Jan 09 2009
Eczema
Bonnie Sayers, of Autism Family Adventures and coordinator of the recent Autism Twitter Day, recommended that I do a post on Eczema since both my kids have to cope with it. I intended to write it but kept getting distracted. Then my sister-in-law sent me some information, and now I figure that’s the Universe’s way of telling me to just write the darned thing already. So…
Gus and MM have both had to deal with eczema since they were babies. The Mayo Clinic describes eczema , or atopic dermatitis, as an inflammation of the skin. Our old pediatrician, when Gus first started displaying the signs, simplified it for me as “severe dry skin.” It has often been thought that eczema was an allergic condition; however, a New York Times article from April of 2008 suggests a genetic cause. Since I am by no means an expert on the subject, I’ll just stick to what we’ve experienced with the condition.
Many people experience eczema during the change of seasons or during the cold weather seasons. That is the case with MM who has had such bad eczema flareups that she’s gotten bad scarring. Gus gets his flareups in the late spring/summer. The minute the temperature goes above 70, he gets the patches, usually behind the knees, inside the elbow, the wrists, and between his shoulder blades. This winter, MM has been getting bad rashes on her wrists and hands, I expect because she is very careful about regular hand washing, which leaves her skin dry. I send her to school with a hand cream, but what are the odds that a kindergartner will remember to use it all the time?
It has been suggested to me that diet could play a role in the severity of eczema and that certain food can exacerbate the condition namely: wheat, eggs, milk, shellfish, nuts, strawberries and chocolate. If you suspect that your child may have a reaction or sensitivity to any of these items, the best way to find out is by an elimination diet, which means removing these things from the diet for at least two weeks to see the potential effect and then reintroducing them slowly, noting any differences. In terms of my own kids, looking back to when their eczema was at its worst, they’ve only regularly eaten 3 of those things. When Gus was on a dairy free diet for 6 months, it was during the time of year when his flareups are typically the worst. The lack of milk made only the slightest difference, if any. We could possibly try to eliminate strawberries or eggs (MM doesn’t eat eggs anyway), but I think if I tried to remove wheat products from our diet again, I may get slapped with divorce papers…literally…from my husband AND kids. So we will have to leave the dietary interventions alone for now.
Laundry detergents and soaps can affect eczema for some people as well. Since Gus has always shown sensitivity to anything on his skin (and his father has to an extent as well), we only use fragrance and dye free detergents. Even when we get the ‘natural’ and eco-friendly detergents, they are always available in a ‘free’ form, meaning no dyes or fragrances. The same goes for fabric softeners. We use Dove soaps almost exclusively, only switching if we try some sort of organic soap. One thing that worked well for Gus was Dr. Bronner’s Hemp/Tea Tree liquid soap. The rashes actually got smaller almost immediately using that, but neither one of the kids will tolerate it because it smells very strong. Stinky, but it works.
So, how do we manage the flareups? Moisturizing. Lots of it. Several layers of it, every night. Because I like to try to use all-natural products as much as I can, one year I tried pure aloe vera gel to manage the rashes. It worked okay. It definitely helped, but the rashes and discomfort were always still there, just muted. And the aloe required several reapplications during the day, which was not all that practical for Gus who was in school even over the summer and couldn’t apply it himself. For right now, here’s what’s works the best for us:
Immediately after baths - Aveeno oatmeal lotion (or a comparable brand) applied liberally, all over the body, followed by a thick application of good old fashioned Vaseline or some other petroleum jelly. If there is a particularly bad flareup, I may use the tiniest amount of hydrocortisone before the Aveeno, but we haven’t had to do that much at all this year for MM (Gus isn’t having any flareups at the moment). During the ‘off’ season, when the rashes go away, I still use Eucerin (or something comparable) after baths because even without the rashes, both kids still have dry skin.
A quick word about petroleum jelly. I know many people prefer not to use the oil based product. I tried to avoid it myself (hence the aloe vera). We’ve tried other means of dealing with the eczema aside from the ones I’ve mentioned. I have to say - the only thing that has worked significantly has been the moisturizing regimen. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
But since every body is different, I’d be most interested to hear about others’ experiences with treating eczema! Please share in a comment!
I have been dealing with eczema since childhood, on and off. My father and sister have it as well. Consultation with a dermatologist revealed that there is a strong genetic component to eczema, there is no cure, and that it often does not become acutely aggravated unless there are certain triggers, which vary.
As a boy, I had “prickly heat” on the inside of my elbows. During high school wrestling, contact with the mats and the solvents used to clean the mats, plus sweat and the unusually warm practice room all contributed to a nasty flare-up on the outside of my elbows, ankles and between my toes and fingers. My skin turned very scaly and became inflamed, broken and itchy. In this case, the advice was never to touch it, which was made very difficult by the severity of the inflammation.
In general, I avoid scented detergents or fabric softeners of any kinds, use unscented moisturizing soap, and try to stay cool and dry. Stress also seems to have a large impact on inflammation for me, during any season. Heat tends to hinder recovery due to a lack, or retention of moisture in the air.
During high school, I used Psorcon cream to help relieve some of the pain, and I tried to keep the patches of bad skin clean and dry. I often wore gauze taped over the spots, since they tended to ooze and bleed a lot. Eventually, the broken skin subsided, and I was able to switch to an oatmeal bath, which slowly helped. Our dermatologist advised against petroleum products in favor of loose wrapping, if I remember correctly, in favor of water-based salves.
Since high school, flare-ups have been occasional and short-lived. Development of broken or inflamed skin due to eczema has largely stopped for me, perhaps possibly as part of aging. It’s difficult to tell, since I’ve used the same routines and products since childhood. Regardless of the reason I am very happy not to have to deal with it anymore.
Hi… just wanted to say thanks for the post on eczema. My sister and I both suffered from it as children and still have occasional flair ups as adults. The crummy part is that my little 7 month old son also has eczema. What a bummer! He has very dry skin and I was pleased to see that you and I have landed on similar routines… I have tried many different products and combinations and have settled in on Seventh Generation Baby laundry soap, Cetaphil for baths and have cut him down to only one bath a week… the other days we do a wet wash cloth wipedown. Since he is so liitle, he doesnt get too dirty
At night, I put a very small amount of RX ointment on his “hot” spots and then cover his whole body in Aveeno Lotion and then follow up with a neat product called UN-petroleum jelly. It’s an awesome alternative to petroleum products and is all natural. I also put a mixture of olive oil and Aveeno on his scalp and face and ears which has really helped his dry face and itchy scalp and cracks befind his little ears. He is doing really great and really does not have much of a problem anymore… heat does tend to make him a little rashy looking, but all in all he is well controlled.