‘It’s difficult to put into words how demanding it can be to manage eczema, especially when it happens to your first born and when it starts very early on in childhood. My son’s eczema was much more problematic during his infant years. I never imagined how much eczema could dominate our life. As a mother I felt powerless as I couldn’t make his skin better. As a new mum, I expected to have sleepless nights however to be up on most nights seeing my son constantly scratching was draining, the struggle was real and challenging and not something that could be invented or exaggerated.

My son was referred to a specialist allergy team and was diagnosed with a cow’s milk protein allergy and as part of his management we changed from cow’s milk to a diary free formula which helped reduced some of his flare ups, he stopped vomiting and was much more settled. We got much more information about the use of steroid creams and the application of emollients and daily routine.

To say that this was the end of eczema is an understatement, my son is now four years old and we continue to have periods of constant itching at night, which is challenging for us as parents to witness even now after four years. The itch cycle is vicious and hard to control especially when it happens at night, we’ve had nights where he would rip his clothes because of the scratching. We have no idea what triggers his flare ups, sometimes, it just happens. Starting steroid cream helps however, the relief is not seen until day three or four of starting steroids treatment and it’s not easy to get a repeat prescription for steroid creams which delays how quickly my son recovers from his flare up.

I went through a phase of trying various emollients some of which were prescribed and some I had bought, I soon came to the conclusion that all emollients worked well and actually what was important was trying to keep our eczema management simple and easy which fits into our busy life. We stick to what works well for us, daily baths, lots of emollients throughout the day and starting steroid treatment as soon a flare up starts.

Managing eczema is not easy, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep going with the emollients and routine. It’s also not a condition that will not go away overnight; it’s always going to be there’.

Written by Tara Hynes

• What do you think that this family’s DLQUI score was when their son first got eczema?
• How does this story make you feel?
• Reflect on what Tara states about how it is not easy to get a repeat prescription for steroids; should this be the case if eczema is a chronic skin condition?