Can anyone reccomend me a good aqueous cream?

Ohnowhatnow

Oh this reminds me on when my DS was a babba, I would stay away from normal baby lotions like johnsons as they are perfumed and this can make it worse if they have dry skin/eczema. But thats wrong that you have to pay for it, really out of order. You have enough on your plate without the added worry of buying creams like that.

Hope you get it all sorted soon and good luck with the new one

Baileys_Babe

Mrs_Ihenetu wrote: »

Unfortunately the doctors surgery i am with refuses to give prescriptions for anything that can be brought over the counter :mad: hence why i asked here which is the better type of aqueous cream and where best to find it.

Our OLD surgery was like this, but if you questioned it you were sometimes given a prescription. I feel this is a very unfair position for the GP to take especially for long term conditions. They have no idea what your financial position is and they should not be affecting patients health with such policies, rant over.

I would pursue with HV. By the way you can also get aqueous cream in tubes, useful for days out and traveling.

Savvy_Sue

jewelly wrote: »

I thought all aqueous creams were the same. You can get a 500ml tub from any chemist Tesco and Sainsburys do it too. Costs about £2. You can put a small blob into the bath water and swish it around to soften the water - but you don't need to really. Then just scoop a blob out into your hand and rub it into the skin where it becomes 'soapy' on contact with water on the skin. Use the same cream to moisturise the skin after drying. Cheap as chips and very effective. Hope that helps.

We were told to dissolve the aqueous cream in a small jug of boiling water, then add to the bath (obviously check temperature before your son gets in!)

What's best for one person won't be good on another, however, eczema's not like that. So it's a bit trial and error. I could never use E45 on the boys as it made them very red, but DH uses their shower cream all the time and nothing else suits him.

The pharmacist may have small samples you could try.

But also the National Eczema Society are well worth contacting.

dizziblonde

My brother had what his consultant described as "the worst case of childhood eczema he'd ever seen" as a kid. Initially the doctor prescribed the bog-standard aqueous cream as a soap substitute/whack it on to get some moisture back into his skin moisturiser - and it worked for a while until he became sensitive to it and he'd scream in pain if you put it onto his skin.
Then we switched to E45 (I believe it was - going back a good few years in memory here) - again, over time he became sensitive to that and we'd get the same screams of pain.
By the end he was using Diprobase (the cream, not the ointment) in the big pump action dispensers like you'd normally use soap/showergel/handwash, coupled with Balneium in his bath and there was a shower version we tried him on as well... then he hit teenage years and rebelled into using whatever disgustingly pongy Lynx showergel he could get his hands on instead - but still absolute buckets of Diprobase. Careful with the bath emollients though as they don't half stain yer bath!

The other stuff is apparently cheaper which is why they start you off on that and it's only if it causes problems that they tend to change you around - unfortunately my little brother went the most arkward route through it all!

If it's any consolation - he's outgrown the absolute worst of his eczema now (he was head to toe in bandages a LOT as a kid), manages with just the odd steroid cream and gallons of Diprobase and is a typical disgustingly surly teenager!

Check your soap powder and stuff as well - I've got to keep to a fairly limited range (or buy a new type in a small box in case it sets me off) as I've got a much milder eczema too.

One thing my mum didn't find out for years was that she could claim DLA for the additional costs his problems caused - lots more washing because of creams on clothes, needing to buy cotton wherever possible, disgusting yellow cream that stained clothing like crazy etc etc etc - she never knew she could claim until she got chatting to a lady in the park one day.

Savvy_Sue

It would have to be pretty bad to be able to claim DLA, so if anyone thinks that it IS that bad do contact the National Eczema Society (link already given) for their help and support with the claim.

Lobell

I buy my aqueous cream in Poundland. They're all essentially the same so may as well opt for the cheapest and use it liberally when washing.

As a moisturiser, I find Ultrabase hard to beat. You can buy it over the counter but is much cheaper on prescription. I would press the GP to prescribe it if possible. I've tried Diprobase, Dermol and any number of others but the Ultrabase works best for me.

I have the type of eczema my consultant refers to as 'non-specific reactive' which means I can react to anything at any time, even of I've been successfully it using for a period of time. Ultrabase and aqueous are the only products that I have used consistently for 13 years or so and have no problems with them at all.

E45 contains lanolin which many eczema sufferers are sensitive to. As does one of the Boots own 'sensitive skin' emollients. E45 is also expensive for what it is.

Invasion

I've seen huge tubs of Aqueous cream in home bargains and similar, but you really should ask for it on prescription, under 16's/18 in f/t education get free prescriptions, it's not fair to fob you off like that... I get Diprobase, which is essentially aqueous cream with a brand name- free on prescription with my med-ex card. He should have at least advised you what to buy if he wasn't going to put it through on prescription.

I'd definitely fight that if I were you! You can buy many things over the counter, like migraine meds, but they're HUGELY expensive, getting them on prescription saved me hundreds of pounds. (Now on prescription only anyway)