I will never forget the day I took Alyssa to her paediatrician, after noticing a persistent rash under her arm. I thought it was an allergy of sorts but was quite shocked when the Paediatrician said “That’s Eczema”.

I was in shock when I heard that word, and felt completely helpless. My immediate thought was that this tiny “rash” was just going to get worse and spread all over her body – because this is what I have always associated Eczema with. Growing up, I had a few friends who suffered from the condition quite severely so I thought that was the condition Alyssa would be faced with.

The Paed couldn’t tell me if it would spread or not or whether it would flare up again, but she mentioned that the area of skin looked like it was on the “lower spectrum” of Eczema or Atopic Dermatitis. She prescribed a mixture of cream which we used for a week or so, and then the patch cleared up. It flares up now and again and Aidan has started getting them too, but it’s not nearly as severe as I remember my friends’ skin to be.

Still, I hated the feeling of not knowing or fully understanding what is happening to my kid’s skin. So a  few weeks ago I was delighted when I was invited to a workshop at the La Roche-Posay Atopy School hosted at the Dermatology Treatment and Phototherapy Clinic in Century City.  

The clinic is one of the few dedicated private Phototherapy clinics in Cape Town which provides a specialist phototherapy treatment and the only one providing the topical treatment for private patients suffering from chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, vitiligo and skin lymphoma to count among others.

The Atopy School is a forum for educating both parents and children. La Roche-Posay has identified that there is a lack of knowledge around Atopic Dermatitis and has partnered with the Dermatology treatment and phototherapy clinic to address this.

Attended a very informative workshop at the Atopy School twith @larocheposay_za this morning, learning about eczema and dry skin. There’s sadly no cure for eczema and flare ups are inevitable but as a Parent, knowledge is power when it comes to managing it and helping your child with the right treatment of which @larocheposay_za can help with. Check out my InstaStory for some tips from the workshop. I’ll also share some more on the blog soon.

A post shared by Hayley’s Joys (@hayleymalan) on Jun 24, 2017 at 3:09am PDT

La Roche-Posay Atopy Schools offers a space where the professionals can chat to patients. It’s a structured session dedicated to patients suffering from eczema and other atopic skin conditions. These sessions La Roche-Posay refers to as Atopy Schools, therapeutic education centres for atopy. They are organised on the basis of multidisciplinary teams (dermatologist, paediatrician, allergist, psychologist, nurses, dermatology skin care brand etc.)

So, it was my chance to not only learn about eczema but to find out more about the brand which so many people with skin conditions speak highly of.

The workshop was really informative and I love that La Roche-Posay is ready and waiting to educate and assist patients in conjunction with medical professionals! I felt so helpless when the paed said the word “eczema” so I can only imagine how a parent whose child suffers severely from it, can be affected. So the atopy school is such a great initiative to support families and answer any questions they may have and also give the parents a better understanding of how to best manage the condition. What to do when the skin just flares up again? What kind of products can assist with the condition? For how long can you use a certain treatment? Does diet affect eczema? Those are just a few of the questions posed to the professionals who gave clarity to the families.

I was also given a few of the La Roche-Aposy products to take home and I wasn’t planning to use it just yet but low and behold,  not too long after the workshop Alyssa had a patch of the dry irritated skin  – on her face this time.

This would normally be the time that I would call the paed who would check the skin and prescribe a cream mixture. This time, I grabbed out the La Roche-Aposy Lipikar Baume AP+ and the Lipikar Syndet AP+  and started including these into the kid’s bath routine.

The Lipikar Syndet AP+ is a body, face and scalp cleanser which cleanses softly. It doesn’t sting the eyes and rinses quite easily. It’s soap free, fragrance-free, phenoxyethanol free and paraben free. It gently cleanses without irritating the skin and thus suitable for daily use.

The Lipikar Baume AP+ is what restores the cutaneous microbiome, calms pruritis and importantly, spaces-out flare ups. It also improves the barrier function.  Lipikar Baume AP+ improves the quality of life for patients and their families. Two studies have proven this – where patients involved are reported to be happier due to better quality sleep and fewer itchy breakouts.

Within 2-3 days of using these two products, I could see the dryness disappear and the patch on Alyssa’s skin clearing up. We’ve continued using the products since then and have not experienced any flare-ups.

Also included in my bag, was the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume BF, which somebody at the workshop referred to as miracle cream. I’ve used it on my chapped Winter lips and I could immediately see and feel the difference. It can be applied to the body, face and lips and aids optimal skin recovery.

There’s no telling what causes the flare-ups but I tend to notice them when there’s a change of season, especially when the temperatures drop in Winter. What I learnt is that there’s no way of determining when a flare-up will occur and what exactly causes it, but at least I have the knowledge of how to best manage it and find comfort in the La Roche-Aposay products.