Seeking Info on Eczema Treatments Please!

My almost 4 year old has been treated with pretty much all of the RX out there for eczema and none worked for very long if at all. My husband went to buy some cortaid for me one day and being a man had to try something a little different - and boy for once I was sooo glad! He bought Cortaid Intensive Therapy. This is the best stuff out there! You wouldn't want to continue to use this for a long time but once you get it under control you can put a little on at the first sign of the eczema showing up again and it is gone! The Dr.'s will warn you not to use it very long but then they do that with the RX's too right! My son's derm. said just to watch his skin and it will start looking sort of shiny and different if you are using it too often. Just stop and let the skin rest for a few days. Make sure to keep up with the lotions too esp. after a bath!
We also were watching what he ate and I read tons of stuff on the internet and we discovered RED DYE which is in a ton of foods and juices was making his eczema much worse. I just started removing things from his diet and watched to see what happened! It is definately worth trying. One of the things I read online was that many people who are sensitive to red dye are also sensitive to vanillan (an artificial vanilla) this is also in lots of things but when we removed it - what a difference in both the eczema and his hyperness! Many people including teachers (I was one) and doctors will look at you and say "sure it is" when you mention the red dye but after reading about the people telling their stories online and seeing it in our day to day lives - I am now a firm believer!!
The Dove soap is also a wonderful addition!
Oh, red dye is in many medicines too both over the counter and RX and if you discover this is your sons issue then you will have to remind the DR. everytime they give you a RX because they will continue to prescribe things with red everytime! I so hope this will help you! Also, when he gets fever the eczema will get bad so don't worry that it is part of whatever is wrong with him at the time! Good luck because this is NO fun!

1 mom found this helpful

I feel for you! My then 4 month old son had eczema so bad that it consistently bled and became infected. We did go to Fred Ghali (I see some people have mentioned him). I did end up with Robin Carder though. She is one of the other pediatric derm's in DFW. Until this past summer she was at Children's Medical Center and taught at UT Southwestern medical school (she may still do that). She is board certified in BOTH pediatrics and dermatology. I liked her better and she and our new allergist are on the ones who helped my son. She is in the process of setting up a new practice since she left Children's. She can be reached through her fathers ENT (Henry Carder) practice. ###-###-####.

Also, we had a blood test done on my son to find out what was causing the eczema. Neither Ghali nor Carder were very interested in finding out the cause of the eczema..said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I went ahead and consulted with an allergist since I was not going to accept this. We went to Elliott Ginchansky at Medical City who is FABULOUS and very, very thorough. I honestly think he is the one who *really* helped my son.

Ezcema is a sign of allergy. And with some or a lot of digging you can probably find out what is causing it.

We found out my son has a dairy allergy (through the blood test). I was nursing at the time and stopped all dairy.

Long story, but between the two doctors, he is now better.

On a daily basis, I use Dove soap for him, never, ever any dryer sheets. And that is for the whole family since dryer sheets coat the inside of the drum with chemicals that are extremely irritating for people with sensitive skin. THat was a huge improvement for my son.

Also, we use cetaphil lotion after every bath.

Good luck , I know this is a hard one!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi, Gladys,

My little boy had bad eczema since he was 2 month old. Now he is 1-year old, and his eczema gets much better and he outgrows some allergens.
I totally understand your feeling. Below is a list of things we did to fight against his eczema during the last 10 months. I want to share it with you, hope this will help you some.
1. Medicine: hydrocortisone 1% apply to rashes
2. Cream: Eucerin or Aquaphor cream to be applied every time wash his face or bath him
3. Detergent: Dreft only
4. Clothes, blankets, sheets: Cotton only
5. Bath: Only with water, don’t use any baby wash product
6. Food: avoid nuts, diary foods, citrus, sea foods, corn, spinach, and all other foods that your family members are allergic to. Watch ingredients closely for all the groceries you buy for him. In my baby boy’s case, he is allergic to certain type of milk protein, when he switched to formula. His pediatrician suggested Nestle Good Start. We stick with it and that worked fine with him.
As far as antibiotics go, my baby has been prescribed Amoxicillin once, and he had really bad reaction as well - red rashes allover his body. The second time his pediatrician has to give him antibiotics, a very conservative type of medicine has been given. – I don’t recall the name of the drug. No more reaction at that time.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

My sister and myself have been treating our 8 year olds since birth w/this remedy.....Dove bar soap and Vaseline! It takes a whie to get use to it, but it does the trick! 3 pediatricians and 1 Pediatric Dermatologist have all said the same thing....Dove bar soap and vaseline.. My daughter also got a steroid cream prescribed for her, but it didn't work as well as the soap and vaseline.

Also, baths every other day, instead of everyday.

Hi I went thru this with my son who is now 5 and exczema free. If you look online there is alot of info about milk aggravating exczema. I figured it was worth a try, took him off milk and exczema went away. He also had a lot of food allergies which he has grown out of. I used a lot of salves (aquaphor, desonide, protopic,) since creams burned when applied. I hope this helps, I know it is VERY frustrating.
K.

My son is allergic to soy and its relatives. Guar gum is in Omnicef. He reacted to Omnicef all three times he was given this before doctor declared he was allergic to the drug. My son's eczema flares up severely after ingesting soy and all its relatives.

For treatment, we avoid soy as much as possible. It is difficult to do since soy is in almost everything. When his flare ups are severe, we give him Hydroxyzine. This helps calm things down from the inside. For the skin, we apply a Rx cream that is a mixture of an antibiotic and steroid. This really helps. It is Triamcinolone Acetonide 0.1%. We see the doctors at Family Allergy & Asthma Care in Flower Mound. ###-###-####).

Good luck to you. I know this is hard. Hang in there.

My son also had eczema and our dermatologist gave us samples of protopic and recommended we follow it up with a lotion called CETAPHIL (5 min. after application). The combination worked so well we faded the protopic (topical steroid) and just used the lotion and it worked wonders and went away!! We still use the CETAPHIL (or CVS has a generic brand of it which is cheaper and works just as well).

That's our information we have to share. Hope it helps in some way.

God Bless,
J.

I have wanted to respond to you question, but I have been looking for some info I wrote down that I saw on TV a couple of weeks ago.

First, my son and my husband have it. They have seasonal exzema and irritant exzema. What laundry detergent do you use? I have had to switch from my love of Tide Clean Breeze to either Baby All or All Free and Clear. That made a difference. I use Gentle Naturals Exzema cream on my 2 YO. My understanding is exzema is from irritants in really dry skin. You have to use a good emmoiliant cream and it is a pain and messy.

But what I saw on CBS 11 local news were these new products called "Thermal Water Products"! You can go to CBS11tv.com and search for the story. The brands they talked about were Vichy, Evian, and something LaRoche. They said you can find them at local drugstores and on of the things they help is exzema. I have not begun my search to find them yet since I have not had time to do so. They say they range in price from $10-$30. Apparantly it is the latest in skin care. I don't know if you can use them on children though. I plan on finding them for myself and my husband for the winter time. I think they are in a spray can.

Good Luck and I hope you find something to help your little boy.

K.

Wow Gladys, you have been through the ringer. I would be happy to email you some information on eczema along with the pediatrician letter. Just send me your email and I will forward. My email again is ____@____.com.

Dr. Vanwagner helped my little girl out. He also was a recc. from a good friend of mine whose little boy also had eczema. He put our daughter on zyrtec for the itching and cutivate cream....and my daughter had soft eczema free skin for the first time at 1 years old. She had bad skin since she was born. I really liked this doctor. He is located in plano just north of Plano Presby Hospital.
I hope this helps. Previous to this we just used eucerin cream and once in a while 1% hydrocortizone on the really bad spots.
L.

Aquaphor!! Many of my friends suggested this or vaseline, both have worked for me. While my son's eczema does not seem as severe as your child's it is worth a shot. Plus you can use the aquaphor for diaper rash and many other things, it is worth the money!

Hi,

It sounds like he's definitely reacting to something. Hopefully, the allergists can identify it. In the meantime, consider something that I have found to be absolutely unbelievable with skin problems, including eczema. It's called SulfaDerm. It's main ingredient is sulfur, which is needed for healthy skin formation. It can be purchased through www.healingedge.net. Here's a link about the product: http://www.healingedge.net/store/page252.html

I went through the prescription route for eczema and acne. One of the prescriptions even made my nose bleed! Once you get past the smell, which isn't too bad actually, you are not going to believe the results. It's 1.5 oz for $19.95, but it goes a long way. If you get it, I'd put it on a small area of his body first, just to double-check how it may work on him, and then proceed to the rest. I wouldn't anticipate a problem at all with it, since most of the ingredients are natural, but just to be sure.

Hope it helps. I cannot express my enthusiasm for this stuff enough.

Best,
L.

We're having same problems here with 2yo.
We also had a run-in with that Omnicef stuff and a horrible reaction to it with my other 2yo (twins).
Don't have time to go into details so I'll PM you with my email address with what we're doing now for the eczema.

Hi Gladys. I completely agree with the other mommies who recommended Arbonne's Baby Care Line. These products are pure, safe and beneficial. They are botanically based and 100% Vegan certified. They have absolutely NO dyes or fragrances either! I also know several personal friends who have used this line for their children suffering from Eczema, and it has completely eliminated it for them! They swear by it. If you're interested to learn more, you can go to my website at: mandyolsen.myarbonne.com. I really hope this helps!

All three of my boys have eczema. My twins will be 3 in a month and I also have a 17 month old. They have been on both over the counter and prescription steroid creams. We tried Elidel but it didn't even put a dent in their eczema. They were itching themselves all over until they bled. They would wake up at night scratching their heads. It wasn't until we removed the harsh chemicals from our house that they began to feel any relief. We now buy our household cleaning & laundry products (as well as vitamins & AWESOME lotion) from a health wellness company. The difference is AMAZING! They very rarely have 'itchies' as we call them. I found that the chemicals in our regular store products were triggers for their eczema. I would recommend that you try something similar. I know many moms for whom this approach has given their kids great relief!

I'd start by waiting to see what your doc says at the follow-up.
It could take a couple weeks for this "episode" to completely clear up, so I'm not sure I would be quick to pile other treatments on him just yet. Also remember that treatment is for the symptom, not the cause.
Ask your doc about allergy testing. A lot of kids I know with eczema have a dairy allergy. We had one ENT tell us that the sensitivity to milk protein (called casein) can cause a sensitivity to other allergens (like animals and seasonal allergies).
Other culprits could be peanuts, strawberries, wheat gluten or household chemicals (laundry detergent, etc.).
Good luck.

i have a little boy that is 3 also. he doesn't have a severe case, but it does get a lot worse in the winter. he even get it on his cheeks. you will soon find that there is not a lot the doctors can do except give you a medication. most of the time i have found my son will become immune to the medication causing him to break out again. it's a constant battle. i have learned only i can try to keep it from coming back by switching his lotion every 2 months and putting cetaphil in his bath and soaking him in it. i switch cetaphil with aveeno bath cream and it seems to work i have been switching lotions every 2 months and he didn't have a break out for 6 months. he just started to break out again, but you just have to be patient.if you find anything that really works well let me know cause i still struggle with this.

I suffer from the same started when I was a young teen, I see a wonderful dermatologist by the name of Dr. Michaelson who offices in Presbyterian Hospital. The unfortunate side is most treatments are short lived as different seasons or temperatures affect the breakout,especially humidity. Anything that is an irritant or causes drying of the skin such as detergent, soaps, perfumes, and hot baths will cause a major breakout. While not especially painful it is very itchy. Most treatments involve the use of a steroid cream which usually clears up the problem within a day or two. As your child is only three they may not advise this type of treatment hence the hydrocortizone. I would see a dermatologist in lieu of a pediatrician for the most effective treatment plan. In the mean time lubrication with lotion perferably aloe or scent free, baby oil or aloe gel will relieve the irritation. A little baking soda in a cool bath feels great as well. Hope this helps you somewhat in finding a solution.

Looks like you've gotten a lot of suggestions for Arbonne -- seriously, it's the best! The ABC line works when prescriptions don't (seriously). It's worth a try! Let me know if you need more info. Best of luck to you!

Hi Glagys,
Well I have a boy who has autism and he also suffered with eczema. I have to tell you that the doctors really make me angry. Anitbiotics are not always the answer and your son didn't even have an infection. They are so quick to medicate and its hurting our children. Believe me, I have researched! I am suggesting to you to take your child to a Homeopathic doctor. Ours has helped with the eczema and my son has only been on antibiotics one day in his life! You can help allergies and eczema naturally with a qualified homeopath.
Steroids are not the answer either. Just a suggestion and I hope it gets better.
L.

Hi Gladys,

My son also had eczema, and we tried almost everything! I had heard that the Arbonne baby care line was good, but before I could order it, my mom told me to try Tahitian Noni Skin Suppliment. It is a lotion that you can get on the internet (www.tahitiannoni.com). I was SHOCKED at how well it worked!! I put it on him once a day after his bath and he hasn't had a break out since we started using it! It is a little expensive, however not near as expensive as ordering the Arbonne products.

Hope that helps! :-) H.

Hi, I have friend whose daughter has had eczema her whole life (she's a teenager now), and they both swear by Aloette skin care. You can find them on the web at aloette.com. I hope this helps!

Someone else brought up this type of issue on 10/4//06...just click on REQUESTS & RESPONSES up at the top of this screen and then look for the date 10/04/06 and read what many had to say ... here is one from a doctor that may able to help you....
Eb. There are many other good recommendations on that date too...so check them out. My prayers are with your child for a complete recovery. EB

it is From: Sandra Date: Thu. Oct. 05, 2006 Hi Linda!

It sounds like your son could have an over growth of yeast in his system or other allergies that are atypical. At our office we use Applied Kinesiology (muscle testing) to determine allergies. Once we determine allergies are present, we use a cold therapeutic laser to eliminate the allergies from his system. Even if we can not determine the exact allergy the laser will help to eliminate it from his system. We can also check his liver to make sure it is functioning optimally. The liver is what is needed to detoxify whatever is bombarding his system. If his liver is not working efficiently we can put him on nutritional supplements for his liver to get it working better. I have an office in Plano and Mesquite. If you are interested please call me at ###-###-#### or ###-###-#### to schedule an appointment. Thanks!

Dr. Sandra Sullivan

have been working with patients to eliminate allergies. Using Applied Kinesiology, we can test your son and determine his allergies. After that we can use a cold therapeutic laser to eliminate his allergies. It has great results and it is totally healthy! Also, there are no side effects! Let me know if you are interested.

a copy from 10/4/06 ...hope they can help you..

Gladys,
I am so sorry you are going through this- but when eczema is first diagnosed it is horrible! There are any number of things that can cause a flare- laundry soap, environmental allergy, antibiotic, diet...
Start keeping a log of flare up- what he had ingested in the last 48 hours, what the weather was like, pollen counts, was he around any animlas....Slowly a patter may emerge and you will know what to avoid. IF there is a link w/ enviromental you Pedi may start a seasonal antihistamine.
Eczema is a long term problem. While it can not be cured it can be controlled. The mom who suggested Dove and Vasoline was right on. Our office suggests that combo- you can also add baby oil to baths, Eucerine makes an awesome lotion- drink tons of water- hydration of the skin in paramount. Then, when any break out starts immediatly apply the RX.
I have heard Dr Ghali speak MANY times on eczema and we refer to him all of the time. His web site is http://64.177.235.50/drfred/index.html

Good luck!
D.

I would recommend a great and fabulous lotion from Melaleuca called Renew. I sell Melaleuca if you would like more information on becoming a preferred customer. I can get you a sample of it to try though before hand. I also purchase all my laundry and cleaning products from Melaleuca as well. All their products are based on Tea Tree oil for its great healing properities. You can go to www.melaleuca.com and get more information on the company and its products. They are a fabulous company with excellent health and wellness products that are naturally based. My email is ____@____.com.

I highly recommend Dr. K Robin Carder. It only took one visit to get the diagnosis and treatment that resolved the eczema. This after months of visiting other doctors and suffering! The eczema was completely gone in about 2 weeks. My son is 16 months now and only occasionally gets an eczema outbreak. Usually one application of the meds will solve the problem. We use Cutivate(on the body), Protopic(on the face), and Lidex(rarely). And we still take the Zyrtec occasionally.
Recently, my son had the same kind of reaction (hives) to an antobiotic. He reacted to Amoxicillin and Cephalixin.
Good Luck,
D.

HI Gladys
I highly recommend the Arbonne Baby Care products. I personally know 3 people whose children's eczema has been eliminated!
For more info on the products, http://www.arbonne.com

There's a 45 day guarantee on the products, so no risk.

J.

My son has it, too. We used Elidel, and a thick, cream 2x a day...such as Eucerin or Bath and Body works cream. It's really kept it at bay.

I have read some unfavorable things about Omnicef. I saw one report that its over-use had been linked to MRSA. Also, my daughter was on it often last year and she eventually wound up with pneumonia so bad she had to have surgery on her lung.

Hi, Gladys!

My daughter had the same problem with eczema. Since I have started using Arbonne's Baby Care products, it has completely gone away! You can find them at www.arbonne.com

Good luck!!
S.

Gladys
I am a dermatology PA, and I see tons of eczema! Was it a dermatologist that gave him the Omnicef? I really dont agree with that, it is a broad spectrum antibiotic that is too powerful to treat a simple skin infection. I RARELY do antibiotics for eczema (atopic dermatitis) and I would never do it prophylactically.
There is way too much to write down, but if you would like to call me, I would be happy to review what you are doing, and if you like, see him in clinic to make some changes and get this little one feeling better! I will forward my number to you via private message
I am sure I can help, dont let an allergist treat skin! :O)
S.