WMD is a reader of my personal blog and she even goes to the same church as me. She started blogging not too long ago, after getting ‘infected’ with the blogging bug. I too had been lurking at her blog and found her personal views very refreshing.

She shared in length how she deals with her child with Eczema and I wish to share this with other moms:

Eczema is not just about healing some Skin problem but involves maintenance and control that the skin does not flare up. It is unlike some skin problem that occurs once and goes away. Eczema wound can heal and recur again easily.

She provided most of the things that she had been practising such as:

I would like to share some of the things that help us control RE’s eczema and maintain his skin. Some of these can be found in eczema related sites and some are what we have done according to RE’s response:

a) Never use soap. We use bath oil such as Oilatum. Forget about whatever honey soap or gentle for skin soap, they are nothing compared to bath oil. Try and use bath oil on yourself and you will realize the different feeling on your skin after bath. Some recommend Seba Med and Lactacyd. I find the latter does not give a moisturing effect as in Oilatum.

b) Acquese Cream. This is a superb cream that I found out last 6 months. It is cheap unlike the other emollient for eczema. It can also be used for bathing. The cream can be used as a vehicle for other drugs. One thing that many fail to understand is for eczema, we do not use lotion but emollient – a stronger version of moisturizer.

c) Keep 1% Hydrocortisone cream at home. However, do not use it for his daily skin maintenance. Use it only when the skin flares up. When using it, it is best to first apply acquese cream. After that apply a thin layer of hydrocort cream on the affected area. We try our best to avoid using hydrocort cream though it is a low strength steroid.

d) Evening primrose oil + Vitamin E oil. Prick the capsule, and apply it on the skin. The effect is fantastic. I apply this oil on the wound and then follow up with acquese cream. If the skin is really bad, you may want to first apply this oil and then follow up with hydrocort cream.

e) 0.03% Protopic ointment (tacrolimus) – This is a non-steroid cream but very expensive, about RM 120-RM150 for a mere 10g. This cream is suitable for children above 2 years of age and used if first line treatment has failed. There is a possible cancer risk for this drug (FDA). We are cautious about this ointment.

There are more tips on her blog. Do bookmark her blog if you enjoy reading parenting blog which is informative.

She asks…

We are still open to others’ experience but we are just a little more conservative compared to the early days. How far do we go to find cures for medical problems?

Originally posted 2006-03-28 02:09:43.