Advice for exzema!!

Hi,
My daughter has quite bad exzema on her back, chest neck, armpits and elbow creases. I have stopped using soaps etc and changed washing powder. I am only using sorbelene to wash and moisturise, applying evening primrose oil and have a cream from the chemist called egocream to help with itching. The rash isnt showing any signs of improving. How long should i wait before trying to eliminate other possible causes. I dont know if it was the soap how long before you should see some improvement, to know if that was the cause or not. Any help would be very appreciated by 2 very tired parents and 1 distressed 3 month old. Thanks Dawn

Hi, my son who is now 13months had bad ezcema when he was between 6-9 months.
We tried everything, including egocream also which isn't really good to use anyway as it is a steriod cream.
Fianlly we were told to try calendula ointment which can be purchased from the health food store for around $12 and it lasts ages.
Anyway this seemed to do the trick with Jai and any flare ups he gets we rub the cream on the areas.
It may initally take a week to work but its worth a try. Or otherwise use the egocream first to get rid of the nasty areas and then use calendula ointment consistantly after that for 2 weeks.

Good luck with it all, hope this helps!
Em

Hi,

My daughter also developed exzema at the same age. I went to the doctor and they prescribed a steriod based cream which was of a lesser concentrate than the one that you get at the chemist. The one from the doctor was only 0.01% and the one at the chemist was 0.05%.

If you are worried about using the cream that you got from the chemist you could go to the doctor and get the 0.01% cream which worked really well for my daughter. I was also worried about using this cream but I found that if I used it when I first saw the exzema developing, I was able to maintain her condition with other creams.

The chemist also suggested that you can add sorboline to the egocream and this will lessen the concentrate.

Good luck.

my daughter gets exzema and I have posted about this before. I dont use steriod creams on her and never have. I use medihoney bought from the chemist for around $10. Its fantastic.
I would also put some sweet almond oil in the bath and as a massage. Baby oil has the opposite effect of what you want as it doesnt let natural moisture through unlike a food oil which will. Its also not a very good oil to use for any reason as it is a mineral oil.

I took my son to the royal childrens and the peadatic skin specialist confirmed that LONG term use of steriod cream means just that about 40-60 years of it 3 times a day....

Please don't be like me and be scared to use steriod cream, My son scratched till he bled because I was reluctant to use the SC for more than a week. I used it daily for about 3 weeks and loads of sorbolene cream (advice of another paed specialist)

So if you are finding SC works for you - use it thats what it is there for. I spent 100's of $ on other creams that didn't work and for us the cortisone was by far the best. (medihoney & Calandula did give some relief though)

Steph

I can't contradict what the doctors told you about steriod based creams with medical evidence but I can say that I used it on my eczema for years (until I was about 20) and I now have surface veins all over my legs. Apparently it causes thinning of the skin, and I'm proof.

It is fantastic when trying to get rid of really bad outbreaks, however I use lansinoh (for nipples) on my son's legs now when I notice it coming, and it gets rid of it just as quickly.

Dette did you just use the minimal ones like .001 and .005% that is mostly what is given now for the infantile eczema...

I have never thought to use lansinoh on ezcema its fab on my teeth ravaged nipples (from bubby not hubby LOL)

Steph

LOL! As if hubby's getting a go at the moment...or at least my poor one isn't!!!

I don't remember the actual amount but it was Celestone (?) cream that i used. It was the same prescription from the time i was little until i decided not to use it anymore.

My exzema also gradually disappeared. For years i couldn't use soap (I've found the best soap is the cheap ones from the $20 shop that contain no purfumes or extras) and shampoo drove me nuts!! It still does if i buy the same one each time, so i've developed a habit of changing brands every shopping trip. The other thing that was bad was sitting on carpets/ grass at school. I used to have my nails really short to stop myself ripping behind my knees to shreads. Now if it does appear, the lansinoh is great!!

Dette,

I don't think hubby was planning on me BFing this long..... he doesn't like sharing them anymore LOL

Steph

Mine's not too happy about the restricted access either, but he's also the first one to have a good 'perve' when they're full of milk! Men!!!

Is anyone else having trouble finding foods that dont cause eczema as our bubs get older? I have just discovered that I cant give my bub wheat as he came up not only with his eczema, but with hives all over his face....
He has had eczema since he was about 3 months old...

Hi Dawn,

Have you tried using alpha kerri oil or QV oil in the bath & then moisturising with sorbolene after. A gem piece of advice given to me was to buy a tub of sorbolene NOT the pump packs as they are more watered down & not as effective for moisturising already dry skin.

My 6 yr old suffered alot with excema but it has settled down fairly well with only occassional flare ups. My 3.5mth old is heading down the same path - she has it on her tummy, back,arms legs,face, neck & all her creases. Am doing the bath thing but hanging off using the .01% cortisone until she sees the dr in a couple of weeks - want him to see it first. More than likely will head off to allergy clinic at a latewr stage.

A friend who has a severly allergic child with excema has found that emu oil works wonders. Have heard other people say that too - thought i might give it a go.