jen18j:Recently I sent my daughter, who has eczema for many years, to this skin doctor. She gave my daughter to apply steroid cream 2x/ day for 2 weeks And switch to apply to a non steroid based cream for 2x/ a week for another 3 months. Took zrytec for 10 days.
Doctor gave Cetaphil bath & body lotion which can't be found in guardian.
Doctor also said the trick is to try to break the cycle. Hence, it is important to apply all medications even the rashes are clear.
I am trying out this cycle on her. Will see if it will be gone?!
Cetaphil is easily available at the retail pharmacies, how can the doctor tell u it is not available outside? It goes on regular discount as well.
Yes, it is important to break the cycle, but if there is an ongoing infection, which is common in prolonged cases, it will come back again very quickly. I hope that this works for your child, but if it comes back again and is even worse than before, you need to take her to another doctor that will separate out the treatment to address bacterial/fungal infection, while also addressing the itch. And if it still persist, consider underlying allergies.
In our case, we had to remove allergens, and treat the infections. There were areas of the skin that never ever flare up again once the infections were cleared with antibacterial cream and anti fungal wash, which means the earlier doctors were wrong to treat those areas with steroids. There are areas that recur and was only helped by antihistamines, and those areas are linked to allergic eczema with secondary infections. The good news is once the infections were cleared, I could help him get through a reaction with antihistamines instead of him scratching himself raw.