Eczema Flare Up - Is It The Weather ?

[Tillysmummy]

I have posted on other threads about my dd's eczema which as very bad from 3 months till about 7 months but then seemed to really clear up (in the summer), she is now 12 months, and it has been practically non existent recently. I have used Elena Scharlburg's creams and they did work but dont seem to anymore. She has the last week flared up so badly it's all around her eyes and her little face is dreadful today.

I was wondering if it was because of the colder weather and the fact that the heating is on again albeit briefly.

I did change her onto goats which did seem to reduce her eczema but when recently we went to Paris and she had to have cow's milk it didn't seem to make any difference to her skin so I kept her on cows milk. I wonder if I should change her back.

Has anyone else experienced this at this time of year ?

Or do you think it's the milk ?

Tillysmum, my ds still has the occasional flare up but mainly on his hands and feet. This is normally down to teething, a cold or just being too hot, especially with socks and shoes. He has pretty much grown out of having any on the rest of his body and even when he does itch its nothing like it used to be just looks like he has had a good scratch. I too had him on goats milk but he drinks lots of cows milk now with no difference.

Has she touched anything? If ds skin is even slightly compromised and he touches our dogs it will make it worse so he has to keep his distance during flare up times.

Dear Tillysmummy,
both my children have eczema. Luckily both under control at present. We exhausted diet to no avail. Ds's seems to be emotional. The arrival of dd being the trigger at one point. Since then I have worked really hard at keeping him settled and happy, unthreatened etc. (he is a sensitive little boy anyway)and no further flair ups (touch wood). A friend recommended using a cream called Epaderm everyday to keep his skin in good condition and if you looked at or felt his skin now you would not know he had any problems (prone to dry skin as well).I even use normal shampoos, bath bubbles etc. again (after months of oilatum) with no adverse effects on his skin.

Thanks for the advice ladies. My mum has just taken her to the doctor (im at work) and it seems that it is so bad because she's run down, we have all been passing a nasty virus around the last 3 weeks and neither she or I have recovered and have both had antibiotics too so I guess we are pretty run down generally.

I don't think it is food related either. The dairy really seems to make little difference.

Floops where do you get that cream ?

We use 50/50 cream, bit like vaseline. Can be abit greasy but now only need to use twice a day and abit more if flare up happens. Cheaper than most other creams I have tried from the shop as I can get it from the doctor. Has the benefit of being pretty pure as most other creams seemed to only work for a while until something in the ingredients made things worse again.

My dd's eczema has flared up recently too. But then she is a little down with a runny nose and cough, so I'm putting it down to that. I think everytime she is run down her eczema will flare up. Like everyone has said here, my advice would be to use nothing but vaseline or acqueous cream as she is still very young. E45 might be ok too, but I would check with the chemist.

Hi, having lived through my sons eczema - the worst our local doctors had ever seen - and emerged the other side sane, I have all the sympathy in the world for anyone watching their children suffer this dreadful condition. I am certain the weather helps - we were so desperate after trying every treatment available, that we chucked everything in and moved to the Costa del Sol. Ds's eczema cleared within a few weeks of being here and we hope it is more manageable now. We are moving back to UK in October with our fingers crossed that his skin doesnt deteriorate again. Some good emolients to try are the Diprobase ones -available from a pharmacist in either cream or ointment, we found the ointment the best, it seems to absorb better than vaseline, Epaderm is also very good. Many eczema sufferers that I know cannot use E45, not sure if it contains lanolin but it certainly seems to irritate some sensitive skin. I cant give any advice on diet, we tried a very restricted diet (no dairy, no soya, no wheat, no chicken, no eggs) for 3 nightmarish months and it made no difference whatsoever but some people do find diet is the answer, we just have to keep trying. Good luck.

Can you get Epaderm over the counter? We're still on Doublebase which is fine most of the time, but if there's something better I'll give it a go on dd1.

my son is 15 months and had never had eczema until last week. I am putting it down to change in weather too!

Sorry to take so long in replying! Epaderm you can buy over the counter at Boots. I have now got it on prescription from the G.P. Did not think they would put it on Px for me as more expensive than say E45 (wqhich did nothing for my two) but they said as it was working why not - no quibbles.

My 3 year old just got cradle cap again which she had as a baby: does anyone have any advice?

Dear Popparoo
Oilatum shampoo - brilliant! You can buy it over the counter and it is kind to sensitive skin. IOt cost me £5 for a small bottle which I found in 'Savers' shop. If you don't have a shop near you I am sure you could get a chemist to order it if it is not readily available.

I have a 4 month old baby girl, and the doctors have told me she has eczema. Her skin looks like it has been burnt, its not dry and craked as you would expect with eczema. I have tried everything, Aveeno, Diprobase, and now I am using Double Base cream. It does not seem to be clearing at all, although somedays its not as red. She is a very restless baby and im not sure if shes itchy or not.Its breaking my heart to think she has an itch and cant scratch it.

babybear - I found that double base cream is working better than diprobase - but when dd1's eczema flares up I use a steroid cream for a short time until it has gone, and then keep on top of it with emollients. The steroid cream is on presciption - called Eumovate - but you can now buy it over the counter - you can get various strenghths of HC cream - try weakest first.

Also no soap/shampoo/bubblebath - I found this dramatically changed her eczema - I use oilatum soap/shampoo/and bath oil on her - she also started at around 2 mns - and seems to be triggered when poorly. HTH

Babybear,
I don't think you should be trying hydrocortisones on a 4 mth old without medical supervision. But I'm interested in you saying that it looks burnt - if you mean it is red and sort of shiny, then it sounds to me like it might be infected eczema, in which case you'll need to use a topical antibiotic to get rid of it. If it is infected, then by covering her with emollients you are probably just spreading the infection a bit. Also if you are using emollients out of a tub, and putting your fingers back into the tub to reapply, you are probably also infecting your emollient.
Take her to the gp, he/she may give you a mild antibio combined with hydrocort cream like Fucidin HC which should sort her out quickly.

Wiltshirelass,

All the creams that i have used so far on Holly have been perscribed by her Doctor. You have me worried now, saying it may be infected. Would the Doctor not have seen this. I have made an apponitment with a dermatologist for next Wednesday just to be sure.

babybear - is your dds eczema in round red spots - this is discoid eczema and does look very different to dry flaky eczema - my dd1 has the discoid type - mostly on legs. I think the Dr would have given you an antibiotic cream if the eczema was infected as in my experience infected eczema looks very different to uninfected eczema, and also can spread in circumference very quickly, and has the appearance of going deeper than just on the surface of the skin.

Wiltshirelass - hc and steroid creams work very well if there is a flare up of eczema - but I wasn't suggesting babybear should self-diagnose and go and buy OTC - merely offering advice.

JaneyT
Holly has the small red bumps on her hands only, The rest of her body, arms, back, blotches on her legs, and its now starting on her belly, is hard to describe. As Ive said it seems to me to look like a burn. Its red and blotchy. Not very dry, but then I am using alot of cream on her, 4 to 5 times a day. The blotches on her body are not as bad as what is on her arms. The blotches or her arms have seemed to join together making it look as if her whole arm is covered. Im worried sick about her. She is my first baby and all is new to me. I have made an appointment with the Dermatologist, I had to go Private (not that i mind paying the money)and the earliest appointment is next Wednesday.

all sorts of things can lead to flare-ups..dd had quite severe eczema until I twigged (doh!) that swimming once a week in chlorinated water was our trigger - it stopped in the summer when the lessons stopped! nowadays we go to an ozone pool - certainly less harsh on her skin - and she only has the odd patch at the back of her knees/elbows. we use v mild hydrocortisone as/when (only had one tiny tube since she was 6 mths, now 2yr 8mth) and avoid soap - just use aqueous cream as cleanser in bath, and a bit after too if she's v dry.

babybear - do you use soap or shampoo/bubble bath on her ? This can make things worse.

Dd1's eczema was at her worst from 2mns to 1 year and now she is just 3 her skin is the best I have seen it - her hands (she uses ordinary soap at nursery) are the worst.

Perhaps something in the house is triggering it - dd1 used to get it badly on her bare legs when she was at my mum's one day a week - and this I think is because of the dog - she now wears tights/trousers there, and the problem has gone away.

Have you considered phoning the National eczema helpline - they are VERY helpful on the phone - and this is where I picked up most of my info - and they will send you a leaflet.

Also I would go back to the Drs, even though you are going to a consultants next week, as you do seem very worried and I am sure the Dr would prescribe something to help . HTH

babybear - My five month old has had a really horrible flaky head for a couple of months now. It got worse when he was ill recently but things have radically improved since the weather turned fine. I stick him outside at every possible opportunity (all his naps are in his pram in the garden) and I've switched off the radiator in his room. I also found that by smothering him constantly in Diprobase, his skin couldn't breathe, so I apply little and often rather than slathering it on. My older boy who's 19mths had exactly the same thing and eventually grew out of it. Some days are better than others. Hope this helps.

Janey - I was very interested in what you said about discoid eczema. My dd has patches on eczema on her arms, legs and face that are definitely in circular patches and they are also very prone to infections. At one stage the Doctor thought the eczema had a fungal infection because it looked like ringworm. DD also has an immune deficiency and I don't know if this is relevant either.

I have been struggling to get her eczema under control for some time now and from the information I have just found on the internet, this does sound more like what she has.

Have you got any idea where I could find more info, as most of the stuff I have read says it is most common in adults.

Angiel - I found the National Eczema helpline very useful - and they will send you info in a leaflet - I rang them, but they are bound to have a website.

My dd1 gets the worst of the discoid on her legs - and when it is bad I do use a steroid cream for a short time - I have found this gets rid a the discs in about 2-3 days, but other than that I use double base cream, which is quite 'oily', but I used to use diprobase, which I didn't find as good - I am finding that doudlebase has drastically reduced the amount of steroid cream (eumovate) that I use on dd1.

Re infected eczema, it is really important that this is treated with an antibiotic cream, such as Fucibet, and it will clear up very quickly - IME when infected the eczema takes on a yellowish scabby appearance. Our GP told me to be come in straight away if there were any signs of infected eczema as it can spread quite quickly.

Dd2, who gets eczema very mildly got a patch of infected eczema when she was about 3mns old - and overnight the circumference of it doubled - but it went very quickly with the correct treatment.

The most important thing for our dds has been not using any soap/shampoo/bubble bath etc, and using oilatum, and keeping the skin moist with emollients - which is essential.HTH

I really didn't realise Eczema was so common in small babies, until I had Holly. It seems every second person I speak to has a child who has it or who has had it in the past. The only consolation is that in 9 out of 10 cases, the babies seem to outgrow it. Thank God.

Hi Babybear - how is Holly today? Does she seem any better?

Janey - I'm still trying to find out more about discoid eczema - the eczema association website has very limited information and no pictures.

I am still thinking that she might be suffering from discoid eczema together with atopic eczema which is possible apparently.

I have got a hospital appointment on Monday to speak to the doctor again because my GP was unable to get the infected eczema under control after 4 different antibiotics and loads of different creams. I would like to ask the consultant whether he thinks discoid eczema is a possibility, but from previous meetings, I get the impression that he doesn't like parents to have any opinions. Do you know where I can see any photos so I can make a comparison or would you be willing to email me, so I can pick your brains a bit?

Somedays are better then others, this morning its not bad at all. But I think shes really getting fed up with us poking at her all the time, and clattering her in cream. Poor baby.