A MUM has praised a £7 cream for working ‘miracles’ on her son’s eczema which was so severe she needed to cover him in bandages.
Louise Evans, 34, said she realised something was wrong when Alfred, now three, was a few months old after red rashes began appearing on his face, legs, chest and back.
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Louis, a teacher, said neither her nor her husband, Craig, 37, had a history of eczema so the diagnosis came as a “shock”.
Alfred was unable to sleep through the night as his skin was hurting so much, with Louise trying countless creams to no effect.
She said: “I was breast-feeding and everyone tells you that you will release all these amazing nutrients and that your baby will be perfect and really fit but my boy was falling apart.
“It was a really hot summer when he was born so he would get prickly heat, big red flare ups and he would get a nasty rash in those lovely baby creases that you get on a bigger baby.
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“He would cry and have restless nights.
“We used to have to put full body bandages under his pyjamas to keep the cream on his skin and he would have to wear great big flesh coloured jelly plasters on his face to help the creams work as effectively as possible.”
Louise was at her wit’s end as Alfred’s eczema was so severe it left his skin cracked and infected, with the tot unable to go out in the sun.
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She said: “He couldn’t wear sun cream because that had far too many chemicals in for his skin so in the summer we just had to avoid going out in the sun or keep him in the shade.
“It must have been sore for him, there were times when it got infected and the skin would crack and weep and he would need a course of antibiotics.”
By the time he was one, Louise has tried countless creams recommended by GPs, with Alfred complaining about ‘spiky’ creams hurting his skin.
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But with nothing working, Louise was faced with the option of giving her son powerful steroid creams, which aren’t recommended for children under two and shouldn’t be used on the face.
Louise said: “I soon realised that the GP doesn’t necessarily have too much dermatological experience so they were recommending emollients and telling us to try it for a couple of weeks and to come back if it wasn’t working – but we were seeing a different GP each time and they all had their different recommendations of what to try.
“We tried so many creams and there were some which were quite fragranced that reacted with his skin, he would call them spiky creams and got quite adamant about not wanting certain ones on his skin.
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“Eventually I was recommended to try steroids or protopic – I found it really stressful because protopic shouldn’t be used on children younger than two and steroid cream shouldn’t for more than a week or on the face, so I was really anxious about what to do.”
She had a chance conversation with a parent at school, who recommended Epaderm.
The emollient ointment, sold at Boots and Superdrug for £6.99, comes in a special junior formulation able to be used on babies.
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Louise praised it as a ‘miracle’, saying Alfred is now able to go out in the sun and sleep through the night.
She said: “Alfred is great now.
“We still have to be careful with things like swimming and baths drying his skin out and he might not ever be able to have bubble baths – he’s very jealous if he sees me having one!
“But his flare ups are so much rarer now, his sleep is no longer affected by dry, itchy skin and he doesn’t complain about the ‘spiky’ creams!
“It has been a long time since any flares have become inflamed or infected too – Epaderm has proven to be something of a miracle.”
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- Epaderm Junior Emollient Ointment, Superdrug, £6.99 – buy now
Meanwhile this sufferer claims he ‘cured’ his eczema by depriving his skin of all moisture.
And this mum-of-two claims she cured her son’s painful eczema with £4.90 soap.
Plus this mum says she cured her eczema by ditching steroid creams.
