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FAQ

Children & Eczema

Q.    My teenage daughter is growing up fast and wants to remove the hair from her legs.  Is there any way of doing this without making her eczema worse?

A.     Any form of hair removal could unfortunately cause irritation and will be very painful if she has significant active eczema on her legs.  Wet or dry shaving are the two most popular methods of hair removal that people with eczema use.  If your daughter decides to wet shave, she should use a good quality razor, preferably one with a guarded wire mesh to reduce the damage to her skin.  She can use her preferred emollient soap substitute, or possibly a light emollient lotion, applied to her wet legs instead of a shaving foam or gel.  After shaving, she should rinse her legs, gently pat them dry and apply her preferred emollient.  If your daughter decides to dry shave,  good quality electric razor should be used and emollient can be applied afterwards.  If her eczema is raised, red and weepy on her legs, then shaving should be avoided until her skin improves.  Waxing, epiloators and depilatory creams aare likely to cause irritation and re best given a wide berth.

Q.     Will my child grow out of their eczema?

A.     Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that a child will grow out of eczema.  However, research has shown that 65% of children will be free of eczema by the time they are 7 years old, and 74% by the time they reach 16 years of age.

Q.     My child is starting school - have you any advice?
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A.     School or nursery should not present problems for a child with eczema if time is taken to ensure that the teachers and nursery staff have eczema explained to them and are given written information about it.  Well before the child’s first term, approach the school/nursery and speak to the teacher or staff.  Explain that your child has eczema and what things can be done to manage her skin during the day.  Tell the school if the child has to take antihistamines as sometimes they can make a child a little drowsy first thing in the morning.  Provide the school or nursery with a pump dispenser of her emollient.  In the classroom ask the teacher if your child can have a desk away from direct sunlight or a radiator as this will help prevent the child getting too hot and itchy. 

A number of schools packs are available here together with informative articles.

Q.     Can changing mine or my child’s diet help?

A.     Dietary changes can be quite helpful in babies and young children, where the emollients and topical steroids have failed to control the eczema.  Children under 5 are at the greatest risk of having their symptoms worsened by food allergies.  It is thought that in about 30% of children with eczema, food may be one of the causes, but a much smaller group than this (about 10%) will have food as their main or only trigger.  This means that only a small number of children will be helped by changes in their diet.  In other words, it is rarely diet alone that triggers eczema.

The evidence for changing diet in older children and adults is inconclusive and only a small number of adults are helped by diet and because they eat a much wider range of foods than children, finding the trigger is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  In children dietary changes should not be made without the advice of a GP, nurse or state registered dietician.  We have a factsheet about Eczema and Diet in Children which can be purchased here for £1.00.

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