What's your best advice for excema???

J

Jillster

Active Member
Hello to all,
I am doing some research on excema, and want your advice as well. My 3 year old son has it, and I am trying what I can. My pediatrician said it could be years before we find his triggers. Do any of you have any suggestions? I would love to hear from anyone who wants to share.
Thanks in advance....Jill:7
 
Basics for eczema care. Don't bathe too often. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!! Aquaphor, Cetaphil or aveena are great moisturizes. Antihistimines for itching. Low potency steriod creams to calm flares or even elidel. I feel for the poor little guy. Hope he is better soon. Here's a website with lots of useful info:http://www.skincarephysicians.com/eczemanet/

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Good Luck Jill. I have a 3 y/o DS that has been suffering from excema since he was 1. He has it from mid thigh down and it is hideous. He has been on every anti histamine, skin cream etc. He is allergic to eggs, milk, grasses of all kinds and plenty that we still haven't figured out. He got so bad that we finally had to put him on high dose steroids. It completely resolved it, and we are tapering him off now to see what we can get away with. I also started him on flaxseed oil suppliments. I sincerely hope that you can get your son's problem under control. It is tough, but you have to stay with it.
 
Two of my kids had eczema really bad. My daughter's is related to food allergies and is under control when she avoids trigger foods. We used Cetaphil to bathe her, but all of the creams that were recommended irritated her skin. We used cortisone cream when it got bad, but tried to avoid it. Oh - we were prescribed Elidel (sp?), but chose not to use it because I wasn't convinced that it was safe.

My son had terrible eczema as a baby and had to take oral meds to help with the itching. I don't know what caused it, but he grew out of it when he was about two. He looked like he had the measles because it was so bad and covered his whole body. We were in the ER once for croup and someone on the staff wanted to quarantine him because she thought he had the measles. I can't even look at his baby pictures because he looks so awful and uncomfortable. He doesn't have food allergies, but he does have asthma - fortunately, it's mild. He was on steroids once for his asthma and it cleared the eczema right up - it was amazing.

Good luck. Eczema is so hard to keep under control and so uncomfortable!

Erica
 
My second daughter has eczema BUT only in the winter. As soon as the warm weather starts, swimming and sun, it disappears. She is just starting to get it again. She basically uses Aveeno and Dove soap and that seem to help. It took us a while, trying this and that until we figured out what worked. Everybody is so different and responds differently. Hope you find the right solution that works for your little one.
 
First of all, see a dermatologist. It could be psoriasis, which looks exactly like excema but is not curable (excema is a temporary condition, psoriasis is a permanent, genetic condition). When I first got psoriasis my pediatrician told my parents I had skin mites. Yikes!

Topical treatments are the same for both but excema is not common during the summer when it's more humid--it typically shows when the weather gets really dry (saying this without knowing where you live--I guess if it's someplace where it's dry year-round he'd have it all the time).

Typical, effective meds are psorcon, temovate & dovenex (sp?). Dovenex is the best b/c it's mostly vitamin D & will not have any side effects. The other two are steroidal creams & ongoing use will cause thinning of the skin.

I've found the best over the counter stuff to be Eucerin in a jar directly on the affected spots, or Keri 2X a day over the whole body.
 
I would definitely ask alot of questions before I used Elidel. There is a question of how it could possibly affect the immune system and future lymphoma. Low dose corticosteroids won't cause scarring or thin skin if used correctly/sparingly. I agree with seeing a dermatologist and unscented Dove soap, no very warm or hot bathes and Aquaphor or Eucerin. Good luck!
 
I agree about the Elidel. My pediatrician and allergist really pushed it on us, but we chose not to use it. Eliminating food triggers has helped clear up my daughter's skin a lot - we are lucky that we were able to figure out what was causing the flare-ups. Her skin is so sensitive and we were spending a fortune on creams - everything irritated her skin.

Erica
 
Hi,

My daughter has had eczema since about 3 months old. She is currently in a 6 year study (under the care of a dermatologist) to help determine if early treatment will decrease the development of asthma. Apparently, 50% of infants who have eczema will go on to develop asthma. I have found with my daughter that I cannot give her baths to frequently and must slather her with a mild (cetaphil) cream afterwards. We do use Elidel and have a stronger rx cream, Cutivate we use if the flareups get bad. She will usually scratch while sleeping and we have found the rx creams work the best to minimize the itching.

I don't have much advice for you but would say a daily stathering of cream is a must!

Good Luck!
Mary
 
I've used all types of lotions and steroids, and I've also heard bad things about Elidel. I get a bad flare up everytime I'm sick. I used Curel and it's the only lotion that has worked for me. You might want to try new detergent with your wash...might be that.

Good luck!
Lindsay
 
My middle daughter had it from the time she was born until it went away on its own at age 4. It was a horrible, horrible experience through which we had many sleepness nights due to her scratching and crying.
We used every cream we could get our hands on- including Elidel, which did work for a while. Everything we used worked for a while, but I think what worked best was Vanicreme mixed with a little hydrocortisone after bath. She hated it, but it worked. In hindsight, I wonder if we had tried Fish oil or Omega 3 vitamins it might have helped more?
 
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