Dermatologist visit

We took Noah to a Pediatric Dermatologist today. Our primary care finally referred us to her because we've made so many doctor trips due to Noah's excema related problems. It was wonderful. There is a reason there are specialists in the world. The doctor was awesome and explained everything in detail and provided rationale for everything we have to do. Awesome!

She said the excema is caused because Noah's skin lacks enough lipids to appropriately retain moisture. So basically, since we live in Southern CA, which is a desert, his skin is getting super dried out. Plus, he is probably allergic to something in the environment, most likely that we don't have control over, like pollen or dust, etc.

Here is our new regiment:
1. Luke warm bath every day
2. Non-soap soap, like Dove
3. Prescription Derma-Smooth, which is a medicated baby oil, which is supposed to lock the water into his skin to help with the dryness.
4. Perscription non-steroid ointment for his face.
5. Steroid ointment for his body
6. Vasaline or Aquaphor over his whole body
7. Antibiotic ointment into his nose and Grant and my noses to control for the bacterial infection.
8. Change detergents to ALL Free and Clear.

It seems like a lot, and we spent nearly the entire day in the doctors office, but I am so happy. I feel like for the first time we have a chance of possibly fixing his excema. It is encouraging. We have a check up with the dermatologist in two weeks, at which point she will re-evalute. One sad thing is that we might have to get rid of our cat, but she said that that depends on whether or not he responds to the rest of the treatment, so we'll see. But other than that, yay!