Eczema Creams Safe for Kids

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Many parents worry about the potential dangers of topical corticosteroids (TCS) for treating eczema in their children. Now, a new study shows those creams do not cause any significant, negative side effects.

Eczema is an itchy inflammation of the skin that is most often seen in infants and children. Many parents fear that treating children with topical corticosteroids will "thin the skin." These fears often lead to poorly managed eczema in kids.

Researchers from the University of Sydney studied 92 children, 70 of which were part of the study group while 22 were part of the control group. The researchers instructed parents to use enough TCS to control their children’s eczema so that they were virtually free of the condition. The 22 children in the control group did not use TCS.

The investigators found no evidence that the children using TCS experienced skin thinning even though they were using enough TCS to completely control their eczema. The researchers say these children were no different than the children who did not use TCS.

"Our results show that normal routine use of TCS does not cause skin thinning, and parents should be reassured. We hope that our work will give them the confidence to use TCS safely and effectively," Gayle Fischer, MBBS, FACD, of The University of Sydney, was quoted as saying.

SOURCE: Pediatric Dermatology, April 2011