Atopic dermatitis in babies and children - Part 2
Dry, itchy, sometimes inflamed skin - this can be neurodermatitis, but it doesn't have to be. Because as important as this condition is, it can also be complicated to recognise and treat. In the second part on this topic, we look at the aspects of treatment, care and prognosis.
In the first part, we learnt why it is so important to regularly care for the skin with atopic dermatitis from the outside. There are certain patterns that should be adhered to. For example, the hotter it is outside, the sooner you need to apply something thinner, i.e. a lotion or a thinner cream. The colder it is, the more likely it is to be something greasy, i.e. a greasy cream or ointment.
As you can see, the treatment of atopic dermatitis is quite complex and cannot be answered in a nutshell on an A4 page. It is not one of those clinical pictures where I say: read this page, then you don't even need to come to the practice.
In the case of skin problems in babies and toddlers: don't hesitate, but make sure you see your paediatrician. Personally, I always tell parents at the beginning if they have not yet learnt the care regime properly: It's better to come round once sooner than once too late, when the skin is much worse again, reddening and itching.
Fortunately, the prognosis is not that bad. If there are no accompanying allergies, the problem disappears completely in a third of cases, and in a third it gets significantly better by the time the child is a toddler. Only in children who have severe courses and/or additional allergies can the whole thing go on into adolescence or adulthood.
What is also good to know, especially in severe cases: There is a so-called neurodermatitis training course offered by dermatology or paediatric practices. This is a great thing for parents whose children are really severely affected, who suffer from it and whose condition is not getting better. These are training sessions, so to speak, in which parents are trained - in skin care, in dealing with itching and also in the question of what else can be done in everyday life to make the child feel better.
Main message: If your child has very dry skin and starts to suffer from it - e.g. itching, scratching or restlessness - then please come to your paediatrician's practice so that we can look together at what can be done in terms of diagnosis and treatment.
Further interesting tips
Co-regulation
This time there is a combined tip: On the one hand, it is a recommendation for a website with articles on various parenting and development topics. And secondly, it's a specific reading tip on the topic of co-regulation.
Certificates I
A few thoughts on the not-so-easy subject of school reports. I don't normally ask parents to read my texts or watch videos. But please do this time.
Worms
Something from the disgusting box again today. It's about worms. This is actually a very, very common story in small children - and often causes a lot of disgust in the children concerned and their families, even though the whole thing is a fairly harmless story from a medical point of view.