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eczema baby - hydrocortisones

Dear doctor,

My little girl has two spots of what is supposedly eczema in her neck and one on her chest. My family doctor prescribed 1% hydrocortisone cream, which I applied. After 3 days it was almost gone, but she told me to continue until it was fully gone. I noticed that with further application the two spots in the neck increased in redness, especially right after application. A few hours later the redness fades gain. My question is, shouldn't there be a linear improvement, instead of it going up and down a bit with this cream. The eczema does not itch at all (my baby does not scratch it, is not bothered by it), and I suspect it's seborhoeic eczema (judiging from pictures in a dermatology atlas).

thank you for your anwer, with best wishes!
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Avatar universal
Dear Dr. Kaur,

Thank you for your quick informative post! The steroid cream was prescribed by an MD, but I started to hesitate whether it was still appropriate after having applied it for 10 days, as she seemed to react to the cream with more redness in her neck. I went back to the doctor yesterday, and she said I was right, it wasn't eczema in the neck (anymore), and told me to stop the seroid cream. The spot on her chest was eczema she said, but no longer in an active phase (no redness anymore, skin is a bit 'wrinkled'). She said I could also stop the seroid cream there. She thought it was atopic dermatitis in a very light form, which may not even appear again (but could also come back later).

I do trust this doctor, but the only thing I still wonder is whether it is ok to suddenly stop the steroid cream, as I read elsewhere that you should slowly stop (e.g., by applying it every other day just once a day for a week or so).

Also, I do find it strange that this spot of ezema has not bothered (luckily) my daughter at all. She never wanted to touch it (she's 5 months old). That's why I suspected seborrheic dermatitis, as I also read that the two diagnoses (atopic and seborrheic dermatitis) are often confused, and that itch is an important distinguishing factor.

Thank you once again, with best wishes!
Helpful - 0
563773 tn?1374246539
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
Eczema is characterized by red, itchy and flaky dry rashes. I would suggest you to get this red rash evaluated from a dermatologist first before using any steroid cream because the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis is different from eczema. From the symptoms seborrheic dermatitis is a possibility along with other possibilities of contact dermatitis or dermatitis and need to be ruled out.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

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