- When Jade Hlucshniow’s daughter Ruby developed a rash on her face at six weeks old, she visited the GP
- Diagnosed with baby acne, doctors believed it would clear up on its own
- During the worst flare-ups, about 90 per cent of Ruby’s skin was covered in painful eczema rashes
Here, Jade Hlucshniow, 30, Regentville, NSW, tells her story in her own words.
What is that rash on Ruby’s face?’ I asked my husband, Bradley, then 23.
‘It must be sore,’ he said.
Our daughter Ruby was just six weeks old. I took her to our GP, but our regular doctor was away.
‘That’s baby acne. It will clear up on its own,’ the doctor assured me.
Two weeks later the rash was worse and Ruby was constantly scratching it.
This time we saw our regular GP. ‘That’s eczema,’ he said. ‘And because she’s got it so young, she will probably struggle with it throughout her childhood.’
I was worried.
At first, her eczema was manageable.
Bradley and I would moisturise her skin constantly and try to stay on top of flare-ups.
But when Ruby turned three, the small patches suddenly spread across her entire body.
‘It’s all over her legs, tummy, back, arms and face!’ I said to Bradley.
Soon about 90 per cent of her skin was affected.
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The only places spared were the palms of her hands and soles of her feet.
Her face was the worst. The skin around her mouth and eyelids would crack open and bleed.
She cried and scratched constantly. ‘It’s so sore and itchy,’ she’d sob.
Sometimes we’d bear-hug her through the night while she cried.
Over the years, we tried everything – prescribed steroid creams, bleach baths, wet wraps and endless moisturisers.
We saw specialists and a naturopath, who did food intolerance testing and put Ruby on elimination diets.
We removed our carpet and changed our sofa to a leather lounge to avoid dust mites.
We had ducted air conditioning installed with temperature control so she wouldn’t overheat and have a flare-up.
But nothing helped.
The one treatment that gave Ruby temporary relief was oral steroids. For around 12 months, they calmed her skin.
But the side effects were heartbreaking.
The steroids caused tooth decay, and the relief only lasted while she was taking them.
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By the time she was five, we had a toddler, Indy, and a baby, Isla, as well as Bradley’s son Ryan, then seven, and the sleep deprivation and stress pushed our whole family to breaking point.
And Ruby stopped wanting to go out. ‘I don’t like people staring at my skin,’ she wept.
When she was five and a half, she started seeing a psychologist to work on rebuilding the self-esteem that eczema had slowly taken away.
We also found support online via Eczema Support Australia.
Then, just before Ruby’s sixth birthday, she became very sick with a fever and her rash began weeping yellow pus.
We rushed her to hospital, where she was isolated as she was immunocompromised.
‘She’s developed a severe staph infection from her open sores,’ the doctor told us after swab tests. ‘And it’s entered her bloodstream.’
It was serious, and we were terrified we could lose her.
Her skin was so compromised from years of eczema and medications that her little body couldn’t fight it properly.
After a week in hospital on IV antibiotics, she was finally allowed home with more oral antibiotics.
Then after her hospital stay, Ruby was approved for compassionate access to a medication usually only available to children over 12.
‘We think it’s the only thing that can help her,’ the specialist said.
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What is eczema?
Eczema is a chronic non-contagious skin condition that causes dry, itchy and painful patches of skin. Symptoms can flare up if you contact an irritant or an allergen. Treatment can manage symptoms but there isn’t currently a cure.
Without special approval, the injections would have cost us between $1400 and $1600 every month, which we couldn’t afford.
‘We’ve tried so many other things,’ I said nervously to Bradley. ‘What if this fails too?’
We decided we had to try it.
Thankfully, within the first month, we started seeing changes.
Ruby was sleeping through the night.
Her wounds started healing because she’d stopped scratching constantly.
By six months, her skin had improved.
Her eczema is now mostly limited to flare-ups on her knees or neck, which are treated with creams.
Ruby enjoys gymnastics and socialising, and when she grows up she wants to be a doctor to help other kids with eczema.
Seeing her confidence return has been the best part of all.
Read about Eczema Support Australia’s campaign SOS (Save our Skin) for Kids with Eczema.
