Treating Infant Eczema

The oral use of cortisone has a place in the treatment of eczema in infants and children, but I do not think such an important place as it has in asthma. I have treated about sixty eczematous children with it, and have come to some fairly definite conclusions about it. In the first place, it [...]

My favorite preparations are as fol­lows :
Crude Coal Tar Undiluted.-This is not used enough; people have for­gotten about it, but it should be re­membered that when coal tar was first introduced in Switzerland and in France about 1910, it was always used in this way. Its incorporation into ointments came later. Undiluted tar is used [...]

The general character of the skin means a good deal so far as prognosis goes-if it is soft and smooth where there is no dermatitis, the prognosis is much better than if it is of the dead, dry, “asteotic” type. In some children with atopic dermatitis there is seen an exaggeration of the small crisscross [...]

Although sometimes much good is done by immunologic treatment, and it is certainly worth while because it attempts to get at the cause of the disease, too often it does not actually accomplish much. When all is said and done, skillful local treatment is more valuable than anything else.
It is not necessary to have at [...]

Treatment.-The two most impor­tant things in treatment are to eradi­cate infection in so far as it can be done, and to keep the baby in as good general condition as possible by giving him plenty to eat. He is in for a long sickness, no matter what is done, and adequate nutrition is of great [...]

What I have called “atopic erythroderma” is atopic dermatitis, but it is a rather special form of atopic derma­titis, and warrants separate discussion. It may begin in a baby 3 or 4 months old, exactly as Leiner’s disease does, or it may develop from a severe and generalized atopic dermatitis. The skin is bright red [...]

There can be no doubt that emo­tional disturbances are of great im­portance in aggravating atopic derma­titis. That they are ever a primary cause, I do not believe, and I cannot agree with those who think that psy­chiatric treatment is the most im­portant thing in dealing with these patients. Like all good things, the psychiatric aspects [...]

It is not possible to avoid some environmental allergens, so that the question of hyposensitization naturally suggests itself. “Walker“ in 1918 was the first to discuss this. He said: “Eczematous patients tolerate very small doses of the offending protein and the eczema seems to improve; but a slight increase makes the eczema worse. The amount [...]

The environmental allergens which most frequently cause atopic derma­titis are house dust, pollen, and wool. In addition to these I have seen it caused by horse and cat dander, cot­tonseed, Kapok, and feathers. It is probable that these allergens, with the exception of wool, work by in­halation more than they do by con­tact.
For young infants, [...]

Orange Juice.-It is common for the mother to notice that the baby “breaks out” if orange juice is given. It is probably best to remove it from the diet of most infants who have atopic dermatitis, for orange juice is of little or no value to a baby except as an antiscorbutic, and if he [...]