Emollient treatment for childhood eczema: involving children and parents.

Emollients are the mainstay of managing eczema but many children find them tedious and unpleasant to apply and they are thought to be under-prescribed and underused. This paper discusses the advantages of involving children and parents in treatment, and of giving them a choice of emollients and the chance to try out different ones at different times of day and at night. The author suggests practical ways of making emollient therapy more fun for children, for example by decorating tubs and other containers and applying creams to dolls and other suitable toys. Children, as well as adults, can become"expert patients" and any good ideas that they have can be shared with other children with eczema. Experience suggests that getting them more involved will improve concordance with treatment. It should be acknowledged that managing chronic eczema in children and young people is hard and it is important to praise and encourage the efforts that children and their parents are making.