National Eczema Week: Webchat with dermatology nurse Julie Van Onselen: Tuesday 18 September at 9pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Today marks the start of National Eczema Week and we’re running a webchat tomorrow evening (Tuesday 18 September) with Julie Van Onselen who will be on-hand to answer questions about eczema from 9pm on Tuesday evening.

Julie is an experienced dermatology nurse, who is passionate about improving care and support for people with skin conditions and in educating patients and healthcare professionals. She is a Dermatology Nurse Adviser to the National Eczema Society and provides advice on eczema to people who contact the charity’s the Helpline service.

National Eczema Society is the UK’s leading charity for people with eczema, providing independent information and support through its helpline, website, social media and publications. The charity also provides a voice for people with eczema, in research, in the development of new treatments, and in improving medical care.

Join Julie at 9pm on Tuesday evening or post your question on this thread in advance.

@Cagliostro

Hello, My DS 9 has recently had an improvement since we moved house. Not sure if it was an issue with damp/mould (awful landlord) as we’ve moved to an airy house. We were having to wet wrap his hands nightly with hydromol ointment (had tried creams before but they seemed to make it worse) to keep on top of it. Now however we have only done the gloves once since moving in July and the usual ointment made his knuckle go red raw overnight. So we have stopped again. It’s still vastly improved from the old house but it is still dry/flaky and a bit angry, but I’m too scared to use hydromol again and not sure about going back to cream treatments either. It almost looks mild enough to just use an over the counter thing but experience tells me otherwise. Any suggestions please 💐

It is good to hear your DS eczema has improved and it does sound like your environment was a trigger. Damp and mould is a common eczema trigger. It sounds like the red skin is not due to the Hydromol, which is the emollient but eczema. So I would suggest you discuss with your son’s GP, as a short steroid treatment burst may be required. I don’t think you need to worry about Hydromol, as emollients alone are often not enough to control an eczema flare.

@BryanAdamsLeftAnkle

I have discoid eczema. I have tried everything over the years and have just learned to live with it now.

I'm living with patches on my legs and feet which is can keep covered and small patch on my wrist and thumb and new patxhes have sprung up on my areolas on both breasts. Most uncomfortable. I don't use steroids on them.

I am aware that stress is my trigger. I'm currently in 3rd year of my nursing degree. I never dreamt I'd be allowed to do this degree! I digress...

I'm currently in flare not on placement. None of my creams/ointments are working. My swabs are clear. I'm just soooo tired of looking like this and trying to hide my patches.

Sorry I have had 40 plus years of living with this and I'm tired of it. Woe is me post. Sorry

Hi BryanAdamsLeftAnkle I am sorry to hear you have difficult discoid eczema, it is quite a stubborn type of eczema to treat, as you describe. It sounds like it would be useful for you to have a dermatology assessment and review, especially as it affects your life. It would be a good idea to ask your GP to refer you to dermatology, if treatment prescribed by your GP is not working. However, I do wonder if you are using topical steroid treatment (always in short bursts) to your best effectively to treat your eczema. You can also use mild and moderate tsreoids on your sensitive breast areolas quite safety. Please do visit our website and won load the NES factsheets on discoid eczema and topical steroids at www.eczema.org/factsheets and if you are feeling very stressed by your eczema you may like to talk to someone at the NES, our helpline number is 0800 089 1122. All the best. Julie

Thank you very much for your reply re dr aron, that's interesting that his is the approach used 40 years ago, I didn't know that! The problem we have is that our DD has staph based eczema that responds to nothing except antibiotic cream. Pretty much the instant we stop, she becomes covered in itchy red spots again - and I mean covered - hence the repeated courses of oral antibiotics and very strong steroids, and suggestions of moving on to the big guns i.e. immune suppressants. From our perspective, long-term use of fucidin very much seems the lesser of the evils available to us.

Having said that, we're also having recent success with the staphefekt cream from gladstone which apparently contains some enzyme that specifically targets the staph bacteria. So far it does seem to have diminished her reliance on antibiotics and got the spots under control for the first time in her life. So far we are having to get it straight from the manufacturer at vast expense, so I'm rather hoping that ongoing clinical trials get it NICE approved before long!

@frogsoup

Thank you very much for your reply re dr aron, that's interesting that his is the approach used 40 years ago, I didn't know that! The problem we have is that our DD has staph based eczema that responds to nothing except antibiotic cream. Pretty much the instant we stop, she becomes covered in itchy red spots again - and I mean covered - hence the repeated courses of oral antibiotics and very strong steroids, and suggestions of moving on to the big guns i.e. immune suppressants. From our perspective, long-term use of fucidin very much seems the lesser of the evils available to us.

Having said that, we're also having recent success with the staphefekt cream from gladstone which apparently contains some enzyme that specifically targets the staph bacteria. So far it does seem to have diminished her reliance on antibiotics and got the spots under control for the first time in her life. So far we are having to get it straight from the manufacturer at vast expense, so I'm rather hoping that ongoing clinical trials get it NICE approved before long!

Hi Frogsoup thanks you for your reply and yes I have heard of Galdstone which does have clinical evidence (but not available in the UK). I can totally understand how difficult your DD is to manage especially with recurrent infection. You are perhaps under dermatology or have seen dermatologist. Sometimes when eczema is severe, a course of immunosuppressants may be required to switch off the eczema. Unfortunately, long term Fucidin will lead to resistance eventually. I agree your DD eczema sounds difficult to manage, maybe see your dermatologist again or perhaps ask for a referral to a larger dermatology department (with a paediatric dermatologist) as a tertiary referral for another opinion. All the very best. Julie

That brings us to the end of the webchat - thanks so much to Julie for getting through so many questions and for your full and informative answers.

Final word from The National Eczema Society:

The National Eczema Society provides independent information and support for people with eczema through its helpline, website, social media and publications. The charity also provides a voice for people with eczema, in research, in the development of new treatments, and in improving medical care. If you need help with your own or your child’s eczema, you can call our Helpline on 0800 089 1122, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, or email your questions to [email protected]

Thank you so much to all those involved in organising this. So informative and helpful.

Thanks Julie :)

Well, it's 22.00hrs everyone and sadly time for the webcast to close. I have really enjoyed chatting to the mums net community on line. The NES is a charity dedicated to listening and supporting people with eczema and their families/carers.
For more information about all aspects of eczema, please visit:
www.eczema.org and if you want to talk to someone who understands about eczema, please call our helpline on 0800 089 1122
Thank you for all your questions and joining the chat. Night night. Julie

Goodnight and thank you.

Just read the reply to my question, thank you. Perhaps we are a bit lax now her eczema has nearly cleared. Hopefully we will get it under control next summer.