Eczema : Handing out steroid cream can leave children in pain: How GPs are adding to the agony

By Maria Lally

PUBLISHED: 19:12 EST, 18 March 2013 | UPDATED: 19:12 EST, 18 March 2013

Looking down at my 20-month-old daughter Sophias feet, my heart nearly broke.

The skin was angry, cracked and bloody.

She had similar patches on her legs, tummy, back and arms and was frantically scratching any area she could reach until the skin split.

I tried gently to restrain her but it just upset us both further.

'Sophia had seen various GPs for eczema every month or so for as long as I could remember,' said Maria Lally, pictured with daughter Sophia

The next day I took her to our GP again. He took a brief look at her feet (by now so red and scabbed they looked burnt), said hed seen worse, then handed me yet another prescription for steroid cream, even though I told him we had several half-used tubs at home.

Sophia had seen various GPs for eczema every month or so for as long as I could remember. Each time wed been given steroid creams with barely a word.

Then, just after her second birthday, she suffered a vomiting bug and for two days had just water and dry toast. Her skin became beautifully clear.

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Eczema : Handing out steroid cream can leave children in pain: How GPs are adding to the agony