AKA fucking eczema.
We are incredibly lucky in this house to have eczema only occasionally and mildly. We do not get the one on the face, in the eyebrows or on the knuckles of the hand, which always makes my eyes water for how dementing it must be for the sufferer.
But we do get it. Last year, before we worked out that what Sam had was eczema, it ran riot all over his inner thighs and goolies, poor little mite.
Then our super sensible GP said “Bath him only once a week and moisturise constantly.” Because he knows me and trusts me he also gave me a steroid cream to use sparingly, but in the end we didn’t need it – the non-bathing/moisturising advice was enough.
And now Sam is eczema-free and is back to having regular baths with no ill effects. But now Kitty has got it! Those strange tell-tale little red patches. The skin scratched raw behind the knee…
So she is getting the same no-bath treatment – she can have one once a week as a treat (she does love to loll about in the bath, that girl) – with bedtime washing of face, hands, feet – whatever’s necessary.
Previous research has turned up two topical non-steroid treatments that I have found work extremely well on non-serious eczema.
The first was recommended here – Child’s Farm unfragranced moisturiser for sensitive skin and the second is sort of batter made from hemp seed called Purepotions Skin Salvation, sent to me by my friend Katharine (she has nothing to do with the brand, she’s just my mate).
In both cases I saw improvements to the look and sensation of the eczema sites with 24.
Agree that Pure Potions is the only thing I’ve tried that works on my daughter’s mild eczema – however, when I went to look for it the other day I realised they’ve rebranded into this: https://balmonds.co.uk/
Apparently it’s the same formula. I think this is the same pot: https://balmonds.co.uk/collections/dry-skin-range/products/skin-salvation
Hi Esther, sorry to hear about kitty and great news it’s all cleared up on Sam. Sorry if this is completely obvious but have you tried cutting out dairy? My brother gets terrible eczema and I get it mildly and find having little or no dairy keeps it at bay. I know it’s brutal so hope it passes soon xx
we haven’t tried cutting out dairy completely but now I think about it they don’t have that much dairy in their lives anyway – not big milk drinkers or swillers of cheese x
My son had it all over as a baby and toddler, it was so sore. We changed to a water softener as we are in a hard water area and it cleared up! We weren’t sure if it was a coincidence or not but he’s not had a repeat of the sores for over 12 years.
My baby has eczema and we tried about 7 different products and the only one that has worked is Moo Goo. Miraculous stuff. Beautiful skin now!
Lush Dream Cream sorts it out for me – and my NHS dermatologist recommended using antibacterial facewash and anti-dandruff shampoo (not directly, but more as if they were shower gel) when I previously managed to get an outbreak of it infected.
eczema house right here…. I am the master of all creams lotions and potions. interestingly just signed up for a focus group next week for some new product coming to market keep you posted… x
is the trial I’ve been hearing about on the radio??? yes please keep us informed.
Balmonds (Purepotions) was the only thing that worked for my eldest son that wasn’t steroid based. And I like that the company was started by a mum to help her child.
My son had eczema age 4 and following a really bad bout of it, seemed to grow out of it. He’s recently (aged 21) started getting patches of it again. He uses sudocreme for it and finds it effective. My daughter suffers from psoriasis (all skin problems originate from my husband’s side, :-)) and I’ve tried numerous products, diets etc for it over the years. Laroche Posay is quite good, but moisturising is key and difficult to enforce when the children are old enough to be looking after their own health, or not as may be the case!
I have psoriasis and I can recommend a product called Salcura. It’s excellent and whilst contains salicylic acid it’s a cream not an ointment so it doesn’t stain and I can use it on my scalp and wash it out. It also comes up as Zeoderm. I’ve had psoriasis for 30 years so I’ve pretty much tried everything and I don’t use steroid creams anymore. That said psoriasis is weird and very individual so what works for me may not work for her.
On another note please tell your daughter that if it’s getting her down it’s good to talk. When I was younger I was mortified by my psoriasis and looking back I’m pretty sure I was depressed but I didn’t want to talk about it because I as so embarrassed by it. I wish I could go back to my younger self and give her a big hug and say it will be ok, it doesn’t define you and you are loved.
Skin salvation is amazing, I get it so badly on my knuckles at times that even a steroid cream stings. I slather on PP and cover with cut off socks at night.
You might find a water filter helpful for baths. With certain types of water my husband gets it ON HIS FACE and a water filter has helped massively.
FACE ECZEMA!!!!
My question is what to do about the bedtime routine with this kind of thing. I suffered from eczema as a child and have passed it onto both my kids, alas. My son is 2.5 and my daughter is 10 weeks old. Literally just took her to the GP this afternoon to ask about the weird patch on the back of her head (which I knew was eczema but didn’t want to put anything on it before someone else had seen it). GP said don’t bathe them every day but it’s what we do! Bath, pjs, stories, bed. How do you demarcate between day and night (with very small children I mean) without a clear routine like this? We moisturise the shit out of our son after the bath but still bath him, and his flare-ups are small and infrequent. So is it ok to keep bathing every night? Or would they both be much better without? Eternal mum guilt whatever you do!
H I am so sympathetic. Yes this would have been a massive issue for me if my kids had had it any younger. Also as my kids are dirt magnets! Personally, I would still bathe every night, but use Elemis nourishing bath milk in the water as that actively helps with eczema.
It’s not cheap but it does solve your problem
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elemis-Skin-Nourishing-Milk-Bath/dp/B00I6I8PAA/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2KSVZTJER2Z8&keywords=elemis+nourishing+milk+bath&qid=1561019795&s=gateway&sprefix=elemis+nourish%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-5
Thank you!!! I am buying this IMMEDIATELY!
We’re an eczema household here too. We bath daily but water only, no soaps, body washes or bubbles. And moisturise morning and night. If we get a bad breakout our GP recommends a bleach bath – half a cup of budget bleach (not scented obviously) in the bath every second day for a week – amazingly effective.
BLEACH???
I know, right? Kills bacteria on the skin apparently.
Weleda baby calendula cream bath is really good for babies. Moo goo cream is also good. I’ve found that sometimes steroid is the only thing that works. As in,once or twice a year. I bathe my two every other day. I think the bedtime routine issue is more difficult for the adults than the children. I find every time I worry about something being disruptive to routine I have a go and lo and behold they’re totally fine about it and I wonder what I spent all the time fretting about.
We’re not a routine-heavy household but I feel that the line between day and night is somehow sacred and cannot be messed with. Moved yes, hurried along yes, but still observed! I might be totally wrong of course but these are the things I cling to!
Current favourites in our house that are keeping away eczema that can get quite nasty for my 2 year old and 8 month old (and me!):
1) kids bath salts (they soften hard London water and have been nothing short of miraculous) – we use westlab kids Dead Sea salts;
2) la roche posay lipikar AP+ moisturiser after every bath (and we still bath the kids every night)
When my son was a baby I was given the same advice – don’t bathe him often. When he did have a bath, I had to use no product, only a muslin bag of porridge oats in the bath water to soften it or something. Not entirely sure what it was supposed to do, but he didn’t get any more skin problems.
I suffered terribly from it as a child, and now get infrequent breakouts on the back of my legs and hands. As a kid, we swore by chickweed ointment which is homeopathic and worked a treat!