit that idea if the dermatologist insists.

As for the stress thing, we moved 2 months ago and this has only really flred up in the last 2 weeks although it's been a problem on and off for the last year. Because of this I don't think it's something in the new flat which has triggered it. She's had flare-ups in the past but this one is the worst and seems to be resistant to everything I try.

DS had severe eczema as a baby and then we discovered a whole host of allergies. See if you can get a RAST test (blood test) which may well point to the culprit. It's not conclusive but a good starting point.

DS had both wet and dry eczema and what works for one won't work as well for the other. Things that I found helpful:

• Avoiding water as much as possible. Lots of irritants in water. Look into water softener. Check out Healthy House website. Will do link later.
• Using ointment instead of cream when using steroids.
• Using neat tea tree oil on wet eczema was fantastic. it does sting some people but I find it soothing and so does DS.
• Use moisturiser on dry bits.

I tried everything from Homeopathy to Chinese herbalism.

Healthy House Have a look at the two dechlorination products. I have eczema on my hands and water really irritates it.

Green People Baby Salve is amazing for sore down below bits and was formulated by a mum whose dcs had excema. You can get it in Waitrose or via their website.

Thanks for those tips drosophila. How do you tell the difference between wet and dry eczema? Dd's is very red and has tiny raised spots all the way through it which sometimes break open and weep. Would that mean it's wet eczema?

I'll look out for that cream, nt, thanks.

The type that weeps is wet eczema. I get both too and I think the wet type is worse cos at least you can moisturise the dry type.

Do you know why you get it drosophila? is it genetic? I had exactly the same kind of eczema as dd has when I was a girl, in exactly the same places. In those days they gave me such strong steroid creams it stained my face yellow for months afterwards. I rarely get it at all now.

The last two days I've put nothing on but mild hc cream and emollient and strangely it's looking better than all those anti-fungals and anti-biotic creams the GP has been giving me.

For me water is a real iritant and stress. Apparently there is a genetic link. I never had it when lived in the country so I suspect pollution. I also find lots of creams sting. I found allergenics good but there is almond oil in it so I would avoid incase you or DD are sensitive. Look for a cream with natural liquorish as it is a natural anti inflamatory. I would look for creams that are not made from petrochemicals (aqueous) and that are free from nut oils and seasame oils. It's harder than you think. I am using one at the moment from eco cosmetics which is pretty nice but expensive.

Thanks for the info. I feel like I've tried such a range of creams now I don't know where to start any more.

But it is suddenly seeming a bit better, except the genitals which are raw. My dermatology app. isn't until 4 May, 8 weeks away!

I mean dd's appointment, not mine!

Just having another read. It could be an allergy of some kind. Traces coming out in her urine maybe? Kids with eczema are often allergic to lots of thing. DS see a specialist consultant about his allergies and I come away exhausted as she gives us so much information. Allergies, asthma and eczema all go hand in hand.

Try and get an allergy test done. They can do a Rast test which is basically a blood test which can give false positives and negatives but is a prettygood indicator. Combined with a skin prick test and you get even closer.

Steroid creams should work on any inflamation eczema or otherwise. I know what you mean by the number of creams. People here swear by Green people and Aveno. I found this \link{ www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/webchat/webchat_2004_26_tue_01_eczema.shtml\here}

here

Thanks again. She does have terrible allergies actually and reasonably severe asthma - we spent the whole of New Year's Eve in A&E last year as she had asthma attack after asthma attack and it was very hard to get under control. That was an allergy to my mum's dog where we were staying.

I guess the allergy tests would be done by the dermatologist? I've phoned the GP today and left a message for him to change his referral letter to stress that 10 weeks is not a reasonable time to wait when she's in such a lot of pain.