How It All Began

 Doctor’s Visits and Proactive Medical Decisions 


Part One of Three


I have split the "medical eczema journey" into six month intervals because there is so much information.


If you are a new eczema parent, your journey may look different. And that's okay. You have to do what you think is best for your child. The process can take time, hang in there!

Here you will find the order of events that has led us to the medicines we use. We have seen a variety of doctors, and they are all very proactive in their approach to helping Russell be comfortable with his eczema. 


Please do not use this information to diagnose your child. This is to share our experience and give parents potential questions for their medical providers. 

We had no knowledge of eczema and have been surrounded by a great team of doctors that are knowledgeable about atopic dermatitis. 


Russell at six weeks old 


His cheeks are starting to become scaly and red. Under his chin and neck are starting to become red and scaly too. 


6 Weeks Old 

November 2021


Doctors say it can take some time for rashes or eczema to appear after eating. For example, Russell could have a flare up today, but it could have been from something he started eating two weeks ago. This was the case when he first got eczema. His cheeks were weeping with liquid, and the rash would not go away. At this point, the rash was only on his face. 


We had one of his many baby check-ups, and the pediatrician immediately knew it was eczema. 

So, in December of 2021, Russell was prescribed topical steroids. The pediatrician also referred us to a Pulmonologist. Our pediatricians are so sweet, but they keep saying they have never seen it this bad in a child his age. 


Desonide has been our only topical steroid to work. We had been using cortisone to help. 




3 Month Visit 


At Russell’s three month visit, the eczema had spread all over his body. The fat rolls were causing major redness around his neck, creases of his elbows, and the back of his legs. It seems that his ankles will never actually be smooth. Some places are completely covered in the rash and will not go away, like his stomach and back. 



The steroids are being applied as prescribed, 7 on and 7 days off, but by the seventh day, the eczema is sooooo bad, it takes all 7 days on for the eczema to go away. 



The pediatrician prescribes another topical steroid: Eucrisa. 



The strength of the Eucrisa is 2% and can be applied on the days off of the steroid. My husband and I used this on and off for the first few weeks and saw no difference. We also felt this was a lot for his little four month body and did not continue its use. 


*

*We would try Eurasia again later. Pediatrician said it could be used up to three times a day, every day. I think we were just really discouraged at this point to keep trying topical ointments and awaited the pulmonologist visit.

*We were not prescribed the Cortisone 10 ointment until September 2022. It is only used on his face. 


6 Months and Allergy Testing 
April 17th, 2021 


It took a few months for us to be seen by the pulmonologist who was extremely helpful in this entire process. Not only was he a nice guy and super sweet to Russell but also gave us so much knowledge about eczema. 


There were two major breakthroughs at this visit: allergy testing and understanding the difference between allergies and eczema. 



First, we find out that he has several real allergies. 

We have epi-pens for tree nut and egg allergies. 

He is also allergic to dander, dust, cockroach dust, and mite dust. The test showed that he is allergic to pollen, 

However, he was not allergic to milk or fish. At this time, he did not show up for peanuts either. 


Second, the pulmonologist discusses how Russell may grow out of his eczema by 12 years old, but he may grow out of the allergies sooner (hopefully by 8 years old). 

My husband and I had not had anyone separate the two. We thought that if we changed his diet, changed his gut health, and found the allergies that the eczema would just go away. 


I was really thankful to have a lot of answers, and we had a starting point to helping Russell get some relief. 

Dr. Davidson, pulmonologist, did state that the pediatricians had done all of the right things, but we needed an antihistamine. 

In April of 2022, Russell was put on cetirizine. He still takes 2.5 ml a day. 


Stay Tuned for the Second Part of our journey. The summer was pretty brutal, but we remained hopeful.


Let me know how your journey began and if finding allergies has helped on your journey to relieve your child's eczema.


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