Moms of DC with Excema

ccm1203

I saw this article on Babycenter, very interesting.

 

Diluted bleach baths ease kids' eczema Mon, Apr 27, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- Diluted bleach baths offer a safe, simple and inexpensive way of treating children with eczema, U.S. researchers report. The skin disease, which affects 17 percent of school-aged children, can affect youngsters' appearance, sleep and their ability to concentrate in school. Eczema-related itching can be so bad that children sometimes break the skin and get chronic skin infections that can be difficult to treat, the researchers noted. The study, by a team at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, included 31 patients, aged 6 months to 17 years old, with moderate or severe eczema plus a staph infection. All the children were treated with oral antibiotics for 14 days, and they were also told to put a topical antibiotic ointment or placebo control into their nose for five sequential days of each month. Half of the children took diluted bleach baths (half a cup of bleach per full standard tub), while the others had a placebo mixed into their bath water. The children were told to soak in the baths for five to 10 minutes at a time, two times a week. Because the amount of bleach used was so small, the diluted bleach baths were nearly odor-free, the study noted. Over one to three months, the children who took the diluted bleach baths had a reduction in eczema severity that was five times greater than those in the placebo group. In fact, the children taking the baths showed such rapid improvement in eczema and infection symptoms that the researchers stopped the study early, so that children in the placebo group could get the same amount of relief. "The eczema kept getting better and better with the bleach bath, and these baths prevented it from flaring again, which is an ongoing problem for these kids," Dr. Amy S. Paller, chair of dermatology and a professor of pediatrics, said in a Northwestern University news release. "We presume the bleach has antibacterial properties and decreased the number of bacteria on the skin, which is one of the drivers of flares." The study was published in the April 28 issue of Pediatrics.

EliseB0323

Yep, a little bleach in the bath water does wonders. (I got flamed on here once for recommending it, BTW).  I thought the dermatologist was nuts when he told us to put bleach in DS's bath, but it works really well. (And DS is so fresh smelling and sparkly.)

amiamish

Wow! I would have a REALLY hard time doing that... Bleach Bath just sounds like a form of torture.

femmegem

Wow. Thanks for posting! I think I'll have to try this.

Desert*Flower

That's really interesting.  My younger sister had severe eczema and it would clear up every summer when she went in my grandparents chlorine pool.

EliseB0323

amiamish:

Wow! I would have a REALLY hard time doing that... Bleach Bath just sounds like a form of torture.

You just use a small amount of bleach -- like an 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup in a tubful of water. It's not torture -- kids don't even notice it. Believe me having eczema that itches and gets infected is a lot more like torture.

amiamish

EliseB0323:

amiamish:

Wow! I would have a REALLY hard time doing that... Bleach Bath just sounds like a form of torture.

You just use a small amount of bleach -- like an 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup in a tubful of water. It's not torture -- kids don't even notice it. Believe me having eczema that itches and gets infected is a lot more like torture.

Sorry B-- I wasn't saying it IS torture, just that "bleach bath" sounds horrid. I would try it if my doc told me to and DS's eczema got bad enough though, right now we have it under control.

KellyGreen

Interesting!  I'll have to give this a try...