Eczema-- Does ANYTHING work??

SCBride2007

DD has eczema, and it is getting worse. I hate that she's always so itchy. It's caused her to start biting her nails way down-- she even bit her thumb nail FROM the bottom up to the middle! We've tried:

CeraVe
hydrocortisone 1%
Aquaphor
Aquaphor and hydrocortisone mixed
$30 Vitamins from Shaklee that the consultant swore would "take it away w/in a week!" <--not at all
Aveeno eczema therapy
Eucerin
i'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of 

We use "Free" everything-- dryer sheets, laundry soap (heck, we even started making our own all-natural detergent).

I'm at a loss. Any thoughts?  

StrawberryAlarmClock

Hmm. Looks like you've tried my suggestions. We do:

Soap bath every other day (clear water bath in between unless he's filthy)

Only CA baby bubble bath

CA baby shampoo/wash

Massage oil immediately after bath while skin is damp

"Naked time" (air dry after bath) 

Dreft for his sheets & clothes  

 Hydrocortisone for flare ups

I'm sorry.  Did the pedi have any Rx ideas? They do steroids for flare ups, don't they? Not that you'd be psyched to use steroids, I'm sure. 

Kadyra

We use Cetaphil lotion and have rx triamcinolone cream 0.1% for flares. Works well. 

LeslieParr28

My sons pediatrician prescribed a compound cream that work great I would bring it up at your next visit, we wasted so much money doing trial and error with over the counter stuff

schnappycat

Have you seen a dermatologist yet? At this point, it might be worth getting her in. 

GL! 

offbeatmama

DS has bad eczema. I'd ask for a referral to a dermatologist. DS had to have allergy testing. We use prescription cream. We alternate between 2.5% hydrocortisone cream and something else that I can't remember. It's another steroid cream. He gets Zyrtec every day about an hour before bed. We also use Cetaphil Restoraderm every night after he gets out of the bath and we don't really dry him off. We only use soap when absolutely necessary. We use Sebamed body wash because it has the same ph level as skin. We tried a bunch and that one works the best for DS. We run a humidifier in his room constantly.

You just have to explore and try different things. I'd cut out dryer sheets all together. Even the free and clear ones can be very irritating to sensitive skin. It sucks but I'm sure you can find something. Good luck!

debs672

We use VaniCreme.  It's super thick and comes in a tub but it isn't oily and is fragrance free.  This stuff works wonders.

JenGK

When my son had it really badly, I had to strip him down at every diaper change and rub lotion all over his body.  Plus add in hydrocortisone 3xs per day.  We like CJs Butter.

nic326

Depends on the child and how bad the excema is. My DS has it BAD. There was nothing OTC that worked for him and we tried everything. We then started up the prescription ladder and are on the third strongest treatment possible and while it is a steroid it clears up his patches in one day. So its not like I have the cream on him constantly. Its Triamcinolone (sp). and works well for us. He still gets flare ups but he isnt miserable anymore at least. GL!

cbj

I have Eczema.  I had a RX for cortisone but didn't like using it on myself when DD was little because I had it on my hands, plus is wasn't working very well.  Probably because I only applied it at night after she was in bed.  I tried a lot of things but found Babyganics Eczema Care Cream cleared it up.  I love the stuff!!  You can get it at babies r us, and diapers.com. 

dmndsr4eva

You should give some of the homepathic calendula creams a try.  It seems like CA Babies is the most expensive.  And I personally think it is worth it.  But I've also bought a few other calendula creams that are cheaper and work well on all sorts of skin issues like minor cuts, burns, eczema too. 

jlh123

My daughter has it so bad it brings me to tears to think about it.  We've tried literally everything listed above that everyone mentioned, the more expensive and holistic (ex CA babies) the worse it got.

We went to a pediatric derm at the children's hospital.  They prescribe a medication that is amazing.  Protopic.  Don't google too much, you'll be scared at what you see my dr. said and she told me to ignore the warnings because the study was done with oral meds 25x the dosage that our kids get.  This is an ointment you'd put on.

Also, absolutely give your child a bath daily, only 3-5 minutes and immediately pat your child dry and apply aquaphor to lock in the moisture.  I can honestly say that my daughter barely shows any signs 3 weeks later after this combination.  We still use a steroid ointment on a few areas but the protopic is on the eyes mostly.  Eczema kids need the moisture!  I used to think daily baths would make it work (don't scrub them in the bath either) but my dr. said it needs to be done daily.

So just my two cents.  I'm sure there are other doctors that would go against it but I'm just saying it worked for us.

Jessys_Girl

Our Eczema Treatment System: (works wonders) 

Bathe Every Other Day with Dove Sensitive Skin Soap.  NO scented soaps, NO bubble bath.

Aveeno baby shampoo, rinsed very quickly and try not to get it on her skin because Aveeno products actually made her eczema worse in the begining.  (But the shampoo works best on her hair...so we stil use it).

We use the combo lotion (Hydrocortizone/Aquaphor) after every single bath. We use Eucerin lotion on the days in between.

Shower/bathe IMMEDIATELY after swimming in any pool (chlorine dries her out so bad).

We don't use any special detergent, but that's because her skin got used to our detergent right away when she was born, and when we DID try to switch to Dreft she flared up because her skin was not accustomed to it.

We have a steroid cream that we use for major flare ups.