Eczema friendly hand sanitiser

[JS711]

Hello ☺️

My son has eczema. It's normally well controlled with diet, emollient and ointment which took and absolute age to pin down and get right.

School seem to have changed their anti bacterial sanitiser though as since midway through last week his hands have become very sore. He has eczema allover the back of his hands, fingers and all around his wrists in a band.

I asked him if they changed and he said it's a different colour. He's 6 so he won't know brands etc.
Has anyone got any knowledge of a sanitiser that is kind on eczema kids hands? They are raw and cracking. One hand was bleeding today. He's gone to bed very upset after I smothered his hands in oinment.

Not sure if school can make adjustments to the sanitiser for one child. But he's in quite a lot of discomfort and I feel awful for him.

Many thanks.
J

Is he allowed to take in his own? We use Ecohydra which is alcohol-free.

To be fair, I’ve sent it in with both my children and they tell me they usually just use the school one as it’s easier. But at least they have the choice, and they do use our one if their hands are feeling particularly dry.

I use the dove one, which leaves my hands nice and soft (the eczema on them has been cracked and bleeding regularly until I made the swap). It’s quite strongly scented though - don’t hold and eat a sandwich afterwards, it taints the food and makes it taste horrible!

You need to get on top of this, his hands could get infected if they re bleeding. Couldnt he use soap and water, in preferrence to anti bac gel? Could he have his own small bottle of hand wash?

Just get him to bring in his own

Get one that’s moisturising and fragrance free. Or alternatively he can wash his hands with soap and water at a sink whenever they ask him to sanitise

Send him into school with some more suitable sanitiser, I've a couple of kids in my class who bring their own for the same reason.

I use Carex sensitive for myself and DD. I found it more skin friendly and it does not smell. She has one in her lunch bag, one in blazer’s pocket and one in her rucksack. Washing hands with hot water too often makes things worse. How hot is water at school?
Also could it be that he’s using it too often at school? My DD tends to use it EVERY time she is passing near by, just in case.

You could also send in a tube of hand cream. I use a small Neutrogena one and you don’t need much so it lasts ages.

Thanks to those who made suggestions of brands to try. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

And yes I know I need to get on top of it hense me asking for brand suggestions. I will be speaking to his teacher tomorrow morning asking if we can do double washing rather than the sanitiser. I will also be going to boots on my way to work to find one of the suggested brands. He will be using his own.

It's not been an issue up until now. He says they changed the colour last week so clearly it's not suited. It's normally scent that causes the issue for him.

Thank you for the advice.

I keep a bottle of diprobase in class. I wash rather than sanitise when I can and put diprobase on straight after. It really helps. Sanitiser stings like hell if you have cracks too.

@greenlynx

I use Carex sensitive for myself and DD. I found it more skin friendly and it does not smell. She has one in her lunch bag, one in blazer’s pocket and one in her rucksack. Washing hands with hot water too often makes things worse. How hot is water at school? Also could it be that he’s using it too often at school? My DD tends to use it EVERY time she is passing near by, just in case.

Unfortunately I have not been into his current classroom area as it was all closed due to Covid. I visited reception but not year 1. Can't even get close at drop off and pick up.

They have hand sanitiser as they walk through the door into the classrooms. Every breaktime before and after. Toilets obviously. Lunch. He said he has been using it when he uses a pen or pencil that a friend has used. It's been drummed into them.

I'll try the carex ones as we had those at the begining of the pandemic and the blue one didn't upset his skin.

Thank you

The WHO still recommends at least 60% alcohol but some studies show that non alcohol sanitisers also work but take 2mins rather than seconds. Cracked hands are terrible and will increase the risk of infection so I would use alcohol sanitisers when I can but non alcohol when hands are suffering and wash hands more than sanitise. Moisturise after