Allergy Testing for Facial Eczema Prevention?

My oldest had very very mild eczema. Nothing bothersome but it was there. He was eventually diagnosed with a tree nut allergy by a pediatric allergist. My regular pediatrician poo-poo'ed the food allergy connection too but my son hasn't had eczema since we eliminated nut products from his diet. He will also get eczema is if he wears fleece right against his skin.

There are a couple of books about doing an elimination diet. It does take awhile to do but some believe it's more reliable than allergy testing which can give you false positives. I would start with the top 8 (google what the top 8 are for the list) and go from there or get a book that will give you step by step guidelines on how long to remove something from his diet etc. to know if it's causing the eczema. Good luck!

This is so difficult but I have to tell you from experience that treating the surface of the skin is not going to help the cause, which comes from inside. You can go crazy eliminating lots of foods (and one-by-one, as you say, hoping to find the culprit. And then what? You won't know if you have fixed the problem by eliminating just one, or a combination.

You are much better off trying to add the right nutrients in the form of supplementation - that will allow your children to process the foods they are eating, and help to mildly detoxify their bodies. Think about it - no one really had food sensitivities in such huge numbers until a few years ago. A generation ago, no one had this (other than a few babies who couldn't drink cow's milk). We've added instant and processed foods, our "natural foods" are grown in depleted soils and picked early, and we are overwhelmed with genetically modified foods (GMOs). And now we have a huge problem with "food allergies", ADD/ADHD, Asperger's...and that's just the "A's". It's not " "normal" to be unable to eat tomatoes and berries - your kids are missing something, so you need to ADD, not take away.

If you want more info, let me know. Or, you can take them to the allergist, have them stuck with a whole bunch of needles, and resign yourselves to restricted diets for the next 10 years. A very hard and miserable way to live!

I have been allergic to cow dairy all my life, as well as multiple trees/grass pollens/mold spores. About 8 yrs ago I became incredibly sick with no help offered by my family MD as to why or what. I found an Integrative Medicine doctor who tested me for food allergies, found that I was highly reactive to 16 different foods, most of which I ate regularly. My reactive status was not immediate like when your tongue swells up, or that creates hives, it was long term--meaning that the foods were a toxin that my body was fighting as it would any other inflamatory. Since the food was in my body tissue, my immune system was attacking my own body. The doctor put me on a very restricted medical diet having me avoid each of the 16 different foods, and any food within their "family." The basic rule was that I had to stay away from those foods for 9 months, that included handling those foods. The 9 month period is generally long enough for your body to reset itself, then you can add the foods back into your diet one at a time over a period of 2-3 months for each to see if you have any type of reaction. If no reaction, then you can continue to eat that food in moderation, if any type of reaction, start the 9 month track again with that food. It took over 3 years for me to determine what would and would not work, still cannot do cow dairy, cane/beet sugar or garlic, but she taught me what to use for substitutes and I'm doing well. Throughout the process she had me using multiple supplements and vitamins to build up my system and get me healthy again, it worked. It was a long hard road, but it was much better than being as sick as I was when I first went to her. My husband and I both truly believed that I was going to die, and no one understood why. When I get crazy and ingest some of my offending foods, the eczema returns to my face, I treat with cortizone cream and clean up my diet--works every time.

The point I am making here is that yes, testing for food allergies is real and beneficial--if done by the right person, and ignoring it can be fatal. The test I used is blood, saliva and fecal testing, and there are only two labs that I know of that are certified to do the actual testing, the doctor draws the blood samples, then you have a kit to collect the saliva and feces. The doctor I used was also a licensed nutritionist, so I had a lot of help with the diet and food substitutions. I learned a lot, she gave me websites to do my own research, and I think me being so involved in every step of the process really helped me to stick with the program and truly understand what was going on. Knowledge is power and I am grateful for all the things she taught me. I am now empowered to control my own health. My personal crisis and research proved to me that eczema is an allergic reaction to food. Many do not believe that, I just hope that they never have to live through it to learn.

I hope you get help for your son and that he makes a speedy recovery. Good luck to your family.

My two boys ages 4 and 2 1/2 also both suffer from eczema. For my oldest it is mild but the youngest gets bad breakouts and requires daily steriod use. We have had both boys tested for food allergies and have had positive results. Each have tree nut allergies and are allergic to most seafood. The youngest also has a egg allergy. We rarely give cows milk and although the test was negative, I truly believe a gluten/wheat free diet would help.

Currently we are trying a hazelwood necklace that was recommended by a teacher at daycare and continue to try to manage outbreaks. If you are in doubt the food allergy testing may be worthwhile for other reasons other than treating the eczema. We learned the peanut allergy is severe as well as the allergy to shellfish.

Best of luck to you and your boys!

Try gluten free or Diane B's suggestion. Alot of what happens topicly, starts internally. Eczema is stress related and my son and youngest daughter have it. I try not to get prescription meds for it, because it may irritate more than it helps. I treat topically with Aveeno for Eczema cream or cortisone 10 and try a clean diet.

My granddaughter was tested for allergies because she had eczema as well as asthma. I suggest you take her to a pediatric allergist. She was allergic not only to food but to tree pollens.They specialize in this issues and will have some good ideas.

I have ecxema. I started getting it about a year ago. I have no allergies to speak of.
When I got pneumonia, they put me on steroids to help with the inflammation in my lungs and my eczema was completely gone. I couldn't believe I had such a happy side effect.
Now that I'm done with the steroids, my eczema has come back. I use cortisone cream, but it's not the same.

I don't have allergies. I have a weakened immune system, including shingles, that has caused my eczema. Changing foods or anything like that hasn't helped me at all. Continue to log flare-ups, but know that ecxema might not be food related at all.

Follow up with the doctor for other causes. And, other remedies,

Best wishes to you.