“It all started when he was seven weeks with eczema on his cheeks. Diet did not help. Allergist prescribed us hydrocortisone and it worked for awhile. Then a friend of mine gave me some of what is supposed to be a natural cream and we used probably around 50 grams or some more in the next year. (Now I know it probably contains some super potent steroid, God, I should know better…) Last winter eczema started to spread, then in spring a hay fever started. We took some allergy tests again (prick tests were only positive for egg, birch and a dog – we moved outside). But nothing helped. Every day there was a new lesion somewhere.”
Patient 3
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About the Author: Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD
In 1978 I initiated and set up the contact and photo dermatitis clinic at UCLA. There was a need to evaluate a large group of patients who exhibited severe eczematoid rashes, especially on the face. Patients were referred from all over Southern California. All patients underwent a lengthy history and examination. Further evaluations included blood studies, allergy patch testing, special sunlight (photo) testing and skin biopsies.
From the start it was apparent that most patients experienced a mild dermatitis on various parts of the body that progressively worsened. Their histories always included numerous doctor visits, multiple physicians, and therapy consisting of an increasing amount of corticosteroids.
My testing failed to reveal any specific culprit chemicals, cosmetics, perfumes, workplace or recreational exposures. It became increasingly clear that the physician’s therapy, the corticosteroids, was invariably causing the problem.
I wrote 7 scientific articles that were published in the most august peer-reviewed dermatologic journals and I gave many lectures at various dermatology meetings. To this day an unfortunate reluctance exists on the part of most physicians to accept this simple concept.