eczema & dairy

[Guest Posts]

On behalf of a member:

My 17 year old daughter has had eczema since she was a baby and we've tried so many different things. She is looking after her skin but still suffers flare ups because of weather, exercise and when she's tired. I've heard about stopping dairy to help ease eczema symptoms. My daughter rarely has dairy anymore but she found that she had a flare up when she stopped with dairy. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. Have you heard of someone reacting badly to excluding dairy?

Thank you, Chana

[Dr Anton Alexandroff]

Dear Chana,

Thank you for your question. I am so sorry to hear about your daughter eczema.

Generally eczema / dermatitis does not flare with dairy. However in my experience in few patients dairy seems to flare dermatitis (in such cases it is easy to check this - one needs to exclude dairy for a couple of weeks and then introduce it. iIf dermatitis flares -exclude it again. If one does it 3 times and dermatitis flares every time it suggests that dairy can trigger this. In such case it is sensible to get a dietician advice to make sure that one does not miss important nutrients. This is especially important in case of children)

I am afraid there is no evidence that stopping dairy can trigger dermatitis.

Have you tried an appropriate strength of steroid ointments prescribed by your dermatologist? Or non steroid treatments such as Elidel? Are you using appropriate emollients?

I hope this is helpful.

With best wishes,

Dr Anton Alexandroff FRCP(UK) PhD CCT(Derm) FRSM FAAD
Consultant Dermatologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer
Member of the British Association of Dermatologists
The British Skin Foundation Spokesperson
The British Association of Dermatologists Media Spokesperson

Cambridge, Bedford, Leicester

http://www.alexandroff.org.uk

[purple painkiller]

Thankyou so much Doctor for taking the time to reply, it's greatly appreciated. I have taken your comments on board and will speak with my daughter. She does use an emollient lotion from the doctors. She has been prescribed steroidal cream but try to use very sparingly and only if it's a severe flare up. She's 17 so her skincare is up to her, thankfully she's sensible and does take care of herself.
Again many thanks Doctor
Sincerely,
Chana.