Bleach baths for eczema

[ZipIt]

Has anyone used these for their kids' eczema?

DS's eczema has started flaring up again (it totally went away over the summer, so I'd dared to hope he'd grown out of it. But no, it's back ). He's 7.

Last year, I asked my GP about bleach baths after reading a promising study about them. He donned his most pompous facial expression, told me he'd never heard of it, that it sounded ridiculous, and that I shouldn't read things on the internet .

Anyway, has anyone tried them without specific medical guidance? Any luck? Obviously I'd want to be meticulous about getting the concentration right.

Many thanks for reading.

[ZipIt]

You'd think so, Sandi, but in low concentrations it's been found to significantly help eczema. Eczema is in part an atypical immune response to certain skin bacteria. Bleach interferes with the cycle.

[FoxyRevenger]

Hi Zip I've never heard of that before and I've had eczema all my life. Interesting. But...I don't think I'd do it.

I've just googled it and it's mostly talking about the bleach combating staph infection, and you've no way to know if your son has staph infection.

Also in this link news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8015995.stm is this quote:
"Professor Mike Cork, head of dermatology research and a consultant at Sheffield Children's Hospital, said antiseptic baths had been used as a treatment for eczema for quite a while but the trial was important because it highlights the benefits from reducing bacteria.
"But people should not start putting bleach in their children's bath.
"Bleach used incorrectly could cause enormous harm to a child with atopic eczema while, in the hands of an expert, it can as this trial indicates lead to benefit."

I'm not one for bowing down to the experts, because I know from lifelong experience that what works for me is not in line with what they prescribe. But bleach...he could get burned, he could have breathing difficulties, what it it splashed his face...it's just too counter-intuitive for me.

[Fayrazzled]

There was an article about this in the Telegraph yesterday- www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10455344/Bleach-could-reverse-ageing-study-finds.html

[Fayrazzled]

This article looks interesting in explaining how to do it safely using Milton sterilising fluid rather than household bleach- www.eczema.org/uploads/BAhbBlsHOgZmIi0yMDEyLzA4LzEzLzE1XzA3XzQ3XzQzMl9ibGVhY2hfYmF0aHMucGRm?format=pdf

[Fayrazzled]

Sorry my links aren't working:

www.eczema.org/uploads/BAhbBlsHOgZmIi0yMDEyLzA4LzEzLzE1XzA3XzQ3XzQzMl9ibGVhY2hfYmF0aHMucGRm?format=pdf

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10455344/Bleach-could-reverse-ageing-study-finds.html

[itscockyfoxagain]

My DS is also 7, his is back too I think it is the cold weather. When it is bad I only bath him once a week and give him strip washes instead avoidjng the worst bits of skin.
I could never put him in a bath of bleach, no matter what studies say every instinct I have says keep children away from the locked cleaning cupboard, I could no more bath him in bleach than push him in front of a car.

[FoxyRevenger]

Milton? Seems a bit less scary.

I meant to add; I saw a consultant last week who said more and more people are becoming allergic to a chemical called Methylchloroisothiazolinone (or various other names for it) and it is appearing in more and more things.

It's in my shower gel, shampoo, baby wipes and washing up liquid. Maybe have a look at all of your products for it? Oh, and do google it, there are a number of names for it.

[Fayrazzled]

So you wouldn't let him go in a swimming pool, itscockyfoxagain? Because basically a swimming pool is a bleach bath.

I'm not advocating people undergo bleach baths for their children without discussing it with an 'expert' but I'd want my expert to be someone who understands eczema and is uptodate on the most recent research (not necessarily a GP).

[wakemeupnow]

tea tree oil kills bacteria too , maybe adding that to the bath might help, certainly safer option that bleach ?

[Fayrazzled]

Well quite, FoxyRanger. There are so many alarming ingredients in run of the mill bath and shower preparation and other household cleaning products I'm not sure getting worked up about an extremely mild concentration of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) makes logical sense.

[losersaywhat]

My daughters eczema improved loads while she was swimming 3 or 4 days a week in the swimming pool. Even now when her arms flare up it improves after a few trips to the pool.

[Fayrazzled]

Tea tree oil can burn the skin. Kust because it is natural doesn't automatically make it 'safer'. I'd say it was more dangerous to start lobbing that in a child's bath with eczema than using a very mild concentration of bleach under medical supervision.

[ZipIt]

Thank you all very much for the responses.

Fayrazzled, great links - thank you.
Foxy, yes, Milton sounds a lot less scary.

Foxy, I think there's evidence that people with even "uninfected" eczema have much higher staph aureus levels on their skin than other people, and that this could be a part of the problem.

[ZipIt]

losersaywhat, that's really interesting about the swimming.

[ZipIt]

Itscocky: "I could no more bath him in bleach than push him in front of a car".
Really?!
No one's suggesting neat bleach! As others have said, it's about the same concentration as a swimming pool.

[AuntieStella]

I think it's because some noticed an improvement after swimming that eg first started to look at what made that difference.

I don't think I'd want to try it without medical advice though.

[itscockyfoxagain]

Sorry missed the replies, no we don't go swimming DH did a swimming pool operator course and as result no we don't and not because of the chlorine which incidently made DSs skin worse back when we did used to go.