Eczema in Children

Just yesterday, a friend of mine called me for advice on eczema. Why me? Coz Ryan and Raymund have bad atopic eczema problem - especially for Ryan since he is attending school. I have such headache trying to help my kids.

What is eczema?

It is the inflamation of the skin that tends to flare up from time to time and when aggravated. The most common being atopic eczema which increases the chance of getting asthma and hay fever. What causes it? Don't exactly know. 

With my kids, heat and sweat aggravates the symptoms making it unbearably itchy for them. They would scratch and scratch until the skin breaks and gets infected. I have seen many pediatricians and even a dermatologist about this but not much help. There is actually no cure but we can control or ease the symptoms. The docs say that it MIGHT go off when they grow older into their teens. 

My sons' eczema appear around the wrists, back of knee, neck, ear lobes (many times the ear lobes cracked and bled), around the elbow and basically all joint areas where sweat can accumulate. It will also flare up just before they fall sick. So, sometimes, I'm able to tell when my kids are about to get sick and prepare for it. That's the ONLY up side to it :)

The symptoms:

1. Dry skin
2. Red and inflamed skin - commonly at joint and folds of skin like the ones I have mentioned above
3. Itchy... very itchy...and if scratched, it gets worse
4. May become infected especially when the skin breaks

What to do?

• Always moisturize the skin with good moisturizers - preferably non perfumed and mild. My dermatologist suggested: Cetaphil, Sebamed, Physioget, Dermaveen, Zicgy, QV and Oilatom. We use Cetaphil and Sebamed. These can be found in pharmacies.

• Use mild soap - I use Sebamed for babies. Other brands suggested by my dermatologists are Lactacyd, Cetaphil and Oilatum. Also can get them from pharmacies.

• Keep clean and keep cool. This is a challenge for school going children!!

• For babies, change milk to hypo allergic ones - eg Enfalac HA, Nan HA

• See doc for medicine when eczema flares up. Normally they will give you steroids and moisturizer. If you can, ask for the mildest one first eg U-Closone. Coz if this doesn't work or your child is immuned to it overtime, you have to go for the stronger ones eg Elomet. It just steps up. Remember to apply thinly at only affected areas. Steroids can thin the skin if used too much and too long.
  
  If you are concerned about steroids, docs will ask you to buy a non-steroid one called Protopic but it will cost you a bomb - more than RM100 a tube. 

• If the skin is broken, the doc would sometimes prescribe antibiotic cream to prevent infection.

• Do not use calamine as it dries the skin. It may only relieve for a while.

My kids are still suffering from it. I always have ready supplies of moisturizers and steroids around. I just hope they will grow out of it soon. Their skin is so scarred and dry. I'm very sad :(