Living with pediatric eczema

If your child has pediatric eczema, it may be difficult for them to resist scratching—further irritating their skin. In this video, Tanya Altmann, MD, shares ways you can help your child control eczema outbreaks and feel more confident in their skin.

Transcript

00:00

Any stress, whether physical, such as an illness or disease, all show up in the skin and cause flare-ups in moderate

00:07

to severe eczema. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16

To help your child feel more confident in their skin, you want to work with your doctor on controlling any eczema outbreaks that they have,

00:24

and preventing any future inflammation. But in addition, just talk to your child. It's always important to encourage self-esteem

00:32

in our kids, and teach them to be strong and resilient, and really like the person who they are.

00:44

Eczema flare-ups can be really itchy, and often kids will scratch and scratch. And that's not the best thing to do, because that can often cause further inflammation,

00:52

irritation, and even infection. So we want to treat the underlying eczema, and that could be with a cream or other medication,

00:59

but sometimes, in addition, your doctor may prescribe an antihistamine either at night or during the day to help decrease the itching, so your child doesn't

01:07

scratch as much. Also avoiding things that can cause irritation to the skin, such as tight clothing, fabrics that

01:14

don't breathe, making sure that your child is not in too dry of an environment, and avoiding excess sweating.

01:21

These are all things that you can do to help deter your child from wanting to scratch their itchy skin during a flare-up.