Families with children who have eczema often need a lot of support and parents can find caring for the child an exhausting experience. Community nurses and health visitors are ideally placed to extend care and support, but must be fully aware of the facts to instil confidence

Eczema in its mildest form may be seen merely as a tendency to dry skin. But it can be a chronic condition, with a hot itchy rash, soreness and dryness of the skin which may be localised, for example to the face, forearms or flexures, or generalised over the whole body.