Eczema blows

Yep I said it... anyone with it is thinking that... and especially anyone who has kids with eczema will agree with me!!

Here are some photos of what my more little guy has do deal with (pretty much on a daily basis.... this is a particularly bad flare up) These pictures really don't do it justice... its really bad :(

And that isn't even the worst of it... for some reason he also gets it on his poor little bottom! He's been itching it like crazy lately too. One day I went in his room after his nap and he was crying, with his little fingernails caked with blood, scratching. I said enough was enough!! And made an appointment at a dermatologist. Dr. Wollner in Cedar Rapids is great :) Here's the regimen he gave me for Bubba:


1. Only bathe every 2-3 days
2. Use Cetaphil as body wash
3. Rub prescription hydrocortisone butyrate .1% on affected area 2 times a day (especially after bath)
4. Coat in lotion (I use Eucerin)
Now this regimen does seem to help. But the problem is its summer! My boys are playing in the sand/dirt/grass. They're getting sweaty b/c it has been so unbelievably hot around here! And they're getting coated in sunscreen every day, a few times a day too! Ceej has eczema as well, but thank goodness its not as bad as Bubba's. I just use the over the counter hydrocortisone cream you can find at any drugstore. It's .05% I believe? Its suppose to help with the itchiness factor. If any of you are friends of mine on facebook you've seen how Ceej eats!! He can't go 3 days in between baths all the time?! Winter time is fine, but its a lot harder in the summer.

I even asked the doctor... "What am I suppose to do when they're teenage boys?! They can't not bathe?!" Which he replied "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it!" So who knows what will happen then.

Another thing the Dr. said you can do instead of giving them a full bath, is to just rub the cetaphil directly onto their skin and then get a wet washcloth and clean it off! I call it a sponge bath. Bubba doesn't care for it that much... but what can you do....

They say the thing about eczema is that its not all the same.... While bathing every 3 days along with the cremes and lotions seems to help Bubba, other people need to bathe every day!

Here's a website that the Dr. gave me as well... http://www.nationaleczema.org/living/all_about_atopic_dermatits.php