Eczema/hydrocortisone q...

W has eczema (you al probably know that by now....)....

Anyway, he has a realy nasty patch on his shoulder that is quite 'wet' and blistery... we were first given some Fucidine H to put on it - used for a few weeks twice a day and the wetness went but it still stayed very red and quite raw looking. (also given oilatum and diprobase)...

Went back last week (I feel a fraud as I seem to have been to the docs so often about W)... to say we had been using the fucidine for a few weeks and it hadn't really got much better.  She prescribed hydrocortisone (sp) and doublebase (diprabase doesnt seem to be doing a lot....) but told us to use that for a week max as its a steroid cream.... so we did, the should stayed red but was generally better - not wet/blistery etc...

We stopped after a week, and its really bad again... probably worse than it was the first time... larger area, very red, wet looking etc...

Do I go back/keep on with the hydrocortisone (but not sure thats good as its steroid)... or is there anything else... I thought hydrocortisone was the 'main' thing to treat bad patches IYSWIM....

We tried Aveno which is fab on his face but didn't do anything on his body... Gah... his changing mat looks like a chemist... I feel so bad for him having to have all these chemicals put on him at such a young age....

Just wondered if anyone know/could tell me whether I can do anything else or it just needs riding out IYSWIM...

What strength hydrocortosone is it? anything up to 1% is very mild really - no problem with using it for more than a week - although that may be the point at which the GP feels they can't do enough and you should be under dermatology care. I'd go back to the GP and ask their advice.

What we often used to do with Megan was use a mild antiseptic on the 'wet' (weeping) areas of skin - and then steroid once they'd dried up a little (I seem to remember it isn't a great idea to use steroid on broken skin). I can't remember the name of the one we used, but it was a similar consisitency to savlon. We'll also use sudocrem on weeping areas to do the same thing.

Something else a little random that we changed was washing powder - we stopped using any fabric conditioner, and found that ecover non-bio was the gentlest for Megan (Tesco non-bio really irritated her skin) - and new clothes need to be pre-washed (still) otherwise she'll flare up where they rub against her skin

If he's  having a flare up I'd use the hydrocortisone.

We have this with Josiah, he's having a major flare up at the mo and is also on a course of oral antibiotics.

Oh yes Superhoop's right about the washig stuff, only surcare here (or ecover but I can't bear the smell.)

Yeah - its 1%.... I think the doctors think I am terribly neurotic which is why don't really want to go back... but not sure what to do and they were quite insistent that I shouldnt use it longer than a week etc.

Boo - he has patches all over his body... not going away but not getting worse IYSWIM... but the shoulder is the nasty one...

Sorry - forgot to say... using Surcare here... TB doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, new patches still appearing etc... is it worth trying Ecover do you think?

Thanks so much x

Behind Hugo's ears were a total and complete mess, really raw and weeping. We were prescribed Fucidin to begin with (which if memory serves is an anti biotic cream). It didn't do terribly much tbh. The only thing that worked was a steroid cream and lots of moisturising (we have uguementum, sorry spelling of that is atrocious, don't have the pot to hand). For quite a time the only thing that kept this area, his neck and a portion of his chest uner control was the steroid cream. We got to a point where I'd been using steroid on one part of his body or another for about 10 days or so straight and I went back to the GP. Long story short, we're being referred for allergy testing but she did say it was safe for me to continue as I had been doing with the steroid.

I also stopped using fabric conditioner, I only use a non bio and I always put things through an extra rinse cycle.

Touch wood, his skin is in pretty good condition at the moment and no real flare ups.

From my experiences with my own excema, hydrocortisone works whilst you're using it, but it comes back when you stop. I had far more luck with buying calendula cream myself than going to the doctor but not sure if that's ok for babies or not.

We are finding fucidin H pretty useless actually, I'm thinking of just going back to the hydrocortisone until we get back to the dr with him as the fucidin really isn't clearing it up.

I am not happy about using steroids either but the fucidin H also contains a steroid anyway and at the end of the day if I can just use it as and when on the active patches too then it's got to be better than having sore and itchy patches of eczema.

We are having the same problem with R (17 weeks). His is all over his body and face and only gets better with hydrocortisone cream. If i leave it off for a few days it flares up really badly again. Esp his face. I spoke to pharmacist and a Dr about it as i was worried about using this cream for so long (had been 3 weeks at that time) and they both said that eczema can do more damage to the skin than the steroid cream. I have now been prescribed 2.5% for his body but still 0.5% for his face. His body is now much better and i i can go without using it for a bit longer. But his face still needs it every day really. I am off to the dr again tomorrow about it. I agree with feeling like a bit of a pain going back all the time but im not going to give up!

I have asked to be refered but the dr didnt think it was needed at the mo. I'll see if he changes his mind tomorrow. I have now been using the steroid creams for about 6 weeks so i wouldnt worry too much about going over a week.

Hi Catcat,

One of my twins has eczema and he suffers really badly behind his knees and on his face around his hairline he is constantly scratching and it breaks my heart to see him suffering - I to feel exactly the same as you do I am constantly at the doctors telling them the lotions and potions they have prescribed are not working. I am also very reluctant to continue to use the steriod creams longer than neccessary.my son has finally been reffered to the skin specialist at the hospital its taken over two months for the appointment to come through but its on Friday.

I shall post you a message Friday to let you know how he gets on and to let you know if I am prescribed any miracle cure although im pretty sure there isnt such a thing.

x