Neonatal eczema is an allergic skin disease, which is commonly referred to as allergic skin disease. The main cause is intolerance or allergy to ingested, inhaled or exposed substances. Children with eczema initially have red skin, a rash, followed by brown, flaky skin, and the skin is like sandpaper when touched. The eczema can be significantly affected by heat and humidity.
Care
1, keep your skin clean and dry, when you give your baby a bath, it is advisable to use warm water and non-alkaline bathing agent to clean the baby’s body. Babies with inter-rub rash should pay special attention to cleaning between the folds of the skin. When bathing, the bathing agent must be rinsed off. After bathing, dry your baby’s body and apply a non-oily moisturizing cream so as not to hinder the normal breathing of the skin. Your baby’s hair should also be washed daily. If you have seborrheic dermatitis, careful washing of the head will remove the scabs. If the scab has hardened and stuck to the head, apply olive oil to the affected area first and then wash it after a while.
2, to avoid external stimulation, parents should always pay attention to the hot and cold temperature and humidity changes around the baby. For babies suffering from contact dermatitis, it is especially important to avoid exposing the skin to cold wind or strong sunlight. In the summer, after the baby sweats from exercise, you should carefully wipe his sweat dry; when it is cold and dry, you should apply anti-allergy non-oil moisturizer for your baby. In addition to paying attention to weather changes, parents should not let their babies wear clothes that can easily irritate the skin, such as wool, silk, nylon, etc.
3. Trim the nails. If you have atopic dermatitis or contact dermatitis with severe itching, parents should always trim the baby’s nails to reduce the chance of scratching.
Clinical symptoms and performance
The characteristics of the rash can be divided into two main types, exudative type and dry type.
The exudative type of eczema mostly occurs in obese infants with an exudative constitution. It starts on both cheeks
The rash is erythematous, with indistinct boundaries and dense pinpoint papules, papules, blisters and exudate on the erythema. The exudate dries to form yellow scabs of varying thickness, which often peel off due to severe itching, scratching and friction, revealing a bright red vesicular surface with a lot of exudate. In severe cases, the entire face and scalp can be involved. If there is secondary infection, pustules can be seen, with local lymph node enlargement, and even fever and other systemic symptoms. In a small number of children, the rash extends to the whole body and becomes erysipelas, often accompanied by diarrhea, malnutrition, and generalized lymph node enlargement.
The dry type of rash is common in thin infants and consists of light red, dark red patches, dense papules without blisters, dry skin without obvious exudation, and a grayish white bran-like scales on the surface. It often affects the face, trunk and extremities. In chronic cases, the skin may also be mildly infiltrated and hypertrophic, chapped, scratched or crusted with blood.
In addition to the above two types, some people have also divided the seborrheic type, which is characterized by lesions occurring on the scalp, behind the ears and other areas with developed sebaceous glands, can produce thick yellow crust, but its basic characteristics and exudative type similar.
Most neonatal eczema starts 1 to 3 months after birth, gradually decreases after 6 months, and most children gradually heal on their own after 1-2 years of age. Some of the children extend into early childhood or childhood. The severity of the disease varies. The rash is mostly seen on the head and face, such as the forehead, cheeks, and top of the head, and then gradually spreads to the chin, neck, shoulders, back, buttocks, and limbs, and can even spread all over the body.
The rash starts as small red papules or erythematous spots, which gradually increase, and small blisters, yellowish-white scales and scabs can be seen, and there may be oozing, vesicles and secondary infections. The affected child is irritable, cries at night, interferes with sleep, and often itches everywhere. Since the lesions of eczema are on the epidermis, they do not leave a scar after healing.
TCM Analysis and Treatment
According to TCM, wind, dampness, heat, blood deficiency and insects are the main causes of the disease. The principle of removing wind and dampness, clearing heat and detoxifying toxins, nourishing blood and moistening dryness, and activating blood stasis is used to achieve the effect of expelling evil and helping to stop itching and cure.
It is called “damp poison sore” or “damp sore” in Chinese medicine. The so-called “toxin” refers to some heat toxins that cause rejection and sensitivity in the body, and these heat toxins may be caused by food, drugs or everyday products (such as paints, chemical glues, mothballs, etc.). As for “dampness”, it refers to the body’s function is blocked by dampness to stagnation. As 70% of the human body is water, if the movement of water is stagnant, the body will be in a state of “dampness”, the symptoms are heavy limbs, edema, spleen and stomach disharmony, thin stools.
Prevention
In the infant eczema is obvious when you have to first treatment, infant eczema treatment rash disappears is not everything is fine, more important task is home care to prevent the baby eczema repeated.
1, try to find the cause of the onset and remove it, but there are often difficulties.
2, feeding and diet.
(1) Breastfeeding can reduce the extent of eczema. Protein-based complementary foods should be added later, such as eggs, fish, shrimp, generally babies from 4 months to gradually add, while babies with eczema, it is recommended to add 1 to 2 months later, and add the speed should be slow. The baby’s diet is as fresh as possible, avoid allowing the baby to eat processed foods containing gas, coloring, preservatives or stabilizers, puffing agents, etc.
(2) If a certain food has been found to cause eczema due to consumption, try to avoid eating these foods again.
(3) Babies with cow’s milk allergy can be fed with soy milk, goat’s milk, etc. instead of cow’s milk.
(4) Babies allergic to eggs can eat egg yolks alone.
(5) Artificially fed babies with eczema can boil milk for a few minutes to reduce allergenicity.
(6) baby food to a light diet is good, should be less salt, so as not to accumulate too much fluid in the body and prone to eczema.
3, clothing: for example, intimate clothing is cotton, all clothes collar is best cotton, clothes to wear slightly on the cool side, clothing should be more loose, light and soft. Bed bedding is preferably cotton, clothing, pillows, bedding, etc. should be changed frequently to keep dry. Daily life care should avoid overheating and sweating. And let the baby avoid contact with feathers, animal hair, pollen, chemical fiber and other allergic substances. It is not advisable to use silk, wool and chemical fiber products for clothing.
4, for infant eczema in the usual Chinese medicine composition of pediatric wet cream for external application, to achieve the treatment of infant eczema repair, and can be used with pediatric tea pediatric bathing agent in the bath, more comprehensive to achieve the treatment and recovery role.
5, bathing skin care: warm water bathing is best, avoid using strong alkaline bathing products to remove fat, choose acidic bathing products. Skin care products to choose hypoallergenic or anti-allergenic preparations skin care, and the best skin sensitivity measurement, in order to understand the skin reaction to the skin care products used to prevent the occurrence of allergies in a timely manner.
6, environmental aspects: the room temperature should not be too high, otherwise it will make the itchy eczema worse. The environment should minimize allergens to reduce allergic reactions caused by stimulation. Do not keep pets at home, such as birds, cats, dogs, etc. Indoor ventilation, do not smoke indoors, do not put carpets indoors, cleaning is best wet wipe to avoid dust, or use a vacuum cleaner to deal with dusty areas of the home, such as curtains, frames and other items on.
7.Keep your baby’s bowels open and get enough sleep. Rhythmic physical exercise for the baby for about 20 minutes before going to bed can increase the body’s ability to resist allergies, but also conducive to gastrointestinal function and improve the quality of baby sleep.
Precautions
(1) Scabs formed on the scalp and eyebrows, etc., can be coated with sterilized cooking oil and then gently scrubbed the next day.
(2) In order to avoid scratching the skin infection, use a soft cloth to loosely wrap your hands, but be diligent in observing to prevent the threads from wrapping around your fingers.
(3) Do not give vaccinations during eczema attacks to avoid adverse reactions.
(4) Breastfeeding children with eczema, mothers should suspend eating foods that cause allergies.
(5) Daily care should be noted: try not to use alkaline soap. Do not use any cosmetics, except for face oils for infants.
(6) Do not wear chemical fiber or woolen clothes, soft and light-colored cotton is appropriate, clothes should be loose, do not wear too much cover.
(7) If you are allergic to certain foods, you can start eating small amounts and then slowly increase the amount so that the child can gradually adapt. When eating eggs, try to eat the egg yolk alone, not the white, and if necessary, use plant protein foods.
(8) If the child is allergic to milk, boil the milk several times to change the structure of its composition and reduce allergic factors, add less sugar to the milk, or try other milk substitutes.
(9) Food should be rich in vitamins, inorganic salts and water, sugar and fat should be moderate, and less salt should be eaten to avoid too much fluid accumulation in the body.
(10) The room temperature should not be too high, otherwise it will make the itchiness of eczema worse. Clothes should be worn loosely, with cotton woven fabrics is good.