Anthony's Skin

We had our appointment yesterday with the pediatric dermatologist.

The appointment went really well.  I REALLY like the doctor and I think he's really going to help us get Anthony's skin issues under control.

Anthony definitely has severe eczema.  The doctor is also pretty sure there is some psoriasis mixed in there as well.  His plan is to be very aggessive with it right now to "put out the fire" as he described it.  He wants it to be manageable for us and also manageable enough that we can transfer to a regular dermatologist (this doctor is an hour and a half away and one of 3 in the state). 

I know that eczema is often caused by food allergies and I was going to ask about this.  I know many mainstream doctors do not treat eczema this way, but I wanted to be persistant.  However, he beat me to it.  He plans on referring us to a pediatric allergist/immunologist as well.  Apparently this particular doctor is incredibly thorough and will work with us to find out exactly what Anthony's intolerances are.  The dermatologist is sure (due to the severity of Anthony's eczema) that it is not just a topical problem, but something internal as well. 

So for the next few weeks, we're treating Anthony with topical steroids on his skin and scalp.  We're also giving him bleach baths 2-3 times a week.  When he said this, I about had a heart attack.  You want me to bathe my sweet baby in what?  But he quickly explained.  In recent years many studies have been done on eczema and how to treat it.  90% of children with eczema also have staph on their skin (as opposed to 25% of the regular population).  This makes them incredibly prone to infections (that Anthony has already gotten once).  While antibiotics will treat the infection after it's already there, bleach baths have been shown to reduce if not eliminate the risk of infection at all.  It is the only way to eliminate the infection-causing staph from the outside.  And although Anthony had a sensitive staph infection last time (MSSA), he is likely to develop a resistant infection in the future (MRSA) which can be very tricky to treat and is very serious.

So we gave him his first bleach bath last night.  It's very little bleach that we actually use in his bath and we rinse him extremely well and moisturize like crazy right afterward.  It actually REALLY helped his skin last night.  I noticed a huge difference today.  So as much as I hate putting a horrible chemical like bleach on his skin, I hate being in the hospital and pumping him full of antibiotics more.  I did a lot of resesarch last night to make sure it was, in fact, safe and not going to hurt him.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is extremely beneficial to people with these skin conditions.

So between his current medications for reflux and staph, his steroid creams, lotions, bleach baths, and keeping track of his upcoming appointments, I'm going to need to hire a secretary to keep track of it all :-). 

We're willing to do what it takes to keep him healthy and his skin looking good.  I don't want him to have itchy, red, irritating skin his whole life and I'd rather get it under control now and get to a maintenance point quickly! 

I said to Jeremy last night that I am incredibly thankful that so far with both of our children, they've been extremely healthy.  If all we have to deal with is skin issues, I will take it.  Considering neither child had ANY prenatal care, we feel incredibly blessed that this is so far our only health issue.