One of the not so nice things that Spencer inhereted from his daddy is a bad case of eczema. Most kids end up growing out of eczema and we hope and pray this is true for Spencer.
Spencer has eczema on pretty much every part of his body, although it is particulary bad on his lower back, his neck, his scalp, his ankles, his hands, his forehead along the hairline, his right cheek and around his mouth.
Here is a recent picture of a flare up on his face.
This is the routine that we have been doing every night to keep his skin somewhat under control.The bathtub and soaking in water was just too drying so, first, Spencer takes a lukewarm shower with one of us.
We wash his body with unscented dove (1/4 moisturizing creme),
then wash his hair with selsun blue
and condition with head and shoulders.
Once he's out of the shower and while he's still damp we rub his entire body down with Eucerin lotion (unscented).
Then we rub cortizone-10 into all of his trouble spots.
This is followed by a layer of the prescription medicine Mimyx ($40 a tube co-pay, with insurance paying for over $100 dollars).
On really bad nights we follow this with a layer of vaseline
and give him a dose of Benadryl.
Contrary to popular belief, Benadryl does not make all children sleepy. I have never once seen Spencer just conk out after taking Benadryl. It's almost like giving him a placebo because it actually doesn't even really help with the itching and scratching.
Keep in mind that Spencer is fighting us and crying during each and every step after the shower. It makes for a difficult bed time routine.
In the morning he gets another layer of Eucerin, cortizone, Mimyx and vaseline.
We have been doing this routine for about three months and have not seen much improvement.
Our pediatrician has said that there is nothing left she can do and the next step is to visit a dermatologist. We haven't gone yet but based on some extensive internet research, we started a new routine two nights ago. We're going to evaluate its effectiveness for the next couple of weeks and then I'll do a new post on how Spencer has fared.
2 comments:
Poor Spencer! And Poor mommy and daddy too! I hope his new routine works well. Keep us updated!!
I am hoping and praying for him to grow out of it too.
Poor Spencer, he must be so uncomfortable. He still looks like a little cutie though.
I told my sister how you think he and Eliza look alike and she said she had thought the same thing.
She also says that she loves reading your blog.
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