- Joey Bottrill, almost 2, would wake up 10 times a night itching and in pain
- His bedsheets were covered in blood despite wearing protective bandages
- Strangers in the street thought injuries were from falling over or fighting
- His mother read about a remedy which have helped to ease his symptoms
Kate Pickles For Mailonline
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A toddler whose eczema was so severe he looked like he’d been attacked has been helped by a treatment made from oatmeal and cod liver oil.
Joey Bottrill had to be put to bed wearing mittens and wrapped in bandages but still woke up to 10 times a night soaked in blood.
The toddler, who will turn two in September, suffered from the painful and itchy skin condition on his face, arms, legs and stomach and often got severe infections.
His horrified mother Christina Clinton, 29, said strangers would stare at her son’s facial eczema in the street and ask her if he had fallen over or been fighting with another child.
Joey Bottrill’s eczema was so bad people in the street would mistake it for fighting injuries, his distraught mother Christina Clinton says. He would wake up 10 times a night itching and in pain
Mother Christina Clinton read about a cream made from cod liver oil and oatmeal and now imports it from Australia. She says it has helped clear up Joey’s painful skin condition
The part time clinical support worker and mother-of-two from Solihull, West Midlands, said it was heartbreaking to see her child in such pain.
‘It was so hard as a mum – you see your child in pain, they are itching unbearably and there is nothing you can do. It is so upsetting to see,’ she said.
‘Joey would scratch at his skin and it would cause horrible infections, so he had to sleep wrapped up in bandages like a mummy.
‘The GP prescribed steroids which did eventually work, but as Joey’s skin because resistant to them he needed stronger and stronger doses.
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‘But his skin kept getting worse and I was at my wits’ end – when he got infections his skin would be red raw.
‘People would always stare in the street and would often make comments like ”oh, it’s such a shame”.
‘They would ask if he’d been falling over all the time or had been in fights because he had cuts and grazes all over his face.
‘I knew people weren’t being nasty but it would make me really angry, I just wanted people to leave him alone.’
Ms Clinton, who also lives with four-year-old son Charlie-Beau and partner Steven Bottrill, 30, said Joey’s eczema started when he was weaned onto solid foods at six months old.
The chronic eczema covered his face, arms and stomach, affecting 20 per cent of his body and getting worse the older he got.
Prescribed steroids were applied twice a day but his skin developed a resistance to them and he began to suffer side effects.
Joey, who turns two in September, would scratch his face until it was red raw and bled. Doctors prescribed steroids but his mother says they stopped working
The painful condition would leave his bedsheets covered in blood as he scratched during the night, causing him to bleed. Steroid creams initially worked but then he became resistant to them
His mother says it was only after she started using the skin repair ointment that Joey’s eczema started to clear up. She now imports it from Australia
The youngster was unable to go swimming and was forced to sleep wrapped in bandages and wearing mittens to stop him from scratching.
But he would wake up several times a night in agony and in the morning his bandages and bed sheets would be soaked in blood.
His worried mother would apply moisturising creams to his skin once an hour to ease his suffering.
But in March, she saw an advert online for an Australian remedy made from cod liver oil and oatmeal – called Robertson’s Skin Repair.
She said the thick moisturising cream initially made Joey’s skin worse but she soon noticed a remarkable improvement and now has jars of the £35 ointment imported to the UK.
The ointment was developed by Malcolm Robertson in 1988 and the family-owned business was bought by Australian eczema sufferer Steve Gee in 2003.
Now Ms Clinton said she is thrilled with the results and has not looked back since using it on Joey.
‘I was so close to giving up and going back to steroids,’ she said.
‘But I’m so glad now I persevered, because the difference is amazing,’ she said.
‘Now when I look back, I can’t believe how bad his skin was.’
Parents Christina Clinton and Steven Bottrill, pictured here with Joey and brother Charlie-Beau, four, say the treatment has helped alleviate the chronic skin condition which was ruining their lives
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