News Archives - January 2009

Welcome to the News archives for the National Eczema Society website. Here, you can browse our older news items to see what has been happening across the country.

NEW Worthing Support Group - come along this Friday!

The Worthing Support Group has been set up by Johanna Cobby - whose daughter has eczema – to offer advice and support to families in the area affected by the condition. The first meeting is planned for Friday January 30th.

The first meeting of 2009 will be held from 1pm-2.30pm at the Wave Children and Family Centre, Broadwater Baptist Church, Dominion Road, Worthing, BN14 8JL. Click HERE for a Google Map.

Healthcare professionals study days 2009 - book now!

More than 250 doctors, nurses and pharmacists attend the National Eczema Society’s professional training days, which we hold around the country each year. Bookings are now being taken for the study day in Maidstone on 28th April.

For details of the programmes and relevant booking form, click here.

New survey on the impact of childhood eczema

A survey by Oilatum Junior and the National Eczema Society has received important feedback from over 300 parents to find out the impact of childhood eczema on family life.

A total of 30% of those surveyed felt too tired to apply emollients as often as they should. While, only 18% felt totally confident about treating the condition. Other issues that came to light included that of bullying with a fifth of those surveyed saying their child had been bullied because of their eczema.

* For a summary of the survey with all of the key statistics, click here.

As a followup to the survey, Oilatum Junior (with the help of the National Eczema Society) published a new booklet called "Taking Control of Your Child's Eczema." The publication offers practical information and advice on the management of eczema. The booklet can be downloaded at: http://www.oilatum.co.uk/consumer/childeczema.pdf.

Primrose celebrates MBE accolade

Everyone connected with the National Eczema Society has celebrated the news that Primrose Wyborn was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours ‘for services to people with eczema.’ Primrose, along with Vicky Robinson, runs the charity’s highly successful Christmas card operation and has been a staunch supporter of the charity for over 30 years.

An MBE is designed to pay tribute to outstanding achievement and service across the entire community and honours those who devote their time and energy to helping others.

Primrose, who has lived with eczema since she was three weeks old, and her husband John are two of the longest-serving members of the National Eczema Society, having joined when it was first established in 1975.

It was after running a stall selling her own hand-made cards at the Berkhamsted charity Christmas card sale that Primrose saw an opportunity that would lead to a significant increase in the Society’s income. Primrose volunteered to spearhead a Christmas card initiative for the charity and from humble beginnings, the project’s success snowballed until, some 15 years later, her team had reached the magic figure of selling one million cards a year. Today, there are now some 500 card sellers across the country.

It was under Primrose’s leadership that the National Eczema Society capitalised fully on the potential of selling Christmas cards and they have now been sold to many of the major names in retailing such as WHSmith, Selfridges and Harrods.

Softened Water Eczema Trial - final stages of recruitment – can you help?

Scientists are running a clinical trial to see if eczema in children can be improved by deliberately softening all water used in the home. The Softened Water Eczema Trial (SWET) is the first large randomised clinical trial in the world to test this. The trial is being run by Professor Hywel Williams and his research team at the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham, and is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme. Ion-exchange water softeners are installed in the homes, and all water softened, except at a small faucet-style tap in the kitchen that supplies mains water for drinking.

The study started recruiting in May 2007, and has recruited 225 children so far. The research team need a further 85 volunteer families to come on board to reach its target of 310.
 

Who can take part?

Children aged between 6 months and 16 years who suffer from quite bad eczema (moderate to severe). Families must be willing to travel to one of the study centres for eczema assessments. These are based in Nottingham, Leicester, Boston, Lincoln, Cambridge, London (Enfield and Whitechapel), Portsmouth and Newport on the Isle of Wight. 
 

What does the study involve?

A research nurse is responsible for SWET recruitment at each centre. SWET nurses assess the child’s eczema 4 times during the 16 week study period. Parents and children also keep a daily eczema symptom diary. The child wears a special watch that measures movement at night during two of the weeks. These are small devices which are worn like a wrist watch. Participants are allowed to use their usual eczema treatments during the study period.

The children are randomised into one of two groups (A or B) and each group has the water softener installed for different periods of time (either twelve or four weeks). The water softener industry has been closely involved in the development of this trial and a generic water softener has been specially produced, based on standard ion-exchange technology. Water softeners are installed by qualified water engineers according to the Code of Practice produced by British Water. Families have the option of buying the water softener unit at a reduced price at the end of the 16 weeks, if they wish.

Further information about the trial can be found on the study website: www.swet-trial.co.uk or by emailing swet@nottingham.ac.uk or phoning Karin Koller (Trial Manager 0115 846 8623).

Hypnotherapy in 2009

Leading Master Clinical Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner, Monica Black has helped many people overcome the knock-on effects of eczema through hypnotherapy - in particular helping with the common psychological and physical symptoms presented by eczema e.g. pain management, relaxation and overcoming the stress caused by living with the condition.

Hypnotherapy when used for eczema sufferers is an extremely helpful tool and aims to allow the sufferer to take control of any itching, discomfort and pain and everything else that goes with eczema, such as stress, self confidence, low self-esteem, anxiety and any fears or phobias that arise as a ‘by-product’ of the illness. Many people with skin disorders often have a negative body image and so they get themselves into a vicious cycle where their stress and negative emotions can drive their skin condition.

Hypnotherapy has been proven to be most effective when used for both Chronic and Acute pain relief, discomfort and itching.

Monica is working with The National Eczema Society and offers both individual and group hypnotherapy sessions. For further information call 020 7419 2211 or visit www.hampsteadhypnotherapy.com.