Skin Story: Parenting a Child with Eczema

Shujan Bertrand, CEO of Aplat, shares her skin story from a parent's perspective. Shujan's daughter suffered from severe eczema at a young age.

What was your experience with caring for your daughter with severe eczema? What treatments and solutions worked for you?

“My daughter had severe eczema when she was a newborn. She was put in her own bedroom and over the course of eight weeks, we noticed that she had developed eczema. I was living in a new home with my family but soon found a leak in the stairwell. This actually ended up creating a moldy wall in the room of my daughter. After hiring a mold disease expert, we discovered there was an excessive amount of mold growing on the wall and we immediately evacuated because we needed to remove her from such an adverse environment.

At 6 months it was full blown eczema and my daughter looked like a mummy, always wrapped in bandages. Her eyelashes were falling out and she was hardly recognizable. I even had to wear gloves at one point to even hold her. It was hard to see and the antibiotics and topical steroids didn’t seem to be effective. 

All ends seemed hopeless until one day at the park, a young woman approached me and said she had a Chinese doctor contact that would be able to cure my daughter. I believed that there was a solution to her skin condition and decided to talk to the doctor.

It was a big change. We had to entirely shift our lifestyle and even our diets. Our doctor truly worked a miracle with transforming the dry and wrinkly skinned newborn into a healthy baby. This was due to the help of Chinese herbs and medicines along with a cool diet. We had to follow strict rules to work with our Chinese herbal doctor which included a custom, cool diet for the gut, meaning no red meat or shellfish. We moved homes and lived a clean life. I vacuumed every day and never used soap or detergents near my daughter because she was sensitive to these harsh chemicals. Within 3 months the bleeding went away, the swelling went away, and my daughter was finally a bright and glowing baby with perfect skin. The traditional Chinese medicine changed my daughter’s life and my own. Over the course of 10 years, I have changed my family life to incorporate alternative and balanced approaches to well-being.”

Picture of Shujan's daughter post-treatment

Do you have any skin care motivation or advice you’d like to share with our followers?

"I come from a family of many physicians that are typically tuned to Western medicine, and after this experience, I have demonstrated to them the effectiveness of these alternatives as solutions to their patients’ problems. Also, I know for my daughter especially, it is important to practice yoga to de-stress. Her eczema could flare up again with stress, so I have been making yoga an integral part of her life."

To learn more about integrative approaches to eczema, check out our free Guide to Managing Eczema in Children eBook. 

**Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest interviewee(s) are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Dermveda.**