Mum shares agony of strangers stopping to stare at her little boy in ‘disgust’
A HEARTBROKEN mum has shared images of her son, whose eczema is so severe it looks like he’s been burned.
She says strangers accuse her toddler of being contagious due to his painful skin condition.
Three-year-old Gabriel Quintinhas, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, has suffered with eczema since he was one month old.
His mum Ines Mendes says it started with rashes, and her only son looked ‘reddish and pink’.
But it got really bad when Gabriel was about five months old.
“It looked like he was hurt, he was all cut. It was raw. He was in pain,” Ines said.
Now strangers in the street look at Gabriel in ‘disgust’.
“People stare and make comments quite a lot. If we go for a walk, people stare and look with a disgusting face.”
Ines said she tries to ignore it.
“It’s hard, it’s difficult and heart-breaking how people react.”
But it’s not just looks from strangers Gabriel and mum Ines have to deal with.
“People I don’t even know have said it’s contagious. I say that it’s ridiculous and it’s not contagious. It’s a skin condition and it’s not his fault.”
The 21-year-old chose not to send the tot to nursery as she was concerned about how other children will react to his skin.
“I’m worried about bullying,” Ines said.
“He hasn’t really been around other children apart from close friends.”
She moisturises Gabriel four times per day but the tot is still in a lot of pain.
“He’s always crying in pain,” Ines said.
“He gets upset at the way he looks.”
Eczema – also known as dermatitis – is a non-contagious, inflammatory dry skin condition.
The most common form, atopic eczema, affects one in five children and one in 10 adults in the UK.
How can I treat eczema?
Atopic eczema causes areas of skin to become itchy, dry, cracked and sore.
You can have periods where symptoms improve, followed by flare-ups as often as two or three times a month.
Atopic eczema can occur all over the body, but is most common on the hands (especially fingers), the insides of the elbows or backs of the knees.
Children often get it on their face and scalp.
While there is no cure for eczema, certain treatments can ease the symptoms. Common ones are:
- emollients (moisturisers) – used every day to stop the skin becoming dry
- topical corticosteroids – creams and ointments used to reduce swelling and redness during flare-ups
- topical pimecrolimus or tacrolimus for eczema in sensitive sites not responding to simpler treatment
- antihistamines for severe itching
- bandages or special body suits to allow the body to heal underneath
- a dermatologist can offer more powerful treatments
When it comes to self care, it’s best to avoid scratching itchy areas (though it can be tempting) as it damages the skin.
Try gently rubbing your skin with your fingers instead, NHS guidance recommends. Keep your nails clean and short.
For babies, anti-scratch mittens may stop them scratching their skin.
The NHS also recommends you identify your triggers – such as certain irritating fabrics, heat, soaps and detergents – to try and avoid them.
The mum took Gabriel to see a specialist in London when he first started showing eczema symptoms.
The doctor couldn’t find a solution but suspected the condition was genetic.
Since then, Ines has been desperately searching for treatment to help relieve the symptoms, after trying endless creams.
She reached out to a doctor in Portugal in January who recommended a natural cream made from plants.
“It’s getting worse but apparently that’s normal before it gets better,” Ines said of her son’s eczema.
“He’s looking pretty bad.”
“We’ve tried creams.
“Nothing is working, we’ve tried everything we could.”
Ines is fundraising £1,600 to pay for the natural creams the Portuguese doctor recommended.
She says that Gabriel cries in pain every day and she dreads the thought of having to send him to school where she fears he’ll be bullied.
Ines said: “He can talk so we understand now how bad it is because he says he’s in pain and he asks if he can scratch.”
She continued: “It’s hard when he gets upset, I try to do everything I can to help him.
“A lot of the time you can see he wants to cry but he holds it.
It won’t be easy to send him to school but I’ll have to.”