By anna on Monday, April 26, 2010 - 01:40 am:

Hi! Sorry to hear about your son. It must be very distressing for you. I have eczema and I know my mum worried about my excessive scratching when I was little, though it was not at the same level as your son's. As the other poster said, it's best to wait for expert advice. I hope by now you have this and your son is better. I only wanted to share that perhaps your son could be allergic to an ingredient in the corisone cream and this causes him to scratch even more? I cannot use some hydrocortisone creams because I'm allergic to chlorocresol. I think you can get patch tests for this.

In the meantime, I remember my mum tried to stop my scratching (or at least the effects of my scratching) by putting cotton mittens and gloves on my hands with loose hair elastics around the wrist so I couldn't take them off in my sleep - maybe this could help?

All the best

By Sorry on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 02:47 pm:

That sounds horrible, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish I had something useful to say... but from what I've heard, I believe cortisone shouldn't be used and especially not in the face because apparently it can thin the skin? Maybe that's why it's been getting easier for it to break and start bleeding...

Hopefully someone with a little experience with babies can respond sometime soon

By Grrr on Monday, February 22, 2010 - 03:36 pm:

First of all my 3 year old son's nails remain fairly short. Some days they get a little longer than they should, but it never caused the bleeding I have been seeing lately.

I've been using the cortisone treatment on his face. One was prescribed but we ran out, so a week later since he was flaring up again, we used an over-the-counter brand. Then I stopped about a week ago.

And for a couple of weeks now, when he gets into these fits of scratching his face particulary his lower cheeks, within seconds his face is pouring with blood! Enough spills out to drip down his chest as I grab a wet towel. His hand get covered completely with blood. Its absolutely horifying! But when I clean him up, you could never tell it was THAT bad! It happening more frequently. Is there a reason why his nails need to be cut twice as often so suddenly? Can the steroid be the culprit? Is he just getting 'better' at scratching?

He doesn't have insurance so I want to know if he needs attention very soon, or if perhaps I just need to continue staying away from the cortisone. His dermatologist previously said no matter what, don't let his face open up..continue with the steroid creame until his face clears up. Then stop. But his face is falling apart now and I'm afraid to touch the cream until I figure out why his skin is opening up in such a way!