how can i be positive about my daughters ezcema ? ... - MY SKIN
how can i be positive about my daughters ezcema ? may sound simple - i dont how she could get her confidence back ? any ideas any one x :)
How old is she and has she actually said that she has a problem with it? My daughter started with atopical eczema at 6 months old and now age 25 still has it...she never grew out of it like the docs said she would! It hasn't really bothered her, even at its worst and on antibiotics, banadaged up etc. Yes, she gets fed up of having to look at labels for contents and being careful of what she uses, but all-in-all she has learned to live with it.
If it were me, I wouldn't make a huge fuss about it, just treat it as something "normal" for her. If it does bother her, tell her she has special skin that needs extra care!
shes nearly 12 , yes she hates having it. she is itchy all the time and she has been upset at school by bullies. My daughter had in when she was a baby not bad, then when she was 7 it got worse but now its worse than ever .
I dont know what my daughter is allergic to . She doesnt use soap - i wash with surcare - the doctors and nurses said its genetic- could be her age as shes starting to develop.
I can understand i am around the same age, I am 13. Do you have any pets?. I have come to understand that my Dads dogs were making me break out, and not to mention the Cat, and bunnys are even worst then cats!! It made me itch, my face get really red an puffy. Now i don't know if you want your daughter using make up but If her face is red, like mine was I would suggest Clinque, redness coverup. This brand is amazing, i even have out it on my neck/chest so no-one could see my skin, and it actally helped cleared it up! Maybe we could be Pen-pals?.. Just a thought.
hi no we dont have any pets. I wish we could find a cause like that . yes her face gets red and puffy but i thought maybe keep off make up for now , how long have you had ezcema then ?
I don't have eczema even through my doctors thought I had had it, what I actually have is nethertons syndrome which looks like eczema. I have had it since I was born. I when I started middle school I started noticing I was different so I asked my mom, if I could start using makeup, I know you don't want your daughter really using makeup, but I kinda know how she feels about her skin and how everybody stares, I just didn't like feeling different and the coverup made me start feeling more confident about myself.. Sorry if I sound a little out spoken..
Hi its ok , i dont know if we could cover it up we could maybe test it just as its dry and flaky on her face. I have never heard of that before it sounds similar to ezcema ? is it a similar - skin condition ? you seem to know your triggers which is good...
Yes it really quite similar, the doctors for years thought what I had was eczema intill my doctor brought in a specialist from France or somewhere else in Europe, where we met him up in San Francisco, with a bunch of his friends. Maybe you should try going to the ocean if you live near one, or a salt bath, because I have figured out that salt kills bacteria, so my skin drys up and gets clear. These are a couple things I do to avoid break outs... I try to avoid animals, my skin is very sensitive to the sun, and cigerates. What do you use on your daughters skin? I use Vaseline and hydrocortisone. I try my best to look normal, maybe some of these things will help your daughter. 
they say my daughter has atopic ezcema so its inheretd through jenes - i have asthma and slight ezcema no where near what my daughters is like. The say astma and ezcema are connected. although she doesnt have asthma. Sometimes the ocean works a little but last year we went to spain and she went in the sea and because her ezcema was all red any way the salt water stung her and she was screaming in pain. Sometimes the sun helps but most times it just aggravates it, it maybe depends on how bad it is atthe time. We dont have animals -dont smoke near her . She has tried the sun lamps at hospital but again they can make it worse. I use dermol 500 lotion to wash with recomended by hospital and eumovate and epadrem ointment and bandages . We have used hydrocortizone(got some), sudocrem,diprobase, doublebase,hydromol,epaderm cream, betnovate- the one that turns your skin yellow,fucibet and trimavate and some of them ones wrinkle the skin her skin is realy dry - now her face has started going dry and flaky, wow i have gone on n on!! 
Hmm, Yeah the ocean sometimes does hurt.. Have you tried homeopathics? My doctor had me try them but I think they only worked for a bit..
no whats that ? never heard of it before
whats that?
Um there like little sugar balls that you can either suck on or chew.
no never been offered them , i could ask doctor . Did your doctor reccomend them to you and they only worked for a bit . Do you know if you can get them to buy at health shops ?
Im pretty sure you can buy them at stores I have seen them in Santa Cruz... My doctor told me that they were little sweet pills, and that she was trying new things.
Am 33 and have suffered almost exactly the same as your daughter all my life. I have just discovered through patch testing that although I have atopic eczema but I also get eczema as a result of a contact allergy to methoxychlor thiazoline which is in everything (it's an anti-fungal preservative in washing powders, make up, creams soap AND SURCARE fabric softner which I have used for years ). It has taken me to have a child and be using sensitive skin baby wipes that absolutely trashed my hands (skin fell off!) for someone to take me seriously. At my last appointment they told me this has no relationship to my atopic eczema which as it turns out has pretty much gone - for years I have been told the atopic eczema was the problem (also have hayfever). I am now undergoing further tests for allergy to UVA in sunlight as well as some sunscreens, and some which I may only react to in sunlight. Short answer - get your daughter referred to a dermatologist and ask for allergy patch testing. If nothing else you could at least rule it out.
I really hope things improve for her - I remember the teenage years well and it was hell at times. A supportive and understanding Mum goes a long way!
Hiya thankyou, yes we are see go to dermotology regular at the hospital - i will ask today although i do beg them everytime to find a cause . I read on here about a rasp test - Then i asked for one for my daughter at dermotology and they said they wouldnt do one as they have ruled out diet and pet allergy and thats all they test for , and ive cried and pleaded with them to help me some how find a trigger and they told me that because i have asthma and slight ezcema and its in family that its heridatry and part of her genetic make up , they said her body produces to many cells .
My daughter was recentley hospitilised with her ezcema for over a week and i kept askin all the differnt nurses if there was any other tests or ANYTHING that i could do to help my daughter and they said just keep putting the creams theres no cure. They wrote about me in my daughters notes saying her mother (me) needs lots of ressurance about the ezcema!
We thought as she is 12(just turned) maybe it is her age , hormones , puberty . Then she was getting bullied at school so maybe that made it worse. Everyday is so hard as she wakes up bleeding -then we do strong cream , moisturiser , bandages. i dont like her staying out any where different as when she comes back her skin always seems worse.
Sometimes i dont know if i am a suppotive Mam- but i try my hardest . When she was in hospital i had to leave to go to work and i felt awful 
and i wonder if my daughter is allergis to that stuff in the surcare then ? what washing powder do you have to use ?
In Boots chemists you can get super sensitive dish wah liquid detergent and clothes softener they are okay to use - I feel for your little girl - she just has to learn to live with it I'm afraid but good friends would not care about eczema what about seeing if you can start a support group in your area for children with skin problmes like eczema? Spot
Hi wer have just arrived back from dermatology at the hospital and i asked them for an allergy skin test and they said they carnt do one as her skin is so bad and it would make it worse - its needs to be clear when they do it. They said again thats its atopic ezcema and herditory , but i told them what ive read on here and the nurse said weve ruled chemicals out !! im so upset - whycarnt the do out or if the can why are the fobbing me off ? do you think ? :@
Sorry for delay in getting back to you. I do feel for you and your daughter - I really do. It's a horrible condition but don't give up looking for an answer. Yes they could be right and it could be hereditary but they could be wrong too (they were for me). And they are learning new things all the time; follow their advice as they will be doing everything they can do BUT don't stop asking questions and don't be afraid to ask them to clarify things or explain them again or for a second opinion. And ignore comments like Mother needs reassurance about eczema -of course you do, that's normal! Bet that was written by someone without children and without eczema!
Try cutting out anything with methylisothiazoline in it (also called methoxychlor thiazoline) - it's easy to spot in the ingredients (but check everything, shampoo, moisturiser, soap, washing powder etc). It's usually in soap in public toilets as well so avoid that too. Not sure if it's in the surcare washing stuff but it's in the fabric softener. It can't hurt to avoid it for a bit and if you see any improvement in the eczema then you can report that back to the dermatologist. I'm back to dermatologist in September for more allergy tests for odd chemicals and sun care products as something is still flaring my 'eczema' but not as badly so if they pick anything odd up I'll let you know - got to be worth a try.
I use Ariel washing powder and no fabric softener but people often react to Ariel so I think I'm a bit odd like that! In my experience its about finding what works for the individual and that can change over time. I'm getting there after years of pain and discomfort and bullying at school; you can't shield your daughter from it all (I'm sure you'd have the eczema for her if you could!) but you are there supporting her, listening to her and trying to help her and that will count at the end of the day. It's a hassle but it might be worth keeping a diary to try and spot any patterns. Some people I know say homeopathy or kinesiology can help - it didn't for me but might be worth looking into.
Hang in there and keep asking questions - and time will mostly probably see her eczema improve but nothing wrong with looking for other answers just in case.
hi i have excma i had as a baby it went away till i was 9 then it was to bad till i hit 13 then it went out of control i was referred to a dermatolagist they couldnt give me any answer they just told me to keep using the creams and avoid fragranced shampoos and derturgents, when i was 17 i got really bad i had to go into the hospital for 3 weeks as i was so dehydrated because my skin for them to find what was actually cousing it they did afew test with m blood and found that it was my imune system attacking my skin ive now been on medication to lower my imune system for afew months and my skin is so much better but i cant stay on that medication to long as it has some really nasty sideaffects at the age of 20 now im starting some more new mediction that has less sideaffects that i will be on for the rest of my life, the point to my story is that it might not be an allergy as diffrent things can couse skin conditions i hope your doughter doesnt have the same problem as me but i would ask the dermatolagist to check all possible reason.
Many people go to the dematolagist, but mine never really did anything, I have a scar on my leg where he took a skin sample but other wise it was my peditrcain, with the help of doctors from france figured out my skin issue, he also suggested i use the UV light treatment machine and i got really bad burns so bad i couldnt walk, now I'm not saying he caused it, but he never really helped either, wishing your daughter luck from another teenager who knows what is like.
Hi loumun, I would beg you to take a look at your daughter's (and your) diet. Any inflammatory condition, such as this, usually comes about by what goes on inside our bodies rather than outside. What goes on outside is usually the last straw that breaks the camel's back, if you know what i mean. Because of the tremendous inflammation from within, we become oversensitive to things around us and that's when we start to have allergic reactions to things. A couple of dreadful culprits are lactose and wheatflour. I would try eliminating all lactose from the diet first. You would be surprised what foodstuffs (and drugs) contain this and the impact on the body it has if you are sensitive to it. If there is improvement, but some sensitivity/inflammation remains try eliminating wheatflour as well. The two together often combine to exacerbate the problem.
Choline is often not consumed from our diets enough. This helps with inflammatory conditions and can be taken as a supplement (it's often combined with vitamin B complex) or try and eat lots of green leafy vegetables. It's also found in red meat and egg yolk. This will also help with other inflammatory conditions such as allergic rhinitis (hayfever), acne, arthritis, etc. Inflammatory conditions are extremely stressful on the body and this becomes a vicious circle as we use up our internal resources to keep our bodies in balance. Often we don't replenish our resources enough to keep the inflammation at bay. Our bodies are generally very good at fighting inflammation naturally, but they need the right conditions.
I would also try liquorice in moderation. This is anti-inflammatory in that it naturally boosts the adrenals to produce anti-inflammatory steroids, such as cortisol. Cortisol is our natural inflammation fighter.
I hope this is enough to be getting on with.
Having written all this, i notice that your post is over two years old. I hope you've found a solution in the meantime. If not, I hope my advice can help.
Good luck
One other factor is stress. You mention that kids at school can sometimes be cruel, that's a source of stress, the eczema flare-ups and inability to get some control is often a self defeating form of stress, hence can be a downward spiral. I was perhaps well into adulthood before I realised that I had to control the things that were mostly in my realm to control, and accept that there will always be things that are out of your control (weather, climate, pollen etc).
Some of the so called emollient creams I learnt over time that not all were particularly suited to my skin, despite them being pushed by all the doctors. E45 for example I found had me itching within minutes of applying it. What I would try and do is work with your child to monitor specific affects of applying particular types of emollient. Don't mix up too many at once, try one, monitor the effects, and if negative then move on. Gradually you should find one or two that suit and stick to them.
Getting to the root cause of specific allergens or triggers is worthwhile, and it's a shame you don't seem to be able to get any support from the doctors in this respect. There's perhaps no guarantees that you will ultimately find a specific thing. From what you describe, your daughter has pretty much the same symptoms as myself when I was that age, I too was in hospital frequently, bandaged and plastered in creams. However there is perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel, in that as an adult I am no way as severe as I was as a child. I get the odd flare-ups that I can at least maintain under some control now. What I suggest also is for night-time try and keep the bedroom on the cooler side, particularly in summer. I bought a portable air conditioner and haven't regretted it.
Hello there, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter but I understand. When my son was younger and didn't want to go to school because his eczema was so bad on his face, I told him to be really brave and be strong and just be himself. I taught him about "eczema awareness" and I told him to think about the other children. Some had spots, some worried about their looks, some were worried about their weight but did this really matter. We are what we are and we should be proud of who we are and we shouldn't worry about what we're not. My son has so many friends and they all admire his bravery because his eczema is so bad on his face and his neck but it doesn't stop him going out and having a good time. His friends like him for who he is. He is an inspiration and is just about to graduate from Uni. I'm so proud that he has lived away from home in a strange town for 3 years and has handled his skin condition so well. He has had eczema for 7 years now non-stop itching and twitching but I'm hoping it will start to ease now as our bodies change every 7 years. I truly hope your daughter will gain more confidence. Anything's possible!!!! Tell her to walk tall and be strong. Nothing lasts forever!
Make her do THE ART OF LIVING YES! Workshop. Problem will be solved!
