DD has terrible eczema and im not happy with the ointment we have been given....what do you use on your DC...and more importantly does it work?!

[Orchide]

DD has eczema - had to spell check cos its one of those words! - mostly on her cheeks and the backs of her knees. Some days its clear and others the skin looks really red and angry. She scratches the backs of her knees awfully, tonight in the bath she was even using her other foot to scratch and was obviously inufomfortable

Went to the docs a few weeks ago who gave us emollient cream and bath liquid which is okish but doesnt touch it when she has an angry flare up. He also gave us efcortelan ointment for when its really irritated. Instructions tell me to applyu very sparingly , have also been told -admittedly not by a doc - as its a steroid it thins the skin. Having to use this most days so IMO not really doing a great job!

We have an appointment at the docs on wednesday morning and id like to go prepared, im not happy with this and would like something else.....so voices of experience tell me what you know!

Hiya - have unfortunately long experience with eczema as all three of mine have it. DD2 age 3 is the worst, and sees hospital every few months. She had that cream for a while, but is now on betnovate RD, another steroid, and yrdocortisone, I have to use betnovate for red angry flares then move down to hydrocortisone to ease it away. I too worry about the thinning of skin issue - but on my recent visit the nurse assured me that the amount I am using is completely fine, even though I am putting it on her more often than not. We use cetreben as emmoilient, which is good. Have never found bath oils any good, although they are always telling me to use them lots. You can try so many different steroids, and emmolients, its a case of finding ones to suit your child. For example eumovate scarred my other dd, it seemed to burn the skin and peeled it off and left a scar, to refused to use it on dd2 ! Had bad reaction to diprobase too. So be careful

DH uses UltraBase, works wonders on him, but not sure what it is or if its suitable for kids!

I've not used the cream you mention but have used hydrocortisone. We use Balneum, H/C and Aveeno. You sometimes have to try a few different creams before you find one that works. If you have aqueous cream you might find that it makes things worse - it's the first thing that GPs prescribe (cos it's cheap) but many people find it doesn't suit.

Are you allowing some time, say 20 minutes, between applying the steroid and the emollient? Also you we were advised to 'taper' the use of the H/C not just stop it completely.

i used calendula cream on my ds and it worked wonders! Its natural ( made from marigolds) and you can buy it in Boots. x

We use Epaderm, which is waxy and seems to be very good and non-reactive (some things like Doublebase make DS's skin more red).

Yes epaderm is great - but avoid getting it on your clothes ! And it is too hot for the summer. A good one to cover them in before bed. Dd2 is going for allergy tests in hjanuary to try to work out what some of her triggers are. Should be interesting. Bet it is bloody everything she likes !

my first had bad eczema as a baby and sometimes now have flare ups(usally when he's unwell). we used oilatem bath oil,eperderm and hydrocortisone. the steriod cream we used every day twice a day for less than a year and he now looks great.

I have passed eczema onto my DS2 and although I am cross about it I also have no hesitation in using steroid cream. I have now had bad eczema for 34 years and although my skin is not great it is much better than it would have been if I had listened to all the doctors offering alternatives to steroid cream (in 1989 our GP surgery offered me a grant to buy a sunbed as they believed that would help!)
On DS2 we use Epaderm as a soap substitute and on the skin after a bath - on particularly angry patches we are currently using eumovate but we have an appointment for next week as it doesn't seem to be sorting things so will probably ask for something else.
Sorry that has turned into an essay - hope your little ones feels better soon!

Thanks all for your thoughts. Jingleyjen at sunbed grant!

DD ezcema seems so sporadic, some days her face is clear and others day really angry and as were still weaning - not very speedily but thats another thread! - cant be food allergies. It seems like there is no partic pattern in what makes it better/worse?
Dont have it so no direct experience, is it likely that it will repeat in this patten for while, ie . some days clear and others days bad? Is it not likely that we will find a magic cream which will make it vanish?

Have been using hydrocortizone (1%)and double base moisturiser on my kids for a while now, has definitely helped. Have spoken to a number of medical people recently as dd's is particularly bad at the mo, and have been told on more than one occasion that keeping them moisturised is the key to getting it under control using the creams such as Double base. Epaderm is also good we use this as a soap subsitute in the bath.

I have also used the Oilatum products in the bath and they have all been useless.

Hope you find something that helps soon.

We use Epaderm twice a day, a tiny bit of hydrocortisone or Eumovate on sore patches, Dermol 600 in bath and Dermol 500 as body wash - this is what helped the most, it has antibacterial qualities. We also use Tubifast garments at night over the Epaderm, and at first she used to wear them during the day as well. She has gone from having severe eczema to nothing at all really on this regime.

Orchide - dd2s eczema has always been like this, one minute she is absolutely fine, clear etc, then suddenly she is red and itching like mad. Hence the allergy testing to try to understand it a bit more. dd1 was worse as a baby, cried all night itching, till we tried fucibet steroid and that cleared it, and only needed repeating about once a fortnight. She then grew out of it by age 2. Dd2 got her eczema later, as 18 mo, but hers has got worse and worse. Its like banging your head against a brick wall, trying to fathom what I'm doing wrong that effects her so badly. Hope the testing brings some answers. Sorry thats probably not much help for you - many children do grwo out of it before school age, so hopefully the same will apply to you. Just moisterise as much as poss, and keep an eye on the flares, in case it is certain things kicking them off.

IME it's really a case of trying all the creams and ointments to find which combination works best for your LO. We use Oilatum in the bath, Doublebase and 1% hydrocortisone. My stepmum is a GP and has assured me that it's fine to use the steroids on an ongoing basis -- hydrocortisone is v weak as steroids go and it's better than leaving the eczema untreated.

You might not find any direct link to allergies -- but we have found that LO's flares up if he comes into contact with cow's milk (he is fine with other dairy products, though).