Eczema?

[cherrygal]

vksmums:

cherrygal:

[quote=\"vksmums\"]Is it true that eczema cannot be cured? It can only be brought under control? My cousin's kid has quite bad eczema, her face and neck is discoloured and always flaking, she has quite low self-esteem because of this. Our hearts really ache when we see her condition but no matter what my cousin uses, it is best brought under control- her flaking stops for a while but the dryness and the discolouring is still there. Anyone knows if eczema can be totally cured?

Yup, no cure. I have had it since the age of 7 where both my arms would get really itchy and I would scratch till there was blood. It became better with puberty but I still get inflammations now and then when the weather is hot or when I touch certain irritants. Once you bring down the inflammation with the steroidal creams, you need to make sure you moisturize and maintain the skin with the non-steroidal ones I mentioned. It gets itchy when it is dry. And the whole vicious cycle repeats. The discolouration will take time to heal. Just don't agitate the area anymore once the inflammation stops. I know, easier said than done.

We have tried quite a lot of moisturisers but not steroidal creams. Do you get these from doctors?[/quote]Mild steroids like hydrocortisone can be bought easily from the pharmacies. Just ask the pharmacist for 0.5% hydrocortisone. Some only sell 1% as the minimum strength. Both are mild.

For stronger steroids like Betamethasone or Dhasalone, you need to get from GP or dermatologists. Steroidal creams are not meant for long-term use. It is used to bring down the inflammation.

I also don't use normal moisturizers like Cetaphil coz they are useless for serious eczema skin conditions. I use Egoderm cream as a maintenance moisturizer. It is medicated but non-steroidal.

[baglady]

vksmums:

Thanks so much for your info, what really is an elimination diet? How do you what to eliminate. How do you get info on alternative nutritionists? Can find on the web? Which ones are good? Sorry for the barrage of questions, just very worried about my cousins kid and want to really provide some help.

Yes any additional info on this diet would be really helpful. I'm also trying to avoid using steroid creams.

My friend's son has eczema and also allergy to dust mites. She just bought a special cleaner called Delfin I think. it's a bit similar to the Rainbow, but different technology. No filters. It sucks up all the dust mites from mattress, carpet etc and can even use to clean your air con. It's also an air purifier. She said her son's skin has already improved within less than 2 weeks. She has a bit of asthma and she says that it has helped her too. Quite amazing. But it's v expensive. More than 3k! But she pay by instalments with no interest. I'm considering whether to get or not.

[vksmums]

cherrygal:

Mild steroids like hydrocortisone can be bought easily from the pharmacies. Just ask the pharmacist for 0.5% hydrocortisone. Some only sell 1% as the minimum strength. Both are mild.

For stronger steroids like Betamethasone or Dhasalone, you need to get from GP or dermatologists. Steroidal creams are not meant for long-term use. It is used to bring down the inflammation.

I also don't use normal moisturizers like Cetaphil coz they are useless for serious eczema skin conditions. I use Egoderm cream as a maintenance moisturizer. It is medicated but non-steroidal.

Hi cherrygal,

Thank you, may try the mild ones first. At least now, I have lots more information on this and can go about trying the different remedies.

[cnimed]

vksmum and Baglady,


Basically it's about finding the triggers and causes. Steriod creams and medications are to bring down the inflammation, but they don't address the triggers. Sometimes an allergy test can help you find the triggers, but they are not fool-proof, and they can't detect food intolerances etc as well. My kid has been tested to be very allergic to dustmites. The test results for eggs and shrimps are inconclusive and the allergist told us we have to rely on our own observations. Targeting the above did not give us good results. We did an elimination diet to get to baseline - where the child is symptonless - sticking to a restricted diet. Once you are at baseline, you can slowly add food back one at a time, a few days or a week apart, to detect the food triggers. It is very time consuming but desperate times call for desperate measures and we were feeling very desperate. You can start by removing the most common allergens for at least three weeks and see if it makes any differences. Bear in mind that the known allergens and the most common food intolerance are different. Corn is not in the top 8 food allergens, but it is fourth in food intolerance. We took out all top 8. Naturally no aritifical colourings or preservatives either. His skin healed completely after a few weeks of very strict diet with no scarring. Unfortunately I still have no luck adding anything back, sob sob.

If you have very persistent inflamed eczema, please check for secondary infections that can aggravate the situation. Steriod creams alone will not help, and can make the skin even more susceptible to infections. My son has been diagnosed separately with secondary bacterial infection (at NSC) and secondary fungal infection (private doctor). The treatments for these two are totally different. For fungal infections, applications of moisturising creams are not advisable and will worsen, and spread the infection. The treatment prescribed by NSC worsened the fungal infection and we had to go back to the private doctor to clean it up. Deviation from his diet will cause the itch to return and open the skin up to infection again. So we're constantly on the treadmill.

Some dieticians treat eczema through enzyme treatment, supplements and dietary changes. The one I spoke to say it can be lack of certain enzymes; it can also be due to yeast overgrowth passed down from mum to baby during the child's time in the womb, in which case, you have to address the yeast overgrowth in the system which can damage the intestinal wall, leading to signs of food intolerances (cause the proteins are not well digested and leak into the blood stream through the damaged intestinal walls).

Some people have used classical homeopathy with success. This is supposed to address the underlying constitution, but I don't understand it well. A good TCM doctor can also help, but be prepared to take a lot of bitter medicine for at least half a year, plus dietary restrictions.

The way I see it the skin inflammation is just a sympton. The root causes can be many, and you have to do some (or a lot!) detective work to find out what is causing your problem.

Good luck!

[vksmums]

Thanks Deminic, I really learnt a lot from you!

[baglady]

Wow thanks deminc, really appreciate the advice. You’re really quite expert at this! Hope your son’s condition will improve. Thankfully my boy seems ok now. Every now and then, he will itch and scratch, but not as bad as before. Don’t know why it was so bad at that time. Maybe it was an allergy.


Was trying to recall if he ate anything that he doesn’t usually eat, but I couldn’t think of anything. If it happens again, I think I’ll try the elimination diet. Must be done with help from the allergist right? National skin centre?

[Jinlol]

Hey all, may I ask what are the products I could purchase from Guardian, Unity (easily accessible stalls) to help treat eczema?

[Inspiration]

Can anyone tell me how to treat enzemer?


My boy is only 3+ yo n is suffering from this skin rashes which sadden me very much, he used to have beautiful skin.

[verykiasu2010]

Inspiration:

Can anyone tell me how to treat enzemer?


My boy is only 3+ yo n is suffering from this skin rashes which sadden me very much, he used to have beautiful skin.

please read from the beginning of this thread

[atrecord]

Ezema is also a symptom of asthma, which is hereditary…


So if your kid have ezema, do monitor and see whether he/she will have signs of bad coughs/breathing when is sick and got cough.