Every parent wishes for their child to be healthy, happy and free of disease. It thus becomes every parents worst nightmare to witness their child develop eczema. The relentless itching, fussing, crying and poor sleep is heartbreaking.
The management of baby eczema has always stumped Western physicians. Their options for treatment are sparse, forcing them to rely mostly on corticosteroids, an all too often prescribed treatment that is not without side effects. Steroid use on a small child may thin the skin and even stunt their growth, thus it must be used sparingly and with caution. Obviously safer forms of relief are needed.
Both the historical evidence and modern research on the Chinese herbal medicine treatment of eczema are excellent. The treatments are safe, effective, and offer good long term resolution, if not total clearing. The main drawback to herbal use in an infant is the bad taste, which makes it hard for the parents to give the medicine regularly.
We certainly found this with little baby Sam, who was only 11 months old when he first visited me. Like many infants, Sam first developed eczema when he was about 3 months old. Within a few months he started having itchy, damp and red patches covering most parts of his little body. The GP his mom took him to see inadvertently prescribed too strong of a steroidal cream, which was slathered over Sam’s entire body, and lead to a massive flare up as the body tried to regain balance.
This is often the case with infants, whose sensitive skin is very sensitive to strong medicines like steroids. They may get some initial relief, but then often find themselves flaring much worse than they had previously. Sam was in this state when I first saw him come into the clinic, wearing socks on his hands to prevent him from damaging his already very fragile skin. Sam’s body had flared up much worse after the steroid treatment, which unfortunately did not back off with time.
Sam’s skin was red, eroded, wet and raw. He was obviously extremely itchy, as he was covered in little scratch marks. Sam was waking about every 30 minutes through the night, crying out in restless agony from the itch. He was hot, sweaty and irritated. His mother was exhausted, having to soothe him constantly.
I offered Sam herbal medicines to both wash the skin with and to drink as a tea. Over the months his mother dedicated to this treatment, Sam’s skin calmed down incredibly well. He was no longer covered head to toe in an itchy rash, but rather had only a few minor spots on the creases of his arms and legs that persisted. He was sleeping through night, only waking once or twice. He was way less irritated and his mother was obviously much more rested herself.
Herbal medicines for Sam improved his condition by about 90%. It was not perfect, but it did offer effective management for his skin. It is my hope that eventually Sam will just outgrow his eczema and, if not, that herbal medicines will continue to offer him a safer alternative to the damaging steroids he had tried before.
Wishing you health,
Dr. Trevor Erikson
Copyright © 2019 Dr. Trevor Erikson