Pierce's skin problems (eczema) started about three weeks after birth. Once I switched him to soy-formula and quit breastfeeding, we were able to get it mostly under control. But there were good weeks and bad weeks since then, mostly good. My pediatrician just kept telling me, 'it doesn't make sense to allergy test him before he's one since so many things can change before then' so she prescribed me a steroid cream for his red spots when it got bad and then I used aquaphor and cetaphil cream on the other areas. The cooler, dry weather didn't help so little by little it got out of control, fast forward to our Holiday in Idaho. By the time we came home (beginning of January) his poor face looked like a fire ball around his mouth and the rest of his skin wasn't fairing so well either, I had HAD IT! (as I'm sure Pierce had had it as well) Luckily his 9 month check-up was the beginning of January and I told the Pediatrician that we needed more help, this wasn't cutting it. So she gave me the name of an allergist and said to get him in right away. (the other problem I was frusturated with was that I felt like I couldn't feed him anything. He was doing the normal oatmeal and rice cereals, along with baby fruits and veggies, but as far as trying him out on table foods - forget it! He had an extreme reaction at Christmas with those baby veggie strip puffs to where his mouth turned bright red (more red than it currently was :) and his hand completely swelled up, turned bright red, and covered in hives - the hand he was holding the puffs in. I thought I was being a good mom and making sure no dairy was in there but I missed the part 'whey (milk)')
Thursday, January 19th, we took Pierce in to see Dr. Jain, an allergy specialist aka the eczema master. He checked Pierce out, obviously, and then explained to Adam & I was what happening with his skin cells compared to normal skin cells. How normal skin cells are closely knit together protecting the body by building a barrier at the surface of skin and how his cells are spread apart, letting whatever in, bacteria and virus getting in, no water to hydrate his skin, etc. etc. etc. And basically his immune system has been on overload for the last 9 months of his life fighting off what is going on, totally run down, which would explain why he has had 12 colds in his 9 months of life. OUT OF CONTROL. He explained how completely miserable Pierce had to be in his skin which says how amazing this baby is, he is the happiest little baby boy. Pierce, you are a champ. So our first goal was to get his skin back under control and for the next two weeks, Dr. Jain put me on a strict skin makeover regimen and at the end of those two weeks we would test him for allergies, a blood test and a back test on Pierce. I was ready for some help so I followed everything he said to a T...
• Two Baths a day, each being 15-20 minutes in the bath. He wanted Pierce's skin covered in water that entire time to rehydrate his skin.
• One of those baths each day was a BLEACH bath, you heard that right. I put in 1/8 cup of liquid bleach in his bath. He said this was no worse then letting my baby swim in a swimming pool. This would kill the bacteria that was growing on his skin - basically staff bacteria covering his body.
• Apply hydrocortisone ointment on the red parts on his face right after each bath
• Fluticasone Propionate ointment on the red parts on his body right after each bath
• Cetaphil cream on the rest of his body after each bath
Here is Pierce's first bleach bath, January 21st... as soon as I put him in the bath, the eczema areas on his body turned bright red, it was like I could see the bleach killing the bacteria all over his body. These pictures make me want to cry, his skin was so bad.
He would claw at his ankles (in the car when I couldn't stop him) until they would bleed. And this cycle would happen over and over again. The backs of his legs were covered with red spots.
I took this picture two days later and there was already a HUGE improvement on his body and hands. The bleach bath: seriously amazing.
5 comments:
Poor little guy. Reminded me of Lauren. She used to have bloody sheets from scratching at night. So sad. I'm glad you were able to find some relief and help!
How awful! That poor kid. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear the rest of the story... did the allergist figure out something that would help him long term?
Oh my gosh! I want to cry! My 5 yr old has what I thought was bad eczema-and I know how miserable he can be w/ it. What a blessing that Pierce doesn't seem to phased by it. Waiting to hear the rest!!
That is the saddest thing ever!!! I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this. I had eczema when I was young and I remember scratching my legs so bad at night that come morning I would have to peel off my pajama pants that were stuck to my legs because of the blood...eeewww! But to have it as a baby, that is awful! Pierce is a trooper!!
That is so crazy! Thank goodness for doctors who know and who care. :) His skin is looking great.
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