Eczema....the Nasty Rash

Hi Bobbie!
I realize this is an old request but I just got to read it. My son has had eczema ever since he was born. We went through a rough patch from 4 -7 months. He had a red spot on the side of his face that would not clear up with numerous trips to the pediatrician. He would constantly scratch at it. We finally took him to a dermatologist that treated babies as well. He was only a little over 6 months and she saw him. She swabbed the area to see what it was and gave us a cream. It finally cleared up after about two weeks with seeing the dermatologist. I honestly don't think it would have gone away like it did without her help. I would suggest going ahead and trying a dermatologist. Pediatricians can't always pinpoint the exact cause of each breakout. Good luck and if you need a good dermatologist location, I can try to look up who we saw. She was great!

Bobbie,
My son has eczema also. He has it on his face on the side. Sometimes he will scratch it also because it itches. He is only 4 1/2 months old. We took him to the Dr. about it and he said to apply Hydracortizone creame. The 1%. Nothing stronger just the 1%. He said to do that 4xs a day and it will eventually go away. Also if there is a hard crust over it to get some mineral oil. Apply it and let it set for about 10 minutes and then wipe off. It will help the scales to come off. DO NOT Leave the oil on. Also apply the creame libberally so that it covers the area. This has helped my son. I know that lotions did not work and they can be irritating especially if the skin is open. After it has healed you might try some Eucerin lotion and that will keep it from drying out. Let me know if you have questions. I hope this helps.

my 6 month old son gets some Eczema from time to time and his Pediatrican has told me to put hydrocordizon on it. It helps with the itching and the dryness.

N.

Hi Bobbie,
My name is W.. I have two little girls that have eczema. One worse than the other. Emma will also scratch and dig at herself until she is bleeding and miserable. Her pediatrician finally put her on Zyrtec and prescribed a wonderful new very hydrating lotion called Hylira. It is prescription only and I think very expensive if you don't have insurance but you get a 125 oz bottle of it. It is the biggest bottle of lotion I have ever seen. Anyway, it work's like magic over night. Between the two medicines I can keep lil Emma's eczema under control finally. We also only bathe our girls every other day especially in the winter time. In the summer if they have swam during the day we don't bathe them. The less water on their skin is the best. We just wash all the important areas if ya know what I mean. I hope this helps.

W.

My son also has eczema and what I have done is use detergents that are FREE of perfumes, dyes etc. Also I use Aveno lotion and it works really well. Something else you can try is putting him in the shower instead of the tub using lukewarm water. Use soap that is free of perfumes. We use dove-sensitive skin. If he is really itching, try using Benadryl providing he is not allergic to it. You may want to confirm this with your doctor. Good luck, I hope this helps!

Bobbie, I'm not sure what you've tried besides Elidel, but here's my two cents. I have a 2.5 yr old and a 4 mos old who both suffer from ezcema. The toddler had terrible spots on him that would become infected, etc. until we finally found help. We see a Pediatric Dermatologist at Children's Mercy that I would highly recommend. Her name is Dr. Horii. She started us on the following regimen and it has worked amazing wonders for my kids: we only wash our clothes in ALL Free, we use Cetaphil soap on the kids and only bathe them 3-4 times a week in warmish water and the best thing has been the lotion she changed us to. We use Vanicream on them SEVERAL times a day. It's made the biggest difference I think. On the baby we use 1% hydrocortisone for spot treatment on really bad/irritating spots and on the toddler we use 2.5% hydrocortisone. We tried Elidel at first too and it never did work for my son. If these don't work, I would really recommend making an appt with Dr. Horii, she can fix it!

Good luck!
J.

My nephew had really bad eczema when he was younger. They would apply shortening to the affected areas.

Hi Bobbie, my daughter had problems with her skin. I tried Elidel, but then Elidel got a black box warning from the FDA against using it on children - increases skin cancer I believe - so we threw that expensive prescription in the trash. Please look it up and decide what you think.

What we starting doing are a few things... for one thing, we use Johnson and Johnsons Soothing Naturals line - even for her soap in the tub. (No bubble baths unless it's from that.) Rinse really, really good with clean water before getting out of the tub. Slather with lotion. We liked The J&J soothing naturals really well. But later found "Renew" lotion from Malaluca (online and spelling might be off). This almost seems to heal it, not just moisturize... For her face, which her cheecks were our worst part. I started using my facial lotion on her. Happens to be Aveda moisturing lotion. Works wonders, again, almost heals it, not just covering it up til you forget to put it on one day.

I hope this helps you. Oh, one more thing, even though she's almost 4, I still wash all her laundry in Dreft and don't use fab softener in the wash. Just put it in the dryer.

On a really bad itchy day, I would almost ask the doc about giving him some Benedryl. Good luck. Please check in to the Elidel. I was totally disgusted, I am on the Elidel mailing list even and no one told me about this problem until we read it ourselves. The Doc didn't, the pharmacy didn't, and Elidel sure as heck didn't tell me...

My daughter's have both had this and the doctor recommended mixing up Eucerin Cream and Cortizone cream. It helps give them relief and clear up the area pretty quick. You can get a prescription from the doctor but depending on your insurance it maybe cheaper to just buy the two creams and mix it yourself. It's not hard.

Hope this helps.
L.

I have eczema and my daughter had it when she was about 2 or 3. The doctor said to give her oatmeal baths and us phisoderm to wash her with. It seemed to take away the itching and it didn't burn! I hope this can help a little bit. I still to this day have yet to find a medicine that really helps, as I have it all over my hands. K.

My friend's granddaughter has eczema. He put her on Mona Vie and within three days it was completely cleared up.

If you want to know more message me on Mamasource or email me at ____@____.com

M. :)

We tried the lotions with my 3 year old last year and it didn't seem to help much. We finally had to take him into a dermatologist and they prescribed him a steroid which cleared up the problem completely.

Arbonne baby lotion is great for it!

My son is three and also has eczema. Elidel never helped him, nor did the other steroid creams he was prescribed. Anywhere he could reach to scratch he would continue until it bled, to the point that I thought for sure it was going to scar. Finally after switching doctors he refered my son to a dermitologist who gave him a different medication and within two days it was gone. After if was cleared up he told us to use Elidel when any spots returned that were mild.Now when he gets a bad spot we "spot treat it" with the medication the dermatologist gave us. I was not aware that my sons pediatrician was not able to prescribe that medication, only a dermatologist. The medication he gave us was Clobex, it is a topical lotion and it takes only a very small amount. A few other things you can do are: bathe in luke warm water, not hot; do not allow him to stay in the bath longer than needed to clean; do not bathe him everyday; apply a heavy lotion in cream form after bathing; my doctor recommended Eucerin (or the store brand that compares); do not rub the skin dry with a towel, pat dry. All of these suggestion helped with my sons and now if he gets an "outbreak" it is extremely mild.

Poor thing! My mother has eczema really bad as well. I can only imagine the pain of a little one! Many doctors recommend Arbonne for eczema. I can send you the ingredient list and you can take it to your doctor to see if that is something your doctor would try. It is natural so it in addition to it helping the problem it is also very safe for your baby! Many many many companies put chemicals, dyes, and frangrances in skin care. If you ever turn over the labels of skin care products and google the ingredient list you will be shocked! The ingredients are listed in the order they are most prominant. Water is usually first and should be. I did this to one bottle of baby lotion and the second most common ingredient had two main uses: 1)skin care and 2)de-icer for airplanes! HMMMM??? NO wonder lotions burn that delicate and tender skin! It burns stuff off airplanes!!! If you would like the ingredient list and a free sample, I would be more than happy to send it your way! Good luck!

Aveeno is the best thing in the world! I have eczema and it flares up during the winter so this is perfect. You can purchase it in most any store with the soaps like Dove, it is actually oatmeal and you can just add it to your bath, very soothing. Also, I think they have a lotion.

Good luck!

Bobbie,
Hi! My son is 5 1/2 months old and has SEVERE Eczema. I tried EVERY OTC lotion, cream you could think of and finally had enough and went to the DR. (He has it so bad he became spotty all over his little body...) The Dr. put in a script for a salve. It has two ingredients in it and it works fab.! We have had the stuff for nearly 2 months and there is still plently for another 2 or 3 months. We put it all over his little body once during the day and we sub. it for lotion at night after his bath. I know one part is Eurcerin but I dont know the other part.... Anyway, I hope this helps. I know how frustrating it can be. My son wasn't sleeping at night because he itched so bad. :( If you want anymore tips let me know, I'd be glad to help, since I am in the same boat!
J.

My oldest was born with this. He did the same thing at that age. We used elidel until we were told the steroids in it werent good for them. You might look into that. It went away for about 2 years. He is seven now and it has returned on arms and legs. When he was a baby it would show up on his mouth and I knew he was getting sick.
We use dove soap and once a week soak in Aveeno Oatmeal baths.
Look into special detergents that may not be irritating as well. Good luck, I know its frustrating!!

Poor baby! Well, I know this seems strange, but I highly recommend chiropractic. It sounds like his little immune system is not getting the right signals from his brain. Poor guy. Here is some information on chiropractic for kids with eczema. Let me know if I can be of further help!
http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/chiropractic/skin.htm

Have a great day!
Dr. J.

I have a little one with the same problem & would like to know the answer as well.

Hi Bobbie, my 3 year old daughter suffers from eczema too! Her Pediatrician prescribed a mixture of Hydrocortisone and Acid Mantel Base. Believe it or not-it works wonders! Within 1 day, her skin was clearing up. We have not figured out the cause of the flare-ups, so this stuff is a necessity in my house. The best thing is it works great on diaper rash too. I don't know if you are Military ot not, so if you are they will give you Eucerin lotion and Hydrocortisone creme. It is kinda the same, but I don't feel it worked as fast or effectively. Hope this helps a little.

This should help. http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/toddler/toddlerills/todr...

My Chinese daughter has eczema. We keep it well controlled by her only using Cetaphil soap for bathing and Biolage shampoo for her hair. We use sea salt in her bath. It is really healing to inflamed skin. We put about a half cup in a tepid bath. Overly warm bath water seems to also cause flare ups of skin irritation. We can't use Tide or Bounce dryer sheets because those irritate her skin. We have to use Era and Downy dryer sheets.

In addition, if your son isn't getting enough Omega 3 oils in his diet, that can cause the skin to be even more dry and itchy. A favorite in our house is grilled salmon or salmon patties that the kids can pick up and eat like cookies. Albacore tuna made into tuna salad usually goes over well with kids too. Good luck!

My daughter (now 7) used to have the worst eczema too, so I feel for you. I had people actually act "afraid" of her, wondering what was wrong with her, was it contagious??? (very annoying!) I felt so sorry for her. She'd actually introduce herself to people as "Hi, I'm Rebecca, and I have eczema." It was that bad!

Anyway, my advice would be first of all to see a dermatologist if you haven't already. In my experience the dermatologist was much more helpful and knowledgeable. He told me NOT to use Eucerin cream (which the ped had recommended) because it contained lanolin, which comes from sheep, and can be very irritating to sensitive skin. He recommended Aveeno or Cetaphil. I love Aveeno, and I LOVE Cetaphil (even the Wal-Mart version of it!) It is absolutely wonderful.

We had different prescriptions -- some steroids and Elidil (which I wasn't impressed with anyway and then those cancer warnings came out!) She took baths in the Aveeno, used only Dove soap, etc etc. Then, a couple of years ago I started giving her some vitamins/nutritional supplements from Mannatech called Manna Bears (I think, or are they Glyco Bears? One's hard and one's gummy, she takes the gummy ones.) Not long after she started taking the bears the eczema started getting better. Now she is all clear! Has been for the past year.

I don't know whether she just outgrew it finally or whether it was the "Bears" but I give the bears at least partial credit! She has beautiful smooth skin now, which is wonderful considering she used to frighten people!

Good luck in your search for the right cure for you're son. If you'd like info on the Mannatech Bears you can send me a message or try their website (www.mannatech.com) It may take you lots of trial and error, but hopefully you hit on the right fix SOONER rather than later.

K., mom of a FORMER eczema sufferer :)

Hi Bobbie.
My daughter is also two and has had the same problem. I can't tell you the number of mornings I have gotten her out of bed and she is bloody from scratching and so are her sheets and blankets. I finally got fed up after seeing 4 doctors that kept giving me Elidel and it wasnt working. I took her to the doctor that I saw as a child that specializes in kids with disabilities. No she doesnt have a disability but I do and I wanted someone who actually cared. He was very upset that she looked that bad and even more upset that the other doctors (a couple who were in the same hospital) had not gotten her fixed up. He prescribed a strong steroid, Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP, 0.5% for her. To be put on 3 times a day until it was cleared up. He also prescribed her a liquid to take orally that would stop the itching so that she wouldnt scratch so that it could heal up. That was the major key. I don't have the bottle anymore or I would tell you what it is. He also said not to use any lotions whatsoever because even the lotions that say hypoallergenic and for sensitive skin and so forth still have things in them that can irritate the skin when you have eczema. Use good old pure vaseline instead. I lathered her down after every single bath from head to toe. Now you can't use that cream on the face because it is a strong steroid. Instead just use a regular hydrocortisone cream that you can by over the counter. I use a generic. Worked wonderful. I would put it on at the same time as the cream and lather her down with vaseline. She was cleared up within a week. Now when I notice a dry spot on her that is going to break out I just use the hydrocortisone cream and vaseline and it usually doesnt go ahead and break out. Occassionally it might if I dont notice it fast enough or something and at that point I use the steroid again until it is not red and inflamed. But other than that she has had no more actual breakouts. The best thing you can do is tell your doctor that the Elidel and lotion is not working and you want something done now. I can find out what the liquid antihistamine was that she took if you would like me to so that you can ask your doctor about it so we can get your little boy cleared up. I know its awful. I call this pediatrician when I have a problem or just a general question. So just let me know if you would like to know. Just don't let your pediatrician tell you elidel is the best thing....because I haven't found anyone that actually got their small child to clear up with it. So stand your ground and lets get that precious boy cleared up. Best of luck.

I am soooo sorry you are dealing with eczema! It is awful. My daughter had it on her sweet face for months and months...oozing and awful. Anyway, we stopped all detergets with any scents, even Dreft. We use Tide Free and Clear or something like that. If there is an outbreak of eczema, our dermatologist gave us an ointment called Desonide (Elidel never did work for us). This is an excellent line of defense to clear up any rashes. We only wash her in Dove soap, or did until I found Baby Aveeno has a soap that is fragrance free and for eczema. There is also a lotion that goes with it, and it works well, especially when the skin is still damp directly after the bath. Also, the Aveeno Oatmeal bath for babies is excellent for relieving itching before bedtime. Good Luck!

My sister sells Arbonne and I know this may sound like it won't work, but her sales rep used the baby line on herself and her daughter and within a couple weeks the eczema went away. It's about $75 or so. If your interested let me know!

Bobbie,
I have 10 year old twin sons who also have eczema in the same places as your son. Their dermatologist prescribed a steroid ointment that could not be used on the face and could only be used every other day on account of the ointment would cause their skin to become thin. She also gave me an alternative. She told us to rub the twins' eczema infected areas with Crisco, the thick white kind, not the liquid one, each night before bed and then wrap those areas with Seran wrap and dress them in long johns or long pajamas. Vwala!!!! Believe it or not, that remedy actually worked. What's so funny is that the boys actually want it on because they say their skin doesn't hurt or burn, nor does it look grose. We saw a difference about 8 days after nightly applications. This remedy is also a lot cheaper than the prescription.