Are you ready for it? Jacob has clear skin!!! That's right it is CLEAR!! For the last 4 months we have thought that his flair ups were mostly food related. While that is the reason his eczema started in the first place, that's wasn't the only thing flaring him up. We had no clue he had severe topical eczema because he's been flared up so long and hasn't been clear long enough for us to notice. Since we were able to get him clear for a day or two we were able to start noticing the sudden flair ups and figuring out pretty quickly what was causing it. Below are some things that we noticed were causing his inflammation.
Cleaning Chemicals- This was the first thing we figured out was causing his inflammation. We changed all cleaning chemicals and even carry around peroxide wipes for when we are in public. I wipe down the toilet and sinks with these wipes. The back of his legs cleared up in just a few days after we did this.
Polyester- He has a severe allergy to polyester. We had his legs almost clear and then his legs flared up in less than 10 minutes after I put on his polyester shorts. He had whelps and severe inflammation. All of his bedding was made of polyester. Looking back I should have noticed this sooner. At night, Jacob is covered in vet wrap on his arms and legs so he wouldn't have a reaction to it. However, after nap he would get pretty red. He didn't have vet wrap on during naps. Why I didn't put two and two together I will never know. Hindsight is always 20/20. We even noticed that when he sits in his car seat he flares up. We are even looking into new couches because all they have polyester. That might be a while though because couches without polyester are EXPENSIVE! Until then he sits on towels when he sits on the couch. When he sits on carpet I make him sit on a cotton towel. Polyester is pretty much in everything even in the church pew covers.
GRASS-His grass allergy is awful. Jacob has never been one to sit in grass. I figured that it was because he hated the texture of it. On July 4th we were taking pics and sitting in the grass. He complained of being "scratchy" but he is always scratchy so I figured I would just get him so oil and he would be fine. When I went to put oil on him he had bumps all over his legs that touched the grass. Soon after those same bumps had puss in them. Gross I know, but that's how bad his reaction was. I have seen kids get red from the grass, but nothing like this. It took us almost two weeks to get over that reaction. So if we play in the grass he has to have pants or very tall socks on. I change him as soon as we get in and he is in not able to walk in tall grass or even sit in any kind of grass.
Bandage Wraps- We use 3M bandage wrap and have never had any issues with it. We will put oil on him, wrap him up, and allow the oils to really soak in. It also allows protects him from any kind of irritants. We ran out of 3M bandage wrap and went to the Tractor Supply to buy some more. We found some camo vet wrap and thought it would be fun for Jacob. It wasn't 3M brand though but at the time we didn't think much of it. We wrapped him up and he had it on for about 4 hours. I went to take it off and Jacob started crying and yelling. If you know my sweet boy he can be a bit dramatic when he is tired, as all 4 year olds are. I thought it was just that but after I got the bandages off I immediately knew he was having an allergic reaction and it was awful. We are finally over that now.
We have come such a long way with Jacob and we finally have a handle on this thing. If you are dealing with the same thing remember never give up! It took us 3 years to get anyone to listen really listen to us. Once we started getting true help it took us another 4 months to figure out every trigger. This has been the most challenging time mentally, but it feels so good knowing we have beat this thing! God has been our strengths through all of this. When we wanted to give up He gave us wisdom and showed us what we were missing.
* I didn't take any pics this morning and Jacob currently has wraps on. As soon as I take them off I will take some pics of his CLEAR skin!!
