Good Cream that works!!!

[admin]

If you live with eczema you know how important it is to moisturise your skin on a regular basis. Tell us about the moisturisers you've found that have helped to keep your skin hydrated.

[Jimbob]

The best emollient we have found for my son is dermasalve baby and infant cream. It is a natural cream and seems to keep the skin well moisturised. The own negative I have about this product is that its not available on prescription. I believe dermasalve body cream is available on prescription but this contains liquid parrafin which aggravates James' eczema.

[Citrine]

I found Udderly Smooth abolutely fantastic!! Its cheaper than the other things too so value for money.

It got me out of the depths of despair, as I am generally covered in Eczema - now only on my legs, and thats going!!

Cant recommend this stuff enough, if nothing else has helped, I urge you to try this.

[Wiggly]

I use a mixture of glycerine & water - it's really improved my skin - much more than any of the other emollients I've tried over the years.

[Alibongo]

Jimbob - I am just about to try Dermasalve baby/toddler cream - Lloyds Pharmacy is ordering it for me. Thanks for the idea. When looking at the website, I could not find parrafin in the contents (I looked at a website selling all sorts of creams - www.pureandgentleskincare.com I think!) of the adult version of the cream altho I may not know the latin term for it!

I also have just bought Pure Potions - has anyone tried this - an ointment and bath lotion.

I have found Epaderm contains sodium laureyl sulphate - I rang the UK company about this and they said it is included so that the product can be used as a cleanser. My daughter is OK with Epaderm - it has rescued her from really nasty flares of eczema - but I was surprised to see the inclusion of SLS.

For myself, I have just ordered some products from Liz Earle company - has anyone tried these? There are notes to help those with eczema re choice of products.

Do you react to any essential oils? So many of the natural products have these and I am not sure if they are too strong for my daughter.

Like many, we acquire all sorts of creams but end up returning to using Diprobase, sometimes Epaderm and hydrocortisone! I wish I could find some natural way of controlling the eczema. Her eczema seems to be aggrevated by pollen I think - esp when we go outside - her recent skin prick tests showed positive for grass pollen, cats, dust mite, and unfortunately peanuts (now have Epipens due to one event of hives and feeling faint when handling peanut butter).

Sorry went off topic!

I have just found this site - thank you!
Cheerio
Alison

[Alibongo]

Someone has managed to get Dermasalve on prescription so once I have tried it, I will ask! How long should I give it a go before deciding if it is OK?

Thanks!
Alison

[AnnaB]

Hi Alison

Have you tried Cetraben it suits both my children apart from on their faces, its a cream. When their skin is really bad we use Hydromol which is like Epaderm so greasy which my son does not like as it makes his toys slip out his hands!

I'd be really interested in your experinces of the skin patch tests. My 3 year old son is having them done in a few weeks.

Anna

[Jimbob]

I have heard that dermasalve is now available on prescription. I wait to see how an emollient goes over a week to be sure James does not react to it. I think everybody is different with this though.

[Alibongo]

Thanks Jimbob - how often do you use Dermasalve each day - just the once as advertised?

Thanks Anne for the creams ideas - I will look into these. The skin prick tests went OK - I took a sticker book along to take my daughter's attention away at times whilst waiting. I did not tell her about needles and in fact the tools used do not look like needles really - they look like flattened pieces of wire. They first mark in pen some letters re the tested products eg HDM = house dust mite, and then they put a drop (we called it fairy drops to help my daughter!) of each substance next to each letter, and you then wait 5 mins or so to watch any reaction. The level of histamine is recorded in mm widths eg for pollen it was 5 mm but for cat it was 2 mm. They then judge whether you are allergic to the substances. Some of the products did not get a reaction. They do not test for everything - they ask you lots of questions re what you think may trigger allergic reactions. Think about nuts, pollens (grass and tree), animals, egg, milk, soya, sesame, house dust mite, and so on. They also do a + and a - site to check that you do react properly to the test - I think you are meant to show histamine on the + not the - altho not sure. Somewhere I read that you should not take any antihistamine before the tests as this would affect the results however I was not told this. Perhpas if you take antihistamines, it may be worth ringing to ask how soon should you stop taking them before the appt. The appt took well over an hour so be prepared with entertainment! The nurses were very good with the tests and my daughter was OK as we had chatted that they would put food on her to test for any reaction. Oh yes, do ask any family members if they have allergies - useful background info. Bribery of course worked eg yes you can have some jelly sweets afterwards! That is what she wanted. We are awaiting an appt for a food challenge of sesame as I am suspicious she reacts to this but it came out as 1 mm I think so to get more info, we will try this challenge. I asked whether we need to see the allergy doctor again and he said no unless the seame challenge is positive. I would like however to see him again in a few years to check if she still has the allergies or new ones. Peanut I believe tends to stay for majority. This is a bit of a ramble - sorry. They also like to know if you have asthma as this affects the action plan re use of a Epipen and asthma drugs. So far, I think my daughter has hayfever - need to check this out with gp. Oh yes, they gave her hydrocortisone cream afterwards to ease the itching from the tests/histamine results. The histamine reactions disappeared after a few hours and she tried to keep the writing on her arms (both were used) so her father could see it! She is nearly 4 and is now into checking if things have peanut - so I guess if you talk over things with your son, this may help if he is into discussing the ins and outs of things. If Ithink of anymore, I will be in touch.

Cheerio
Alison

[Jimbob]

We use the dermasalve morning and night. We did use it 3 times a day at first, probably for about a week.