{"id":6226,"date":"2017-08-07T11:13:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T01:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=6226"},"modified":"2017-08-07T13:03:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T03:03:31","slug":"hidden-toll-of-eczema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/hidden-toll-of-eczema\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden toll of eczema"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s incredibly common and has no cure, but people still don\u2019t know much about eczema and the impact it can have on children and their families.<\/p>\n

RCH nurse practitioner Emma King works with patients suffering extreme eczema. She says research shows eczema negatively affects\u00a0quality of life more than asthma and insulin dependent diabetes. The itch, she says, would in some cases be ‘dementing’.<\/p>\n

“A\u00a0child can be covered in eczema from top to toe – they are infected, crusted and waking every half to an hour overnight,\u201d she says, and because of this lack of sleep, families are often not coping at home.<\/p>\n

RCH leading the way<\/strong><\/p>\n

Current research tells us that eczema affects 30 per cent of children in Victoria. To meet this demand, Emma and fellow nurse practitioner Liz Leins set up the RCH\u2019s nurse-led eczema clinics, which are the only ones like them in the world and recently won a Public Healthcare Award.<\/p>\n

The clinics allow the nurses to treat patients in a really effective way \u2013 patients and families get one-on-one consultations, which mean they benefit from individual education and demonstration.<\/p>\n

By taking a good history of each patient, Emma says they can look at development, growth, and diet, which helps to rule out allergies.<\/p>\n

Empowering families<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both nurses agree that eczema is not difficult to treat, rather it is just poorly managed. Cortisone (steroids) in the form of a topical cream should be used, however Emma says often the cream is too weak, meaning the\u00a0eczema can\u2019t get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of dermatologists or GPs will just give families a script,\u201d Emma says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get them to put [the cream] on in front of us and we\u2019ll see that they\u2019re not putting it on properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treating eczema as soon as it appears has shown to be the best way to stay on top of the terrible itch.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they\u2019ve got the right treatment, they don\u2019t know how to put it on, or they put it on the wrong way, or there isn\u2019t enough,\u201d Liz says. \u00a0\u201cSo a lot of what we do is showing them how to do it properly.”<\/p>\n

Life-changing treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treating eczema from a young age and with the right plan is important for a child\u2019s ability to thrive. Emma says eczema is more than just a skin condition. Left untreated, it may affect growth and development, and brain function as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest research is showing that if you control the eczema early, there\u2019s less chance of developing asthma, allergic rhinitis and food allergy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get the skin right, then there\u2019s less chance of these other conditions forming.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think your child has eczema, it\u2019s good to identify things that irritate your child\u2019s skin. A GP can help you with a treatment plan or referral. Visit <\/em>Kids Health Info<\/em><\/a> for more eczema information. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know the best way to manage eczema in kids? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":6227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6226"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6237,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6226\/revisions\/6237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}