Staph & Sun

One of the biggest issues we have to deal with, with Rapunzel's eczema, is staph.  It's highly colonized on the skin of eczema patients.  That's why we do bleach baths.  Upping her bleach baths to 3 times a week has greatly reduced her staph infections.  In fact, since we went to 3 times a week, I don't think she'd had one single staph infection.  Until this past week.  Since we've been at the pool so often, between swimming lessons and playtime, I had cut back on her bleach baths.  I thought that the chlorinated water was a good enough substitute.  I'd read all about how swimming in a chlorinated pool was good for kids with eczema because it helped to kill the bacteria... just like a bleach bath.  Turns out, that was a BIG MISTAKE.  Rapunzel started getting little staph spots and it took a lot of work to get them to heal, and stop spreading.  She had them all up and down her arms and legs.

When I first noticed the spots, I immediately reinstated her bleach baths and started putting Mupirocen on the spots.  It took a few days for there to not be any new spots appearing.  I was one day away from taking her to the dr. to get antibiotics.  I am so glad we were able to get it under control before that!

Her skin had been looking so good for several weeks before this breakout.  Staph not only leaves ugly marks like that on her skin, but it also causes her eczema to flare-up in general.  I'm hoping that now that her staph is under control and healing, her skin will clear up as well.  Lesson learned:  No skipping bleach baths!

We'll still be spending plenty of time at the pool this summer, we just won't forego the bleach baths to do so.

She's working on a pretty little tan afterall!

Just as a side note:  We are really loving the Vanicream Sunscreen!  It's creamy and not lotiony like most sunscreens, titanium and zinc oxide based, and doesn't burn her skin!  All the other kids are using Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby.  I like it a lot too.  It's lotiony, but is also titanium and zinc oxide based.  They all have really prominent tan lines now!