My son has had red blotches (eczema) on his skin, usually at his inner elbow area, back of the knees and wrists for over a year. We have seen many doctors, including an allergist who recommended rubbing Crisco all over to keep his skin moist. It only seems to get worse no matter how well we moisturize his skin. It itches, so we have to give him a benadril type med every night which makes him too drowsy in the morning. Does anyone know what specific types of things cause this? I'm particularly interested in the types of allergens people have found? He's being tested for allergies but I'm afraid it's going to tell us about too many things that will be difficult for him to avoid like "grass" or "dust." What treatment has worked best for others? Desperate for some help...
Thank you all for your responses. I love this online community. You learn more from one e-mail to other moms than in several visits to a pediatrician. We got back the results from my son's allergy tests. He's allergic to walnuts, peanuts and egg whites. Funny how nothing we feed him directly contains any of those products. I'm sure there are occasionally traces of these things in some products and we will start monitoring that. As for bath products, we have always used fragrance free, dye-free stuff. Right now we are using the California Baby products that don't contain Sodium Laurel Sulfate (a suspected carcinogen). The thing that's helping most is going all out with the moisturizers (I mean at least ten times a day, practically every hour). Thanks again to all. I wish you all success in this battle over eczema!
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S.: My daughter has severe/chronic atopic dermatitis. She just turned five in jan. in 2007 she was on antibotics every month. Her skin has been infected countless times. Her skins bleeds frequently due to the itching. The Drs wanted to hospitalize her several times, ( I refused) I have been to everyone, convential and non-convential. My mother had eczema as a child. People that have had it have always told me that it does get better. I give her zrytec at night that does relax her. They say food many times drives the eczema, but in her case the things she is alergic to she doesn't eat anyway. We had a water filtertraion system installed in our home. everything we use is "free" soap detergent etc. I could go on and on. If you like I can send you a list of the things we have tried. send me a message and I will put it together
Have you seen a pediatric dermatologist? My daughter was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis at 5 months. I took her to see Dr. Andrea Trowers. She is one of only a handful of pediatric dermatologists (she also sees adults) in the entire state. She prescribed a regimen of hydrocortisone cream and another cream called Triamcinilone and it changed our lives dramatically. My daughter still itches, but only occasionally and her skin has completely cleared up. She also recommended that we stop using any and all Johnson and Johnson products because they tend to be extremely drying. She recommended Cetaphil lotion and it has worked great. Her office is very good about getting kids in as quickly as possible and is not far from downtown Miami. You can also google her.
My son and my nephew have eczema too. My son's one and after his first very red breakout as an infant, his has gotten to be very mild. For him I use Dove Sensitive Skin for his baths and a moisturizer recommended by his dermatologist that I put on him after his baths. My son's flares up with perfume-y clothing detergents and colognes. We use the baby detergent for all our household washes but if someone's wearing a lot of cologne or perfume or tries to wrap him in a blanket washed in regular detergent he'll get a little breakout. My nephew is three and has a bad case of it. My sister uses Emu Oil for his dry patches and likes it. His flares up when he's at my mom's house. She has a cat so we think he's allergic to her. Hope this helps.
Have you tried going totally hypoallergenic in any products that touch his skin? My daughter had a mild case of eczema and in addition to keeping her skin well moisturized, our dermatologist (i recommend you see one of these) told us to use all hypoallergenic, fragrance free products. Laundry detergent, soap, lotion, shampoo, sunscreen. We also put a allergy barrier mattress cover and pillow case cover on her bed. So far it seems to have helped.
did he need a special formula as an infant?
could it be milk or soy?
maybe keep a food journal & see if there's anything he eats that makes it worse?
I would think maybe food allergies?
milk, soy, nuts, wheat, corn (corn syrup is in everything!)?
maybe cut all milk & soy from his diet for 2 weeks (including 'hidden' milk or soy proteins you find in the ingredients) & see if anything gets better?
if you see an improvement then you know it's one or both (they usually go hand in hand- milk & soy)
then after that, try cutting out something else for 2 weeks?
it's hard!
What are you using to bathe your son? We used Aveeno baby wash on our kids skin (both suffer from ezcema). The doctors recommended we not bathe them everyday, unless absolutely necessary. Don't use hot water, use cool water. The key to keeping the baby's skin moisturized is to apply lotion/cream immediately after wetting the skin, don't wait more than 3 mins. Also, we found that when the kids had outbreaks, cetaphil worked wonders on their skin (it still does). We used the cetaphil soaps (both the liquid and the bar), and the cream. In severe cases, we have used benadryl ointment w/hydrocortisone ointment, and applied it to the red spots.
Our kids have had allergic reactions to milk, nuts, soap, detergent used to do laundry, including fabric softener and sheets. Also, we have used cool mist humidifiers, rather than the warm ones, when the kids have been sick.
You should really consider doing what Laura suggested, by cutting foods out of his diet and re-introducing them, that will allow you to figure out what foods, if any, he may allergic to.
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Hi S., I have the answer for you, its called renew lotion from a company called melaleuca, its a great cream. Its soft and sinks deep down into the pores making the skin soft, taking away the dry feeling that causes him to scratch. i used this on my daughter of 1 she had it on her cheeks and she is doing great now, no sign of anything. If you need any more infomation please give me a call
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