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High street eczema test warning

12/12/2007

Parents should not use high street and internet allergy tests to help manage their children's atopic eczema, new guidelines state.

In its review of recommendations for the skin condition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says there is "no evidence" of their value in managing eczema.

Also included in the guidelines is advice that medical professionals should offer children with atopic eczema a choice of unperfumed emollients to use for everyday washing, bathing and moisturising.

Leave-on emollients are advised to be made easily available for use at nursery, pre-school or school.

They help eczema by forming a protective barrier on the skin, preventing water loss and reducing the effects of skin irritants.

Nice's recommendation follows a report in October which questioned the value of emollients.

The Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin report said there is no evidence from controlled clinical trials to show that these products are effective at improving eczema.

But in its guidance issued today, Nice said: "Healthcare professionals should inform children with atopic eczema and their parents or carers that they should use emollients in larger amounts and more often than other treatments.

"Emollients should be used on the whole body both when the atopic eczema is clear and while using all other treatments."

Professor Peter Littlejohns, Nice clinical and public health director, said the new guidelines "will improve the management of atopic eczema in children from birth up to the age of 12 years in primary, secondary and community care".

"For the first time, people suffering from this condition will benefit from a consistent approach to managing their condition, regardless of where they live," he added.

Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists welcomed the inclusion of emollients in Nice's guidance.

"Emollients in general are a tried and tested part of the treatment of eczema and are accepted as part of routine clinical practice," she said.

"Their use is recommended in all guidelines for the treatment of eczema to date, and it is reassuring that their benefit has been recognised in the new guidance.

"Particularly when it comes to children, treatment needs to be a pleasant and therefore repeatable experience, and bath emollients can help make children's bath time both enjoyable and therapeutic."